PHOTO RECAP: The 2009 You-Just-Got-Wasatched Trip!

Day 1: Things were looking mighty sunny when we arrived in SLC. But that didn't deter Kirk, Erica and I from gettin' out the first day on "God's Lawn Mower" to warm up the BC Legs:

Another typical one-eyed aspen monster of the Wasatch Range:

Erica makes the best out of a 10 day high pressure system and zipper crust. Still a good start to the week!

The BC ski ended in a stream crossing....a narrow log. I went first... Kirk successfully makes it!

Erica lines up for the crossing, being the last to cross the stream!

And takes a cold dunk in the frigid winter waters :)

Day 2: Greeny and Erik arrived on Wednesday night and the energy began to build. We decided to head for Wolverine Cirque, land of the steep chutes! We still had good stability and visibility in the BC, so steep coolies seemed like a good idea. We all warmed up on "Granny Couloir", a mellow 38 degree chute, wide and cruisy! Hils warms up the legs by gettin' low in Granny!

Erik comes out hot, first day on Teles!

Greeny Machs out of Granny....

Greeny contemplates another tasty couloir!

Seth boots up Granny, gearing up for "Bombay", a steeper, more technical pitch with Greeny and I:

Seth precariously slides into "Bombay", trying not to fall and cascade off the 60 foot cliff bands below. We all make it unscathed....

Day 3: Natkin, Lisa, Matt, & Liz arrive the previous evening. 12 visitors are now staying at Seth and Hils place. It is on! Alta reports 7 inches on Friday morning so we head to the resort and enjoy some really good skiing on sierra type pow. The crew reunites in the parking lot where beers are enjoyed and Escalades pimped by Greeny:


Day 4: We all head out to Big Cottonwood Canyon for the Super Sierra Tour. It's hovering around 32 degrees and pounding all day. Regardless, the skiing was great, and the crew hung tough. The congo-line of skinners was a sight in itself:


Natkin pulled out all the stops and was raging some nice looking Tele-turns!


Matty, Kirk, & Seth were all getting some deep shots up top!



We all got a little loose for Hilary's birthday! Most of the ski crew were fairly useless at the party....we were damaged goods from 4 days of getting Wasatched! In addition, it was hammering at Alta, and there was more skiing to be done on Sunday!

Day 5: The Last day in Utah would not disappoint! In the 4 days from Thur-Sunday, Alta received 4", 6", 16", & 19" of new snow respectively! We were in for a treat! The canyon traffic was a junk show, but we all arrived early enough to enjoy freshies. The morning was great and we sessioned the High-T and hit Supreme just right before it closed. We all headed in for lunch around 1pm as Collins had shut down due to a power loss. We were bummed. After lunch, Erik barfed up his coffee drink and we all took care of our "intestinal" issues. While walking out of the lodge, we noticed the wheels beginning to spin on the Collins lift! It had probably snowed another 3-4 inches while were eating lunch, so we knew it would be a good afternoon. Plus, most folks had headed down at 3pm because the canyon was closing and Collins had shut down. But Collins reopened! We hammered the High-T for the rest of the afternoon and received some of the deepest Pow shots of the ski season. WARNING: The following images from the afternoon of January 25th may cause dizziness, erections, and willingness to ditch work to go skiing this week:

Greeny was the Starlet of the afternoon, getting the best photo shots of the group and finishing his last run in Utah with a beefy 30 foot drop (I egged him on to air it out for the camera). Greeny is still a pleasure to ski with, and impressive considering he has Cooper and another bun in the oven!:



Erica puts the throttle down!

Balsbaugh rocks some East Coast style at Alta!


Kirk, throwin' down all week long despite the fact he had a cracked rib, spends all day working on boats, and has skied little since leaving Jackson:



All in all, one of the best ski trips I have taken in a while. It was great to reunite with everyone and ski it up! Seth and Hilary were amazing hosts considering we pretty much dominated their house for 5 days. Hope we can do this again next year!! Cheers, TK!