It's winter. Leia is ready for the cold and snow to end and the spring to get going. I'm content with the possibilities of record snowfall in the Wasatch this year, and hope that it doesn't stop until June. I got Leia a puffy coat for Christmas so that my exuberance over the snow is more tolerable for her. It makes her arms look like she could beat the crap out of anyone, but don't worry, she's really a nice girl with slim and sexy arms!Today I skinned to the ridgeline between Big and Little Cottonwood canyons to discover the backdoor to one of the chutes that descend from the ridge directly to the road in Little Cottonwood. I was out alone under blue skies in the upper reaches of Mill B South in the Twin Peaks Wilderness Area without another person's tracks visible, even though it has been days and days since our last storm. It is good to know that there are still places that are untouched, where a person can experience real solitude. It is also good to know that my truck is waiting for me, ready to take me back to my sweet girl and cold beer in the fridge! (For the record, only the latter is in the fridge!) Options are wonderful, especially when it means you get to visit these palces and don't have to spend a night alone in the middle of freakin' nowhere!
As I carefully approached the ridge, not wanting to accidentally fall over the other side, my first thought was, "What the hell am I doing here alone!" My purpose was to check it out, to discover the secret passage to 3,300 vertical feet of pure fall-line skiing so to return later with others and ski the line more safely. After the initial shock of seeing dinky cars way down there on that dinky road and feeling that I could toss a snowball out in that direction and have it land on some New York tourist's car at terminal velocity, my next thought was, "I could ski this right now, even though I am alone!" There was a passage through the rocky ridgeline that would put me on snow, giving my skis something to ride all the way to the road.
After a few moments the vertigo and excitement lost control and my instinct to survive returned, I decided to descend that way I had come up. It was already passed noon, and the shot faces south and was inevitably heating up. Besides, Leia had told me, as usual, to be safe. She is a smart girl. Not two minutes after I had made my decision to play it safe and had started to prepare for the descent, a wet slab avalanche released and went cruising down Little Pine in the exact path I had momentarily intended to ski. Some of you may attribute this to the still small voice. I call it the universe continuing in its conspiracy to keep me alive for another adventure another day. A rose by any other name still makes me happy to be alive!The first photo is looking down at the Little Cottonwood Canyon Road from the ridgeline today. The second one shows my tracks, both up and down, from the ridge. Down was much faster! Also there is a video from a couple of days ago in Hogum Fork in the Broken Plate couloir-enjoy!
PURA VIDA!
