Inversion, Cloud's Ugly Cousin

Bluebird and stoked! (Rider: Todd Robertson Photo by: Steve W Weiss)

The city of Salt Lake and the horrible weather pattern known as inversion are synonymous every winter. To the scientific, it is "a deviation from the normal change of an atmospheric property with altitude." To the people of Salt Lake, it is when there is a low flying cloud that traps pollution creating a giant "piss" colored cloud that lingers over our city making the temperature drop dramatically and lowers our air quality. It sucks and the only place you can really escape it are the mountains.

You normally would not see a yellow cloud over the city, but you know, a city. (view from Little Cottonwood Canyon)

December 31, 2012 -

Fortunately with the #OmniTen coming in, I had motivation to get a pass to Solitude and shred the place I haven't been in a year. The temperatures were still, what I would call frigid, but the snow was good. Pretty tracked out since we hadn't got much snow in a week but there were pockets here and there in the trees that helped suppress my powder-fever that I developed while in Ohio for the holidays.

Slaying Solitude. (photo by Will Rochfort)

January 1, 2013 -

Red is uphill, blue downhill. (Map courtesy of Wasatch Backcountry Skiing)

The next week, inversion still lingering, I headed up to Alta with Niche rider and good friend Todd to do some touring on the opposite side. We scoped out some lines from the parking lot and picked Flagstaff. I was prepared for some cold temperatures again, but what we got was a perfect, avalanche-safe, bluebird day. 2 hours later, getting slightly sun-burned, and not being able to get a breath of air to quote another 90's movie, we weren't too stoked on the sun-baked snow until we hit the ridge. It was a powder paradise.

Todd setting up for the first run down. (Photo by: Steve W Weiss)

From the few ghost turns that we saw - turns from past skiers/snowboarders - the powder looked as fresh as it fell a week ago maybe 8 inches deep. Before the tour, Todd had mentioned that he wasn't in the best shape. I took that as, "I don't want to go for too long". So when I asked him if he was committed to going down the backside and doing another hike back up because we have to get back to the car and he gives me a, "Hell yeah!" I was totally stoked. Fresh turns in the backcountry will put an uncontrollable smile on my face every time. This time it was more of like a "Oooooh man this is REALLY good!" I even let out a "Woo!". I think I've been deprived from this feeling for too long that it all came out at once. Face shots, small rock features to hop off of into untouched powder, and sparse trees to weave through were the main attractions on this fast 40 degreed slope. Needless to say, Tony the Tiger would say it was grrrreat.

The hike back up was another 2 hours and forced us both out of our splitboards and to switch to boot packing. The front side was surprisingly fun too; corned snow a plenty with a half inch thick of crust that our boards just crushed through to the fresh pow under. Finishing into the parking lot of Alta, a string of aspen trees opened up some untouched turns as well. I was surprised because that area is usually flooded with turns as it's the main exit to any backcountry tour at Alta.

Smiles. High-fives. Plans to do it again already. I promise I will do my best to not have too much fun again...

Photos from Solitude:

Photos from the backcountry tour at Alta:

Our skinning track and not a cloud in the sky. (Superior in the back)

A baby cornice. You can see the top layer of snow slowly compressing together in the sun.

Victory!

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Meet the Author:

Steve W Weiss: Snowboarder, Climber, Beer drinker...oh and Blogger.  Cleveland-native who moved West to Utah to fulfill a life of mountain fun.  Keep up with me on my Twitter or Facebook! Have new posts sent to your email!

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