Little Cottonwood Magic

Andrea looking over Maybird Gulch from Hogum Hogback

It does not get better than this!!!!

We kicked off 2016 with a fun ski trip to Sun Valley. Then El Nino's snow gun decided to lock in on the Wasatch Mountains and every weekend has just gotten better and better. We skied powder four straight weekends in January... Exhibit: A - B - C - D.

Surely that streak couldn't continue into February, right? That's what we thought earlier in the week, but fortunately we couldn't have been more wrong. There was a "chance of 2 to 4 inches of snow" on Thursday night, but Little Cottonwood Canyon worked its magic and somehow that turned into 12-14 inches of blower pow, setting us up for another powder skiing weekend! The only difference was that for the first time in a long time, we were skiing under sunshine and blue skies.

We took advantage and skied the backcountry all weekend. Photos and some words below...

Friday February 5th - Brighton

I haven't mentioned it much because it has become so routine, but we've still been cranking out midweek uphill laps at Brighton. I typically go up two nights a week after work, while Andrea usually sticks to one night a week. Skinning Brighton laps and running keeps the blood thick like molasses so we have plenty in the tank for the big weekend adventures.

The sunset on Friday night was especially good, so I wanted to make sure this photo was on the record...

Saturday February 6th - Pink Pine

Pink Pine has always been one of our favorite spots on a powder day. The access from White Pine TH is quick, the views are great, and the tree skiing off the ridge is steep and deep. We knocked out 5 laps that got better and better and better throughout the day on Saturday...

Sunday February 8th - Maybird Gulch

On Sunday we wanted to take advantage of the ideal weather, stable avalanche conditions, and great snow... while exploring a little bit and skiing somewhere new. We started from White Pine again, traversed over the Red Pine where we skied a short lap, then made our way up to Maybird Gulch. We skied three spectacular laps off the Maybird ridge. Total hero snow. The 360 views from this area are among the best in the Wasatch... perhaps the best. Our fifth lap was a tree run back through Red Pine and as we made our way back to the trailhead, we talked about how we can't wait to ski in Maybird again...

You can see me if you look close

Andrea about to ski into the light

All in a day's work!