Tim Walton: "6000ft of climbing and avalanches, the result? Sumitting Clearwater florida"
Tim Walton a TriStar Athlete who has a taste for extremes shared this recent climbing and skiing trip with his coaches to explain just how his base training was coming along. We were flabbergasted looking at the drops and climbing heights. Last year Tim took his skiing fitness into his race season and was able to qualify for the Clearwater Half Ironman Championships. This year it looks like his fitness is WAY up and FEAR way down!
"All that backwards and forwards to Salt Lake City over the last few years and an ever growing obsession with back country skiing needed a few objectives. One of them was fulfilled last Sunday.
Lone Peak guards the southern end of the central Wasatch range. Looking at the Salt Lake skyline, Lone Peak is the volcanic-looking peak at the south entrance to Little Cottonwood Canyon. The 1,500' East face (Pic 1) is generally considered to be the gnarliest face in the Wasatch range with an average pitch of 45-50 degrees. It doesn't get skied too often because (a) it is a pain to get to (and get out of), (b) its easterly aspect requires an early start (or good early season snow), and (c) the two main routes off the summit have cliff bands at the bottom (=very bad place to fall / get caught in a slide).
As a result of all this, I've been wanting to ski it for ages! Last weekend provided the right snow conditions / weather to get the green light. The ascent is a tedious slog from the town of Alpine, a Mormon enclave between Salt Lake and Provo. It is 6,000' straight up off the valley floor usually in baking heat (the ascent route faces S). We wanted to be skiing the face by 11am as any later could put us at risk to slides. Instead of the bluebird conditions we had clouds, which helped the climbing at the expense
of the photos!
Snow conditions were good so we were able to use climbing skins from the trailhead, making the summit in reasonable time, though I was suffering a bit from the big day I'd had previously. The peak has two summits, joined by a short, but incredibly nasty looking ridge (Pic 2). The west side of the ridge is a 600' vertical rock wall, and the east side is a heavily corniced. Fortunately we were only skiing off the slightly lower South summit so we didn't have to navigate that.
Whilst we'd been happy with the cloud cover on the way up, the incoming storm was bringing some very gusty winds. So, we were keen to get off the summit and get on with the task, despite the generally flat light.
The snow on the way down were pretty much as we would have wanted - firm snow welded in place by the recent weather. The previous day's up-canyon winds had unfortunately created a slight crust on the snow which required careful attention. Nice powder might make for good pictures, but given the pitch and exposure on the line, even a small sluff (loose snow avalanche) could be extremely dangerous. It was steep all the way down (Pic 1) with few opportunities to stop in safe places (Pic 3). At time the pitch went to maybe 60 degrees, especially when navigating the cliff band at the bottom.
Once the main face was completed, we were able to find a creative route to another Wasatch classic (the Coalpit) and exit via that. All in all a great experience - and since there are two main routes off the summit, I'll now have to go back and ski it again!"
TW
"All that backwards and forwards to Salt Lake City over the last few years and an ever growing obsession with back country skiing needed a few objectives. One of them was fulfilled last Sunday.
Lone Peak guards the southern end of the central Wasatch range. Looking at the Salt Lake skyline, Lone Peak is the volcanic-looking peak at the south entrance to Little Cottonwood Canyon. The 1,500' East face (Pic 1) is generally considered to be the gnarliest face in the Wasatch range with an average pitch of 45-50 degrees. It doesn't get skied too often because (a) it is a pain to get to (and get out of), (b) its easterly aspect requires an early start (or good early season snow), and (c) the two main routes off the summit have cliff bands at the bottom (=very bad place to fall / get caught in a slide).
As a result of all this, I've been wanting to ski it for ages! Last weekend provided the right snow conditions / weather to get the green light. The ascent is a tedious slog from the town of Alpine, a Mormon enclave between Salt Lake and Provo. It is 6,000' straight up off the valley floor usually in baking heat (the ascent route faces S). We wanted to be skiing the face by 11am as any later could put us at risk to slides. Instead of the bluebird conditions we had clouds, which helped the climbing at the expense
of the photos!
Snow conditions were good so we were able to use climbing skins from the trailhead, making the summit in reasonable time, though I was suffering a bit from the big day I'd had previously. The peak has two summits, joined by a short, but incredibly nasty looking ridge (Pic 2). The west side of the ridge is a 600' vertical rock wall, and the east side is a heavily corniced. Fortunately we were only skiing off the slightly lower South summit so we didn't have to navigate that.
Whilst we'd been happy with the cloud cover on the way up, the incoming storm was bringing some very gusty winds. So, we were keen to get off the summit and get on with the task, despite the generally flat light.
The snow on the way down were pretty much as we would have wanted - firm snow welded in place by the recent weather. The previous day's up-canyon winds had unfortunately created a slight crust on the snow which required careful attention. Nice powder might make for good pictures, but given the pitch and exposure on the line, even a small sluff (loose snow avalanche) could be extremely dangerous. It was steep all the way down (Pic 1) with few opportunities to stop in safe places (Pic 3). At time the pitch went to maybe 60 degrees, especially when navigating the cliff band at the bottom.
Once the main face was completed, we were able to find a creative route to another Wasatch classic (the Coalpit) and exit via that. All in all a great experience - and since there are two main routes off the summit, I'll now have to go back and ski it again!"
TW
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