OCR Text |
Show Purple Haze continued from page 6 the altimeter reading 14,500 - others made the Wickersham | feet and the cache nowhere in sight, Montecucco led out into thigh-deep snow with insane exposure to avalanche danger. He squinted into the _ storm, barely picking out the black duffel bag flapping in the wind atop a probe pole. We rushed to the 3 _ cache, which was also to be Wall expedition the culmination of every moment I’ve _ ever spent in the mountains. Everything John and I knew about route-finding, camp placement, ice-climbing, and steep skiing in variable conditions came into play. The _ former two issues relied on our climbing experiences in “extreme skiing” during a — corn cycle, and it provides _ realistic cramponing practice +9 “Binghe m- on the first cold day after a cycle. Leading the Great Cyc! ery” White Icicle in Little Cottonwood Canyon once a _ month made front-pointing up _ ditions were strictly Denali- cutting a tent platform the esque but our Wasatch roots first of — pone gave us the training eee we slides expedition the culmination of every moment I ‘ve spent in the _mounitains.” — | -Tyson Bradley _ poured over the overhanging upper ice-wall of the needed for3 ice, and especially | skiing. | _ crevasse, and blackened our world. $e hg It was a harrowing ) Before departing Salt Lake in April ‘94, I went through numerous touring night, but the following day partners in my quest for buldawned clear, and after allowletproof, Alaska Range snow ing 24 hours for settling, we - conditions. Most skiers _ ascended to 16,600 and the assume the essence of hiking sanctuary of a ridge camp. for turns is glistening, _ After another rest day forced untracked slopes of fluffy _ by ripping winds, we tested powder. Not so! You must - and got away with skiing the focus your attention on the | fourth section of the Wall, from 16,600 to 14,500 in 18 inches of glorious Utah- “light powder. | All in all, we skied 7,000 feet of powder, 4,000 of sastrugi, and 1,500 of suncrust. Not bad considering I had figured breakable crust was the best we could hope for. The entire route could easily have been bare ice. In fact, at 10,500 feet, the snow overlay ice that we protected with screws on the ascent. Yet by weighting our edges with a feather-light touch, we found it possible to rip up the eight inches of powder with- out making unnerving edge _ contact with the 45 degree skating rink below. Skiing technical water ice, a radical first for us! That day and douaid | most aesthetically appealing _ day that presents itself, regardless of the conditions. At least this is my philosophy for big peak preparation. The Tri- chutes, off cation where a small shoe will fit the bill. , 21, 8°x25” Only $225.00 with insux binding. — compiling the standard 100 © ski days per season like any | A star performer py Asin caters Blackhawks let you run or hike over a self-respecting Wasatch ski Ironically, we didn’t meet then, but rather in | Seattlein December of 1989 through the crabbing scene. John now makes his living wide range of condi- | tions float snow. from winter crab and summer $230.00 with insu- salmon fishing in Alaska’s lux bindings. Bering Sea. In between fishing stints he joins me on skimountaineering forays in the sFor winter , — 707 E.Ft Union|| 561-2453 A decent Paying night job, a ski pass, _ and hundreds of like-minded, adventure-seeking, high-energy partners is something I could never pass up. Since 1984- -85 I’ve been in Utah > nine of eleven winters, while of the year. _. Nothing in Utah - resembles Denali very much, _ but a plethora of steep skiing, enough ice and rock routes to keep any serious climber and fitness, and — Sand 13th E. 106 S. baal Lapring also Layton, Sunset, Ogden = 10-7 Mon.- Fri., 10-6 Sat. Early Season Backcountry Warning commercial fishing, traveling, and most recently guiding on fun Redfeather Like to hike? Midvale — as I do now at the Lodge Club Restaurant. | You'll love to snowshoe. I also put in five seasons on deck, but I always returned to work at Snowbird, time Bingham’s' stocks Sherpa snowshoes. Sierras, Andes, and Karakorum. with lots: of. for deeper 9”x30” Only. Only moments after the indent of mountain bike tracks on Alta’s Summer Road are covered over with snow do the first pre-season hikers of the year start laying down their own tracks. It has been a long, hot summer honed, and an affordable o and nothing can keep us the American Fork place to live (Salt Lake City) eager winter sportsmen (Snowbird) Twin Peaks, after in close proximity to all of it, and women from the _ weeks of baking sun and slopes now that the snow make this still the place. On. howling winds, were one reliis falling, not even our that note, I’d better go ski _ own better judgement. able training ground for sas-. ~ Cardiac Bowl, then climb at In a frenzy of trugi snow. Snowbird’s the Gate Buttress, before donanticipation we grab skis, Upper Cirque became another ning all my down and pile | food and jackets (forgetpractice hill after being superand sitting inside a freezer for ting our climbing skins, water and goggles) and twelve hours, in order to hardened by the scraping of ready myself for our planned - speed to our favorite early countless ski edges. Nine season hiking spot (can thousand vertical foot days of — assault on the Sultana Ridge you say “gaurdsmans?”’) It of Mt. Foraker (Alaska), ski touring in Broad’s Fork, is only at the top of the 17,400 feet, next May. run, legs tired from the and 4,500 foot runs in Stairs first hike of the ski year, and Coalpit Gulches com- | - prised the fitness regimen.. Superior’s Southeast Face almost qualifies-as the designed | _ hiking, or any appili-| In the mid 1980's line, then ski it (in good style) | Denali and Mt. Hood the rest on the first avalanche- safe_ model, is _ for running, walking, nowhere, with 50 pounds on the back, a pleasure. bum. “That day and many others made the Wickersham Wall popular _redtail the rope, in the middle of ~ our safe haven in the middle © the Andes, Himalayas, and . John Montecucco and I were of a wall whose name is synthe Northwest volcanoes. _ both training (a.k.a. fun-havonymous with avalanches. The altitude and weather con-_ ing) in Little Cottonwood, Before we’d even finished _ Redfeather’s most / blue ice, on the sharp end of do we realize that it has been four months since we last performed this physical activity and, oh yeah we also forgot our knee pads. “There’s enough snow out there,’ Saysa. | _ Skier limping in Goldminer’s parking lot, “just don’t fall down.” _ Frequently this early blanket of snow is no more than a cover for the danger that hides below. Keep in mind that a few weeks of patience and caution are a small sacrifice compared to spending the season channel surfing with one leg in a cast. This year there have already been one broken — clavicle, one broken humerus and one broken _ leg; and these are only the injuries that have been reported to Alta Fire. Last year in the pre-season, a. young snowboarder broke his neck flying of a kicker and landing on a cat track. He is now a quadriplegic. By all means, celebrate the arrival of winter in the best way you can, but don’t 7 make yourself a sacrifice |