February has been a very interesting month. Since the first of the month the Wasatch has received over 118" of snow. I have not been out for a bit as the avalanche danger has been high, and we have a complicated snowpack. I had the day off on Friday and decided I would get out for a walk on the splitboard and see how things are stacking up. I decided to head up Grizzly Gulch for a nice walk on the skin track, and some low angle turns on the way home. I made my way up the Albion Basin road to the turn off for Grizzly Gulch. The wind was howling and transporting a lot of snow. The wind slabs were obvious so they were easy to avoid. As I climbed the wind was burning my face under bluebird skies. I rounded the corner and headed up into the gulch. The skin track is well established this year, and we have so much more snow than last year when I was here. I kept an eye on things as I climbed, looking for any red flags or recent avalanches. Surprisingly I saw none, so I proceeded to my spot to make the switchover for the ride out.
After some slope testing and a quick pit, yielding no results, I made the switch from touring mode to ride mode. I spent a bit of time up there, just taking in the view and watching the snow tornadoes whirl across the snow surface. Some clouds for an expected storm started pushing into the canyon so I made the drop. The snow was wind buffed supportable powder and really fast! Creamy turns which kept your board on the surface and was so fast and smooth from all the wind action. The ride out of the gulch was fun and the lower you got the more powder I seemed to be turning in. The exit was really fun with some creamy delights to slash it up to all the way to the Jeep. It was a great day out there! It was nice to be out on the skin track again. I really missed it. This winter is shaping up to be the best in years. Enjoy the videos and the pic I took of Patsy Marly being tickled by the sun as the clouds built in. I will never get tired of that view. More adventures to come!
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