Monday, November 19, 2012

O’Keefe’s Oddness


Several months ago Adam O’Keefe skied a very contrived line in the Cardiff pass area (aptly named O'Keefe's Oddness by me); essentially rappelling some of the cliffs under the summit simply to access the snow beneath them which was in no way was any different than the any other snow in the area but as George W. would have “No Child Left Behind” so would Adam have “No Snow Left Unskied.” And as the snow would have it, this was our theme of the day. Trudging up Cardiff with 70 meters of coiled goodness in my backpack was some way to ski snow that could easily be avoided but with the lackluster performance of winter thus far (yeah I said it; don’t forget the dry spell we’re supposed to have these next 10 days) rappelling seemed like a very fun idea and as it turned out it was. The turns were quite good too on both North and South faces.

Solid Anchor

 Setting Up

The Universal Sign For Rock And Or Roll (Notice the lack of gloves)

Jack Making His Way Down

The Line We Took (Dotted = Rappel)

Nice Turns To End The Day

Monday, November 12, 2012

The Rock Saving Weekend

In case you've been living under a rock or maybe you just fell asleep for 20 years (I hope you know the literary reference)...it snowed, not just a few inches like last time but this storm left the Wasatch with some serious precipitation. Both Alta and Snowbird are reporting between 3 and 4 feet. Trudging through 4 feet of unsettled powder however, proved to be a bit difficult both uphill and downhill. So we took some baby steps for our first "real" turns of this season.

While Chesy slaved at work on Saturday morning (I couldn't muster the enthusiasm to go in myself) Nak and I went to investigate the recent deposit up Neff's Canyon...it was deep up there. We then used the afternoon to head up to Alta to ski some S. facing slopes and then again on Sunday and in my dreams Sunday night.

It's how deep out there? 

"Where is that Pesky Wabbit"

 Pow

Chesy skinning. 

Attempting to descend 

Attempt......

Successful