Wade, Tom and I had a nice Saturday morning tour to pink pine ridge yesterday.  We left ~8 to get their before the white pine parking lot became packed as it usually does on a Saturday   It was a cold start but the weather was otherwise beautiful.



This recent storm was kind of a mixed bag and combine that with the sunshine from Friday and the riding was interesting.  more on that later.

For safety and snow quality we decided that low angle North/Northeast was going to be our best bet, so we decided that we would go up pink pine ridge to the north facing slope that is labeled "Red Right Returning" on the Wasatch Backcountry Map available in the link to the side.  Wade and I had been up this way onto the peak there before but we had never skied this line.


The ridge conditions confirmed that the wind was blowing to the east and south and we saw lots of wind loaded cornices on our way up


it also made it tricky because the ridge had lots of step ups and downs that made traversing the ridge slow.

We got to the spot but noticed that to drop into the north 30 degree shot that we would have to cross a wind loaded east face in the 30-35 range.  it was short with islands of safety and low consequences so we decided to take the chance.  The east snow was actually quite stable is turned out, but still not confidence inspiring.


After that it was just a couple hundred feet of smooth low angle north/northeast facing.  Conditions were such that even in the shady north their was a defined 1 finger faceted layer beneath 3-4 inches of graupel.  It wasn't unskiable, in fact it was quite nice as long as you kept your feet light.


as soon as you took a big cut, you would sink into the graupel/facet layers underneath and have to work your way back out.  Like I said though, not bad skiing at all, just different.


After this slope it was skiers right to another clearing and then tree skiing (or tree navigating) until you get to the lower portion of the canyon and you can ski back to the skin track.

All-in-all it was a very enjoyable tour!

Check the MAP here and stay tuned for the video coming soon.

Full Gallery available to the right