Report from February 24, 2022

Wedgie.

A vicious wedgie that I was never able to fully extract.

I had an appointment for a special knee brace in SLC in the morning and I wasn’t sure about skiing or not this day.

Once in SLC, I saw the blue skies in Little Cottonwood Canyon and I couldn’t resist.

In the parking lot, I got dressed in the back of my car and just didn’t get my underwear nor long underwear positioned right.

Which led to the all-day wedgie…

As I pulled into the lot, I noticed that Toledo Chute was untracked – which I’d never seen before.

As I started to climb up to the chute, I understood why.

The snow in that zone was a horrible dust on crust.

The ice underneath was bulletproof.

The temperatures were violently cold.

At least thrice, I stopped, poked around, and nearly pulled the plug.

For some reason, I continued on.

The sun was out but it started to fade as a grim northern fog shrouded the area.

On top, I thought about just skiing the powder fields left of the chute but the temptation of finally skiing Toledo Chute for the first time was too much – regardless of the conditions.

It looked bad from the top.

It skied badly from the top.

The middle was no better.

The bottom was trash.

Not only was it dust on crust, but it was cross-loaded by the wind creating a punchy, stiff layer that was difficult to extract a ski from once fully penetrated.

I struggle mightily, cursed, and laughed.

It was so bad…

The bottom of the chute delivered a lower angle and slightly better skiing.

I was at least able to keep a rhythm.

After I’d finished the chute I stopped, laughed, and breathed hard for minutes.

It was brutal, but for some reason, it didn’t hurt my bad knee and I was kinda stoked on that.

The rest of the ski back to the car on flat terrain was pleasant.

It felt great to get out and poke around, but man I’m over skiing dust on crust this season…

The forecast doesn’t look great for new snow soon around here.

We’re off to Alaska on Sunday and there, we’re hoping for the opposite – sun.

Avalanche Forecast