Report from October 27, 2022

Yesterday, I was kayaking in a T-shirt in 77ºF weather in California.

Today, I was getting backhanded by a -1ºF wind chill at 11,000′.

Yesterday, I jumped on a late-night plane to Utah.

I slept for five hours.

I  awoke at 5 am and drove to the mountain thinking we’d be one or two or three cars in the Alta lot…

There were 50 cars there when we arrived at 6:15 am.

People were on it & having a blast.

We saw a snowboarder booting up and drinking a beer in a T-shirt at 9 am.

The vibe was high and people were pumped.

We jumped in the conga line and shook our way up 11,000′ Mt Baldy.

Dozens of college kids were hiking up and dropping in like lemmings.

Once we passed the Baldy Shoulder, we had Mt Baldy to ourselves…

From then on, we never saw another human being.

The temp at the top of the Collins chair was 11°F & the wind chill was -1°F, according to NOAA. The east wind had some real bite.

This was our first day of the 2022/23 season and it was a banger!

And we were a total mess…

I forgot my headlamp, belt, thin gloves, camera, backpack brain, sunscreen, chapstick, breakfast, & sunglasses…

It all worked out and we had a ball. Today was a sharp change from our 77°F kayaking in the California Delta yesterday.

Thanks, Alta, and thanks Utah for the excellent annual early-season conditions.

Note:  I lightly hit 2 rocks in Main Chute. There were some big rocks sticking out in the apron, but I didn’t hit any rocks on the apron nor on the rest of the descent.

Weather Forecast

Avalanche Forecast

Photos