Backcountry Ski Expedition!

It's been awhile since anything happened, but I'm just going pretend like nothing's wrong....

If you had a keen eye this past week you might have noticed our (not so) subtle advertising all over campus.  Whenever it wasn't being taken down, that is.  In addition to our upcoming snowshoe hike in Franklin Basin during the next full moon (which you can still sign up on) we had a backcountry skiing/snowboarding trip that went down January 24th.  The cost was a meager $15 for students and it was well worth it for the few people that signed up!

At first, the trip looked to be a little in doubt since it was raining at the ORC when we left Saturday morning.  It looked miserable but we decided to make the call at the trailhead.

When we arrived at the UDOT state sheds the sloppy rain turned into a heavy snow.  We geared up and started breaking trail northward towards the top of Garden City Canyon, a readily accessible backcountry area that has a great variety of safe terrain.  The avalanche danger was somewhat of a concern with the heavier snowfall, so we picked a safe route up.  After a quick lunch and determining that everyone had the legs for a run, we dropped into a safe aspect and enjoyed twenty to thirty turns on new snow.  It was kinda slow and heavy but it was backcountry skiing.  In fact it was the first time in the backcountry for everyone in our group.  What a way to learn how to ski!

It was about a twenty minute hike back up to the ridge and a quick jaunt down the west face to our cars.  The whole trip took about three to four hours.  We turned a few people into backcountry enthusiasts in the process and maybe they'll bring some friends along on our next ski/board trip.  We may try President's day for our next one.

See you on February 9th at 5:30 pm at the ORC for our Full Moon Snowshoe Hike!