Well, I went snowboarding tonight, and y'know what? It was pretty good.
Lane and I started up from the Alta parking lot in a ping pong ball at around 4 PM with 60 of our best friends. Oh god, another early season tour up Collin's Gulch. How good could this be? Although I had been bouldering like a madman recently, my ambitions had been cut short due to a strained pulley while working a problem in Joe's—my first trip of the supposed 'season.' That put an early end to hard climbing.
But with several early October storms, I knew the skiing could be decent... and the prospects of sitting around moping and climbing easy stuff in the gym didn't seem that fun. Plus, Lane had been out skiing quite a bit, and he said it was good—though he skis more than anyone I know, and it's tough to fully take his word when he says that there's good skiing to be had.
On our way up, Lane asked whether we wanted to go for a warmup/schuss lap before hitting Main Baldy. I probably only had one lap in me (my fitness was nonexistent due to said bouldering), so I thought, Nah, let's just go for it. This would be the second year where my first turns of the season were made on one of the classic lines in the revered Chuting Galley. It's fun to try to keep this tradition alive.
The clouds parted as we climbed, which afforded spectacular, dramatic views down into LCC and beyond. It's rare that we get an 'above the clouds' perspective in the Wasatch. Pictures were taken. Tears were shed.
We summited (every foot counts when you're working with a spreadsheet!) and skied back down to Main Baldy entrance. Despite my rockboard being fractured width-wise (clinically speaking the board is broken in half), it rode surprisingly well and I was making zippy little hop turns on wind-affected summit snow. Splitboarding is just like riding a bike!
We had Main Baldy all to ourselves despite the hordes skinning up Collins. As a cherry on top, Lane let me have the first turns. My rockboard inspired confidence. Turns out, it wasn't that boney and there was even some dense powder left over on the flanks of the chute. Yeehaw!
These were some of the more fun turns I've made this early in the season. Certainly conditions are very good for mid-October. Normally I would lament this early season snow, but with next week's potential weather system, I'm not counting out high north-facing as a powder provider through the early season and into winter proper.
If it keeps snowing, I think 21/22 will shape up to be a good season in the Wasatch.
