We thought we’d report in somewhat of a diary format – the fun, the shenanigans, slope reports (and perhaps debauchery) of the Utah Crew. These guys have invested the time and energies to head out west for a bit of fun and they are submitting photos and reports of the first ever, SkiNC / Utah Summit. Each day you’ll need to scroll to the next day… Click HERE to see the latest Photos!
We’ll update this report as the week progresses: You can also visit the SPECIAL Photos of the Day Archive Section to see the latest great photos coming from them.
Bill (Outdoorwood) has posted some videos for you guys to see. We couldn’t download them and post them to our video page so here’s some links to an offside host:
Video One: Of Mark McKelvy
Video Two is at Snowbird of CBKoontz (shot by Outdoorwood)
Video Three is a Special Message
Video
Day One: 01.29.06 12:08 PM
Gresham Barker was the first to report in with, "WE ARE HERE AND IN FULL EFFECT! Everyone is here (aside from those arriving later) and we are rocking Utah to the core. Quick first day TR…. Stink, TD and GB arrived in SLC to meet ‘bird, mark, bowen, asc, SkiMastercraft,mblacky, cbkoontz, OW, dooner, drmnofpow, and keith….
What can I say…the start to the ’06 Utah summit started with a bang with a trip to Brighton and weather that is BANGIN!!!!
Started snowing around 12:30 and hasn’t stopped since.. Great day at B’ton…multiple runs off Millicent and some of the best night skiing that the Utah crew has ever claimed….Knee deep pow in numerous places…and let me just put this out there….
KNEE DEEP NIGHT TREE SKIING…..WOOOOOO HOOOO.
Word on the street is that Ogden is nuking and we are headed to Snowbasin tomorrow….should be epic…snow is plentiful and the temperature at the top of Big Cottonwood was a comfy 28 degrees today. Ill let the pics speak for themselves….
skiied with TD and mark most of the day, and met up with bird later for some night tree riding…epic epic epic…
Day 1 and we are already cranked up….just gonna get better… "
Joe Harmon (Snowbird) reports in a language all his own: “I’m Utah, and headed to ski./ride powder at Brighton. Post later on tonight. every1 made it safe with luggage in hand. pics to come lata."
Day Two: reported 01.30.2006
On Sunday, Joe Harmon wrote via the messageboard: “we are back form snowbasin. what a day. powder all day long. tomorrow will be awesome. stay tuned for a super sweet trip report tomorrow around 11 pm. trip report form today will be post later. we bout to hit hot tub and eat food. pics and report in a while. lots of powder shots from today see stay tuned it will be worth the wait.”
Gresham Barker also teased, “TR day 2 Snowbasin….teaser….ill upload the pics then post.. all i gotta say is 22 inches in 24 hours beeeyotches…..mark and bird have tons of pics too….TR upcoming…”
Gresh then reported, “Day 2 Snowbasin….Met up with Buzzworthy from TGR and had the most epic day I’ve ever had in Utah….powder was EVERYWHERE…and plenty of untracked to be had. Thank God for the guide that showed us around….Made runs all over the mountain from strawberry to John Paul, and every single one brought untracked snow and big fat smiles. HUGE thanks to Buzz for showing us the stashes….
22" in 24 hours so the snow report said….and I don’t have any trouble believing that…..
Bird is the word, Indoor Wood IS a good thing to have, and we ain’t respondin to any text messages or voice mails…..
Happy birthday stink….
bird and mark have a ton of pics and video…”
Gresham later wrote in response to many people wondering about the deep powder causing numerous falls – “btw we all got our butts handed too us at least once today, and more….yes it was DEEEEEEEEEP in some areas…..and never been happier!!!!
Bail list (that I know of):
TD
Stink
GB
Bird
CB
ASC
OW
….im sure theres more….you just had to check and see whose goggles were filled to the brim…”
Dave McConnell could only say, “Summit has been EPIC thus far. Must sleep.”
Joe Harmon summed up DAY TWO as such, “alright, mark’s being a little lazy he’s just beat, so I’m taking it upon myself to ensure that the crew gets photo of the day again today. Here is the group shot from snowbasin. it has all messageboard people that are in Utah so far included in it. We also have buzz from TGR who showed us around snowbasin in there. good thing he was there bc it was white out conditions in places up there today. we all had a ball. Great conditions, powder and as you can tell we all had a blast. Oh wait those are all pics of me other than the one group shot. I had to send them so I chose them. Mark’s being a little lazy at 2am here so I’m sending in his pics. I have plenty more of my own to send in from yesterday, but here is what will be photo of the day. You have a group of hard core elite summiteers going on a field trip today. You will have to stay posted and check email early tomorrow to find out where we went in Utah. This is epic stuff here. its 2am we went to sleep at 11pm, and were up for the day. We’re all having a ball.
