okay, more like PM 2.23.13 but its a pertinent title for Utah winters no?  Anyway, the PM here doesn't stand for particulate matter but for Patsy Marly, a URC favorite. 

This last storm cycle we got about 20-24 inches of medium density snow and nice cold temps to keep is airy.  Wade and I got out a little after the storms main blast but not too late before the spring warmth wreckity wrecked the place.  Unfortunatly, we had to do our tour later in the day than we'de hoped so it had already seen a little warming and moderate traffic by the time we got to it.  Granted "Moderate traffic" in the backcountry, even the Wasatch backcountry, is freshies at Snowbird or Alta so we were still pretty stoked. 

So uncharacteristically of me, I don't have many good pictures or any video to show because I was in the mood to just ride.  And I will tell you, the riding was nice.  With a good 2 feet of 8-10% all the way down. 

I took this picture to try and show the snow conditions, but I failed...it was WAY better than this picture.


Either way, it was good to be out again.  I know there are at least a few more days for me still, lets hope for a snowy snowy spring!

Map here

So is anyone down to do a dawn patrol Monday morning?

Perhaps "adventure" isn't the right word, since its just pink pine after all.  Maybe we call it a powder hunt! 

Pink pine can hide such great snow days after a storm, for two very good reason; protection and scarcity of crowds. 

Sure there are crowds, but most people go after the bigger lines of scotties bowl or the red/white pines lakes and forget all about this little area.  Since Coby and I only had 2 hours to kill before work and because the DP forecast included many Little superior/emma ridge slide paths we decided that this would be the place to be today and it was!

It took us a little over an hour and a half total and included a little less than 1100 Vertical feet, not bad before breakfast!  Check the map HERE



And the snow?  It was GOOD!  I would guess about 18-24 inches of light and dry.


how did this make us feel?  Pretty good.

Check out the video in YouTube HD here or check the player above for some reason.

Here is the Red Right Returning/Pink Pine video.  Its not my best, I stayed up until midnight last night (too much superbowl soda) editing it and then my computer crashed and I lost it so I had to come up with something else.  and HERE IT IS!

Note:  Part of the reason its not a great video is that im not 100% sold on the song (the other cut was a little better), it also wasn't amazing cinematography as I am getting way lazier out there in terms of video and lastly, it just was a fun "nice to be out" kind of day and not epic snow.  excuses aside...if nothing else, at least it helps me remember how nice it was to be out groundhogs day 2013.

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

Well this is it, the only proof that we went out at all.  Many thanks to Wade and absolutely no thanks to me who forgot both a gopro and my camera. doh!

The lack of pictures and/or video are a shame because today was...amazing!  it wasn't the BEST snow, it certainly wasn't the best conditions, it got all the up to a balmy 4 degrees for example (unless the wind was blowing and it got down to -12) but the snow that was there was just right for 25-30 degrees of tree skiing, bouncy, light and damp.  It meant you could really open it up and not worry about scrubbing speed before being pummeled by a tree. 

It ended up being about a 2 1/2 hour tour for 2.5 miles.  So for math fans out there it meant we covered a mile...and hour.  yeah it was slow, but at least it was pretty.

Check out the map here

This Friday I took off work to ski with my brothers at the bird, it was great!  I wont bore you with details but the the snow (about 2-3 feet of it) was light, the sky turned blue and we skied until we blew up.  Ben almost literally when he nailed that rock at full clip.

Anyway, check out the video in the player above or on YouTube for HD and mobile HERE