First light on Mt. Superior with the Suicide Couloir on the far left side.
Photo from Alta parking lot.
First light on Mt. Superior with the Suicide Couloir on the far left
side.
Photo from Alta parking lot.
Mt. Superior with Cardiac Ridge and Bowl to the right of Superior's
summit.
Photo taken at Twin Lakes Pass, approximately 8am
Looking North also from Twin Lakes pass.
Our first glimpse of Wolverine Cirque and the massive cornices guarding
the entrances to most of the couloirs.
Again...
From the same spot as the last 2 photos, but looking back, Northwest,
towards Superior and Cardiac Bowl
Aaron ascending the final snowfield before the attaining the Wolverine
Cirque ridge...checking the snow
conditions carefully with each step.
Mt. Superior and Cardiac again from the top of Wolverine Cirque.
Note Little Cottonwood Canyon road in the bottom of the picture.
That is
the base of the Alta ski resort.
The Pfeiferhorn (the pyramid shaped peak in the middle) with Thunder
Ridge to the right. From the top of Wolverine Cirque.
Aaron on the summit of the Cirque with Alta's Devil's Castle in the
background (looking south)
The cirque. Romans is the couloir on the far left. Yummy
:)
The Alta ski resort and Devil's Castle from the top of the cirque.
"Come on Dave, your ride awaits you." Aaron swings the rope gleefully
at the entrance to Roman's couloir. Note the large
cut that was made in the cornice to allow "safe" entrance.
Roman's Couloir. It is a 6 foot vertical drop to a 60-65 degree landing.
You get 2 turns at over 60 degrees before those rocks. Then the rest
mellows
to 45-50 degrees for the last 500 feet of it. Dave's job was
to get lowered on a rope into the couloir, check the snow for ice and stability.
Then he was to do
a hard ski cut once he was below the rocks from one edge of the couloir
to the other to make sure nothing was going to slide. Then he was
on his own without a belay.
Aaron got to drop in afterwards with no rope...but with the knowledge
that the snow was safe.
The camera was in Dave's pack so there are no photos of the process,
but here's his tracks!!!
Aaron is somewhere up there hiding behind the cornice...pondering his
situation sans belay. Note the
fine tracks Dave left in his wake.
Still pondering....
He's in. Aaron probably free fell for ten feet or so before contacting
the steep wall of snow.
If you look close, you can see him making his first turn above the
rocks (on the left side).
The rest is a cake-walk from here :)
Oh so good to be skiing fresh powder at 45 degrees in late April!!!
Yes, very, very, very good it was.
Aaron playing prowd papa...note the harness. Just a normal ski day
in the Wasatch.
Yes, Dave too was a proud parent.
The grin that wouldn't go away.
Dave's grin has left him...perhaps he is pondering the sanity of it
all?? Nah!!!
Looking to the East-facing couloirs (Roman's faces north). Okay,
okay, we get it. It is time to go.
Back at Alta parking lot at 12pm. A deep success. Time
to get back to the valley and go for a mountain bike ride :)
Signing off.