Day 2 Snowbasin….Met up with Buzzworthy from TGR and had the most epic day I’ve ever had in Utah….powder was EVERYWHERE…and plenty of untracked to be had. Thank god for the guide that showed us around….Made runs all over the mountain from strawberry to John Paul, and every single one broght untracked snow and big fat smiles. HUGE thanks to Buzz for showing us the stashes….
22" in 24 hours so the snow report said….and I dont have any trouble believing that…..
Bird is the word, Indoor Wood IS a good thing to have, and we ain’t respondin to any text messages or voice mails…..
Happy birthday stink….
The Snowbunny debate…..OVER!…The Austrialian National Areials team (AKA the FLYING KANGAROOS) poses with the fellas (see photos link)
Day Three comments from the Crew:
Mark McKelvy wrote: “We left at 3 AM to go to Jackson Hole. We left the little girls behind and they went to Solitude. We just got back. We had about 12" of fresh snow between last night and what fell today.
Tomorrow’s agenda or today actually is some to snowbird and the rest to alta. snowbird is actually going to ski alta with the crew.
Joe Harmon wrote, “hey mike, as you know we went up to jackson hole today. only a select few men went. this idea was planned at the cat mini summit 3 weeks ago. it was kept on the down low as to shock people when they see the pics. but you can go into the thread and pull out all those pics. i dont have time to email them all to you as well, and people will be looking for them on the board first thing in the morning. there is also a report in there from the trip. we had a BOOOMBER day at jackson hole. summit is going off great. every1 is having a great time. what a way to get away from reality.. weather has been great. snow every day for a select few. those in bcc today got no snow while we got well over a foot on top of the 8 they had last night. it was a BOOOMBER day.
Gresham Barker wrote, “Now on to the report. Another day of great weather, another day of pow, and super secret recon splinter cell mission is underway. Soli was butta today and multiple runs were made all over the mountain…warmed up on some butter smooth groomers and then jumped into Honeycomb Canyon for some steep and deep action. Powder weary legs here. We couldn’t have asked for any better weather than we are having….The majority of the crew cruised the butter groomers and shreded pow at Solitude today and it was epic…..just like we planned. Apres ski was fun as usual, but the skiing and riding was soon not to be forgotten. We are having a "bomber" time and its only going to get better..More dumpage in the forecast. OW, drmn, stink, and others have some great pow pics to upload as well…I highly advise those not here to make your plans for the ’07 Montana summit…..you wont regret it….GaTom…hurry up and get your A S S out here…you’re missin it!!!
Time to go soak it up in the hot tub…..enjoy…”
MBlacky wrote, “The real men in the summit crew went on a top secret mission to Jackson Hole, WY today. The men: Teledave, Snowbird, Markhpnc, MBlacky1051, CBKoontz. All I can say is it was BOMBER! Separate TR from the fab five to come soon.”
He later wrote, "Just now waking up after a 11 hour drive total from Salt Lake City to Jackson Hole and back. Mad props to those of us who sacked up and went to ride the tram for one last time. We rolled the dice and hit the jackpot, powder all day long. The bird is one crazy fool, tried to get me a job at Wendy’s. CB was shredding pow at the most difficult ski area in the country, and this is his first time out west. Mark still had about 10 more runs to ski when the lifts closed. Dave did the superman and flew about 5 feet on the last run of the day. And I am flat out beat right now, gotta get ready for Alta today."
Buzzworthy (trail guide) wrote, “Glad you all had a good time up there. The snow was epic, the stashes I know were a bit in the clouds, but the goods were found anyway!
You guys really know how to have fun on the mountain! I had a hell of a good time with yall.
Mark and Bird ripped it up, we ended up going out "thru" the ropes, and hit some SWEET untracked for multiple runs.
CB was right with us, even though I was told it was his first time out west. What a day to be in that much pow! You fall, have fun getting up is all I have to say.
Had to pull Mr. Stinky off his tele-floundering [profanity omitted] once too, you old fart!
Thanks again for having me up, it was a pleasure. And the nice thing about being a tour guide: I get to go ride where I want and all yall just follow me. Luckily we all like the same thing: POW!!!
Buzz
_________________
I can’t understand anything Mr. Stinky ever says.
Joe Harmon wrote, “day 3 alta for some snowbird for other.
snowbird made a promise to mblacky that if he went to jackson hole, that snowbird would go ski alta. so i held true to my promise and skied today. had a blast out there. not gonna ski anymore this season though. and i skied all of 2 runs in the last 2 years, and i went and tore it up at alta. wait till you see the pics. never skiied powder before either. yeah,
boooomber or a day.
hmmhmm, yeah.”
