Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Baldy Chute Brah

Watching the Avalanche

I did a nice tour Saturday morning (May 21st!!!) with Dan. It started out a little late, but turned into a wonderful day. Alta Ski resort has shut its chairs down for the season, which leaves the mountain open to those willing to climb it. Dan and I are two of many. We left the truck a little after 8:30 am and began our climb. It was a beautiful day (which resulted in my face getting fried!) for a tour and the snow actually turned out to be pretty good. We decided to go all the way up to the top of Mt. Baldy. On our way we ran into a Snowbird ski patroller who we stopped and chatted with for a minute. Shortly after we heard a very loud noise, I looked across the canyon and saw the aftermath of an avalanche spewing over the Hellgate cliffs! Dan and I quickly busted out our cameras and I stretched my 55mm lens to its max trying to get a decent photo. It continued to release a few times an hour for the rest of the time we were up there. Neat! (but scary at the same time). We were almost to the top when Dan's dynafits started giving him fits on the icy top, so he decided to boot the rest of the way up. I skinned, which I'm not sure was the best idea, but I made it.
Once at the top, we looked around for a second while we transitioned and then it was time for the descent! Dan went first and laid down a nice line in the chute, straight-lined the bottom, and stopped in a clump of trees to get some photos of my ride. I put some nice turns down for about half of the chute and then pretty much straight-lined the rest... that is until things got a little hairy and I did a couple cartwheels. I'm not entirely sure what happened, but somehow my weight got shifted really far forward and a lanyard on my glove actually got caught on my binding, I pulled real hard, and actually snapped the lanyard, but it was to late. Classic.. nosedive, airborne cartwheels, and then kablammo! He's got some cool shots of the wreckage that you can check out here. Luckily the snow was soft enough that I didn't sustain any injuries, it was a hell of a crash though! Once I met up with Dan, we party-rode the rest of the run back down to the car, passing a group of snow-shoe-ers.

Watching the AvalancheAvalanche on HellgateLittle Cottonwood and the PheifAvalanche over the CliffsDan the ManMe.. looking stupid as always.
At the Parking LotPark and Ride and the Mouth


Baldy Chute, a set on Flickr.

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