Ski Touring in the Uintas
Saturday, November 25th, 2006
The goal was to find the Castle Peak Yurt and to summit Castle
Peak. We achieved neither, but we did manage to ski
tons of breakable crusts and avoid the throngs of backcountry
skiers that were either running errands or Christmas shopping
in the valley.
Actually, we just wanted to walk the dogs, get some exercise,
and do some recon for future Uinta exploits. Seeing mountains I'd
never seen before, navigating the tricky forests, and being with
quality friends and fidos was well worth the extra trekking.
As you can see here, there was plenty of snow.
And as we got higher, there was even more snow.
Most of the pitches that were steep enough for exciting skiing
looked like this.
After about 7 miles of spongy breakable crust, or what I call
mattress protector crust, Star Child had a small breakdown and
refused to run any further. Foothill gave her a short lift to the
more supportable crusts and she was good to go for the last 3 miles.
Other events worth noting:
- Low angle forests that were challenging to navigate.
- Princesses' loose ski tobogganing down an icy rut and luckily
catching it.
- Skating across one of the three lakes we stumbled on.
- The road that went on forever and ever.
Reasons to go back to the Uintas:
- Go for a tour on light touring skis and really knock
back some miles.
- Go when there is more snow, less crusts, for obvious reasons.
- Do a traverse to Smith and Morehouse Canyon: guaranteed adventure.
- Stay at the yurt, bring a gps (the guide book says to follow
old ski tracks to the yurt... What ski tracks???)
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© 2008 foothillfreak : : Go with da fro : :