Day Four:
Gresham Barker wrote, “Day 4….Alta for the skiiers, Snowbird for the boarders….a great day…the snow report said 6-8 inches…..BWAHAHAAAH! Whatever…another deep day…another good time. Bird strapped on the sticks in a deal that he made on the Jackson trip with MB. Bird is a ripper on the sticks too. Arrived at alta to somewhat foggy condiions and light snow, then the sun popped out….that high pressure movin in before the next storm tomorrow….Everybody got freshies on the first run off baldy shoulder and we went pow huntin after that, because Alta gets tracked out super fast. MB, Gresh, and Bird were the pow hunters of the day…..”
Dave McConnell finally got in on the posting and wrote, “while the little girls went to Solitude.
We’d been cooking up this one for a couple of weeks; about ten or so of the summiteers were gung ho on the idea until it came time to put up or shut up.
When the time the 2AM wake up call rolled around Mr. Stinky and Gresham bailed, when I heard MBlacky in the bathroom chanting to the porcelain god I figured he was done for but he rallied and we were ready to roll.
At 3:15AM the ‘Burban rolled out of SLC with myself, MBlacky, ‘Bird, Markhpnc, and cbkoontz on our way to Jackson Hole WY. 350’ish miles (around 150 or so on snow covered roads) and 5 hours later we were in the parking lot at Teton Village. The report said they had received 8" of new snow overnight to go along with the 22" they had received over the prior 48 hours. Winds were heavy, with Sublette on hold and the possiblity of others being closed as well. A light snow was falling.
Time to hit the tram line, first run Rendevous Bowl to the Hobacks. Rendevous was windbuffed, not exactly powder but lots of fun. Once we got the ridge the winds died down considerably though and that windbuff became powder that got deeper and deeper the farther down the mountain we went.
As the day went along more tram laps were done as well as some laps around the Thunder and Sublette chairs. More Rendevous and Hobacks, Tower 3 , Expert ,and Alta Chutes, Cheyenne and Laramie Bowls. They were all good from the start.
Oh, did I mention that it was lightly snowing when we got there? Well that light snow got heavier and heavier as day went by, over 12" easily fell during the day. Boot deep powder turned into thigh deep powder, faceshots were the special of the day and everyone got their share.
We got on our last tram around 3:15 and sadly said our goodbyes to the red box. The last run down Rendevous started with me hitting a huge winddrift and performing a Superman double eject, sorry no pics on that one I would have loved to have seen it from someone else’s point of view. The last run of the day was the best, untracked everywhere and DEEP!
We drove back to SLC in and out of near blizzard conditions, tomorrow (well later this morning actually) in the Cottonwoods should be good.
SLC to JH to SLC, 21 hours
Gas $90
Lifties $70 each
Catching Jackson Hole on a powder day and saying goodbye to the Tram:
PRICELESS!
Sleep is overrated you bunch of pansies.
Pics to come, of the real men not the little girls.
drmnofpow just wrote, "Just returned from Park City w/bird,cb, scoot… jaeger shots and all.
Mark McKelvy reports "Snowbird with Cbkoontz,Outdoor Wood and Kdawg. Sorry I am behind on pics, TRs, etc. I have a ton more photos and videos to post up, but the videos will probably have to wait. I have not had much time or sleep and the only internet access I have is the post kings lap top so yeah…
Today the 4 boarders (no Snowbird since he was a traitor and went skiing at Alta) got dropped off at Snowbird. They reported a conservative 5" of fresh with much more over the last few days. It snowed off and on, was windy, and switched bewteen cloudy, foggy, and sunny throughout the day. I rolled with CB up the tram. We got in touch with Outdoor wood and Kdawg with plans to meet them, but right when we got to the top, they dropped the ropes to mineral basin, which had been closed. So we jumped in there for first tracks. It was good, but there was a feeding frenzy for the pow and it didn’t last long enough. We rode mineral for most the morning and then met up with Outdoor wood at lunch. Made some runs down the frontside for the rest of the day. It is a big mountain and the next time I go this week I will know the lay of the land better."
MBlacky reported upon his arrival back in Charlotte: "Back at work in Charlotte now after 4 epic days in Utah and Wyoming. Left SLC at 7:30 last night and got into Charlotte at 8am today and headed straight into work. Hardcore, but well worth it.
All I can say is that Jackson Hole was booomber! The fab 5 stole the show with an epic day in Jackson that will never be forgotten. Kissed the big red box goodbye and was treated with knee deep powder at 3:30 in the afternoon. I have some work to do, but I will have plenty of things to post later."