The avalanche danger was high on day 15 of backcountry high life, but Nate and I wanted to get out and poke around a bit, to see what was going on with all the wind we had. I've been interested again this year in learning the snowpack, watching it change. It reminds me of Spock in the Star Trek movie where he died the one before and the was reborn and went from being a baby to a man in the space of a short time. In November we had no snowpack, by June this one will be gone like all the others before it. In that short space in between changes are taking place, and though it looks like just a bunch of snow to some people, the more time you are willing to invest in becoming personal with the snow pack, the more there is to learn about it about. It continues to facinate. While many are concerned about the state of the economy, paying the mortgage or getting a promotion, I'm more interested in whether the steep northies are going to be skiable with the next storm.
We skinned up Flagstaff, across the street from Alta. The whole way up we could see the hordes tearing up the slopes. At first there seemed to be fresh snow, since most of the tracks from yesterday had filled in with the wind and the bit of fresh snow. An hour later it was gone, lapped up by the pole-tapping, elbow-throwing crowds. The holy ground on which we are skinning may soon fall victim to lift skiing. Alta has plans to expand, and put a lift up the same track we are now skiing, opening up the heart of the Wasatch to crowds from New York and Texas, and closing down a thoroughfare for backcountry skiers. This lift would be a travesty were it to come into being.
From Flagstaff we ski across Emma's Ridge, still able to see Alta now with the added view down the other side of the ridge into the Days Fork drainage. Cornices have formed on the ridge from the wind event last night. Nate has a thin section of rope about sixty fett long with small knots tied into it. We both take an end and throw the rope down over the edge of the cornice and begin to saw it off. We pick the cornices over steep slopes so that when we eventually saw through enough of the cornice for it to fall, it drops onto the slope and should release a slide if the conditions are right. We cut through a few of them and only a few small pockets release. We want to see something release all the way to the weak layer on the ground. Just like kids rolling rocks off of cliffs, we want to see some destructive power when these 1500 pound blocks of snow trundle down the side of the mountain. In the end we settled for a shallow slab releasing and running full course to the bottom of the slope. We make monkey sounds in the excitement.
In the video Nate and I are cut most of the way through a cornice before the video starts. The result is a few shallow pockets of snow releasing.
