Apollo Couloir, Mt Olympus

We spotted this NNE facing couloir fueling up at gas station on Foothill Drive.

We mapped our route to Apollo couloir and proceeded through new homes and no trespassing signs which used to be a path to Mt. Olympus wilderness

Snotsicle beating it down the upper 1/3 of Apollo with very firm snow at 40+ degree slope.  A fall would have sucked and most likely break body parts if I wiped into the cement rollerballs

Wow!  after watching that video it looks pathetic but it was quite steep and scary skiing. 

On the way up all the slide paths had natural wet slides avi debris piled 15' high from a natural warming cycle.  Out of respect to all backcountry users we turned our transceivers to "search mode" and were glad to have not picked up a signal

Brigdonk drinking a well deserved Dale's pale ale after a 2 1/2 hour boot up

Snotsicle shralping the hard packed and recently slid lower half of the couloir.  35 degree slope angle

Brigdonk shredding Spring snow with SLC valley in the background

Snotsicle bottom right of pic enjoying the panaromic view of the SLC valley floor

Utah 2010........ Siiiiiick

Snoworries showing us how to Surf

Fantasy Freshies... Fantasy Freshies... Fantasy Freshies...

Snotsicle hangin with his New Friend

Soligully- in his Favorite Place in the World, "The Wasatch"

Great times up at Solitude....

Big thanks to Snotsicle for a Wonderful time in Salt Lake City. I saw everything I wanted to- Snow, Sun, A True Wasatch Storm, Jackson, The Hobacks, Creekside Disc Golf, Molca Salsa, Park City, Blue Plate, Millcreek Cafe, The Inn at Solitude, Hop Rising, Silver Fork Lodge, The Soligully, Cabin Hill, Backcountry Tour, Teton Pass, Idaho, The Coomb and Finally (2) Boot Packs up Fantasy Ridge.

All that = Priceless
Thanks, Bro

March 05. 14 inches. Solitude.

Injured my back on Tuesday. Popped some pills and used heat pads all week to get ready for the storm. My back got better through the week and by the time the storm came, my back was almost pain free. Couldn't miss this one.

Congratualtions to Billy Demong

2010 Winter Olympic Gold Medalist Biily Demong!   Congratulations! 

A celebration at O' Shucks in Jeremy Ranch March 2, 2010 after Billy won a gold and silver medal in nordic combined

I was extremely privaleged to personally handle the gold and silver medals from the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics.  The individual event is engraved on the back of the medals 

Who's in?

http://www.silvertonmountain.com/

fresh fresh fresh

Playing in the snow days after a storm

Crystal Point Pow

My tracks coming out of "The Coomb Chute"

Stringham dropping this tree shot on the Fantasy Ridge apron

Southern San Juans Hammered

With no snow in the forecast here have been watching the ole CO's forecasts for the past two weeks... The four corners continue to get their fair share of the good stuff as the central and Front Range mountains suffer. With already 330" to-date for the season, this latest storm has dropped near 3' of snow and another 2' on the way.

Although a very light density snow, as usual, there's always a very variable and unstable snowpack:

 

Time for some fun in the sun.

~SB

A quick trip to Moab and The La Sals

I escaped with the dags to Moab for some warmer temps.  

Upon arrival to Southern Utah I drove up geyser pass to make a few turns during sunset

Utah sooocks!

Fantasy Ridge bootpack.  Hike this 15 minute knife edge ridge to ski any line you choose down Honeycomb Cliffs!   Come to Soli and I will take you there!

How's that for a faceshot underneath c-rock!

Beware Soligully of the UT Pow Open.  This is a great basket placement at the U of U

The Transformation is Complete

 

~SB

Conditions remain scary, even inbounds!

Solitude patrol continues to rip out big slabs in Honeycomb Canyon including slides in No Man's and Crystal Point.  With daytime warming, gates were closed and riding inbounds was limited today!  A few photos of good runs before the gates were avi closed below

Tiphanie making turns on a Highway lap.

Snotsicle taking a run through Cathredral waiting for Honeycomb gates to open.  Drop the knee, squat to pee!

Another pic of snotsicle in Cathedral.  The snow is getting wet and ready to start rollerballing

Avalanche Death in Big Cottonwood Canyon

click-----> silver fork avalanche  

The Silver Fork Meadow's avalanche seen from the base of Honeycomb Return chair.

400' wide and slide over 800' to the valley floor.  Victim was dead when found.  He either died from Trauma and/or asphyxiation.

I took this photo from valley floor standing on avi debris

There's me standing on the debris pile just above the stream

The victim was found directly to Cole's left.  You can see the tree from the slide which had to be cut to get the victim out of this hole.(the tree was spanned across the hole)  He was about four feet deep and fully buried for over 15 minutes. In the background you can see the Honeycomb Return chair.

This avalanche path is very popular among skiers in Big Cottonwood Canyon.  It is a reality check and was very disturbing to investigate the slide today.  Let us all use this to our advantage and get knowledge and use it.  Live to ride another day!

A delicious Monday powder day at Solitude

A lone skier skinning towards Patsy Marley ridgeline during a high danger avi cycle.

Lumber yard freshies before EGP closed for warming

Brigdonk shralping in Steep and Talls

Brigdonk's 2nd turn attempting the run of his life until the next photo

and the aftermath!  maybe next time

STOWE = Top Notch

The "TOLL ROAD" 5 miles of pure low-angle lovin.

The Crew loving the "Bluebird Sky"

Soligully is all SMILES after a "Great day at Stowe"

To all the 4-D crew plus "The Dodd", what an incredible weekend. Thanks to Boz and family for there hospitality and home cooked meals. Our weekend to Stowe will be talked about for seasons to come. I think we all realized - the skiing the 4-D crew does is always above average, add an outdoor pool and Jacuzzi and it all becomes -TOP NOTCH.