Scotts/Guardsman Area, Big Cottonwood Canyon- December 2018

Its been a a week or so since I have been out. In that time, we have had a couple of small storms to keep things fresh. The gap in storms has let the inversions build and that is not a healthy situation. I was determined to get out and go for a walk on the splitboard, get some fresh air, and do some poking around to see the depth in the snow pack and how things are looking. Generally West to South is stable, NW to East still has a persistent weak layer that has everyone lacking expert avalanche skills staying off those aspects. There is a lot of facets that this snow is sitting on. I made my way up Big Cottonwood, found a spot at the Guardsman gate. I put on the boots, sunscreen because it was hot and felt like a day at the beach, and pack and made my way up the track. Once you were out of the sun you could feel the cold temps. Once I made the first curve it was in the sun and very warm. I do not usually tour in December, in a trucker hat and no gloves.

I made my way to the last corner and up the Scott's Pass trail. Big temperature difference here once you went into the shade of the pines. I went up to the first meadow and made my way to the base of the slope. The top surface in the shady trees was supportable pow. I like this area because you can do some snow science, and there are not too many people who stick around, they just climb through to the PC ridge line. The sun facing aspects had a zipper crust on them that finally softened on the decent to the Jeep. I exited west out of Scott's and actually got some fun turns. I had to walk from the corner to the road and up to the Jeep, about a 1/4 mile walk, which was warm to say the least. Looking at all the south facing aspects, they have melted and their snow pack is thin in areas. North Facing or shady tree areas are still holding their whole snow pack but have not bridged. Another great Sunday in the Wasatch. Keeping the legs fresh until we get another storm. We just need one more big one and the terrain is really going to open up. Pray 4 Snow!

Scotts Guardsman 12.16.2018 from CPPhoto on Vimeo.