This last weekend we decided to head out for a little hike, just 5600′ of boot-packing, no big deal. To some this is a warm-up for the morning, but for me it was a lot of work with a 45lbs pack of camera gear. We went up to attempt the Hypodermic Needle or Coalpit Headwall depending on conditions, enjoy another visual journey.
Coalpit Headwall Little Cottonwood Canyon, UT
Alpine start at 6am leads to hiking in the dark, then more hiking in the dawn, then more hiking in the sunlight.
Some of the team for the day, Amalia Jane Smith, Jarod the Crusher, and Tyson Titensor of DPS Skis. The Needle wasn’t in condition, lots of ice up top. We opted for the steep open lines on the Coalpit Headwall.
For all the hiking you get Dustin Butcher smiling like this…
Then Marcus Greenwood looking as stern as ever here while crushing the steep and deep on the Coalpit Headwall
And of course no Wasatch Adventure would be complete without a little hand rappel on the way out the Coalpit drainage. The Wasatch mountains are an amazing range to practice the skills of survival and enjoyment while exposed to the elements. Maybe this journey is a little playschool, but it was an excellent work out and fun experience to shoot.
Currently I work full time for an outdoor company, Mon – Fri I am in the office getting it done. Most people who work full time like to relax on the weekend by lounging around the house, going shopping, or going to a movie. While I do enjoy all those things, for some unusual reason, most of my Saturdays are spent doing more work than I do during the week, both physically and mentally. It has something to do with an insatiable love for the mountains and the feeling that comes from submitting myself to their extremes.
Yesterday a small group of SLC weekend warriors got out for a small hike from 4,951 to 10,500 (just shy of the summit)
The Team
The Objective in 2D
The Objective in 3D
There were a few issues with the proposed mission, but these warriors would not be deterred by a few miles of dirt roads, cooking temperatures, late starts, mud in the parking lot, or huge climbs. After rolling out of the bed at the crack of 8am the team drove to Alpine, UT where the adventure would begin. They quickly prepared (read: got stuck on the dirt road up to the trailhead, left the book on top of the car down the road, slowly skinned and packed) and began hiking up the road toward the first and second Hamangogs.
“I am sure glad I have these heavy boots for this long hike.”
“Mid-January 40 degrees, nothing out of the ordinary with all this climate change.”
Luckily the trail held enough snow to skin right from the car, although thin in some spots. The team pushed forward moving at a quick clip for desk jockeys, 1,200′ per hour until they reached the top of the second hamangog where a brief refuel was necessary before the final climb to the summit.
“They’re backcountry skis, this is what Voile built them built for… right!?”
Slightly closer, but oh so far away…
Summer sausage is just what every girl needs for lunch.
Closer yet and the light is starting to go.
Some people have to suffer through such a long hike with nothing but their own thoughts. Luckily we had Dustin Butcher with us, we have never met anybody full of so many stories, whether it’s 4am dawn patrol, midday work break, or high on Lone Peak, Dustin will entertain with some story, often about zombies. Then he will pull out his Holga camera and snap some amazing medium format images before exploding the free-heel corn skiing scene.
Artist @ work
“My mind is so free, just like my heel!”
As we neared the summit the sun raced toward the horizon like teenage girls to Justin Bieber. We decided to call it good as the snow was already transforming from its slushy consistency to a rock solid sheet of fun. Ripping our skins at this point and making the most of the evening light afforded us opportunities to shoot images of awesome skiers in awesome light on less than ideal snow–always a joy. Of course we started it off with some figure 8s, no ski tour is complete without them. Then we got our “deep” corn snow gnar shredding on like Donkey Kong!
Dustin Butcher, no big deal
granite, snow, sunshine, skis, everything a girl could ask for – Amalia Smith
Pitt Grewe proving that esquiador bueno actually means amazing.
Nothing like fast turns high above a metropolis, especially when the metropolis is called “Happy Valley”
After some good turns through the upper bowl, we came to grips with the pending climax to our adventure, skiing out in the dark on steep treed ice. We hit a couple more turns and tried to make as much distance as we could before it was totally dark. Luckily or maybe not, the snow on the trail had melted halfway down which forced us to walk instead of try to ski a ribbon of ice through the trees. Finally arriving at the car sloshing through mud, we checked the time, 7:31pm, we had been on the move 10.5 hours, the perfect way to unwind from a long week at the office.
“If I look like a 500lb woman, well that’s because I am trying to be to break through this crust!”
Pitt Grewe – average skier dropping the knee in the evening light on icy goodness
Hiking in ski boots is the best… especially in the dark!
What we do and why we do it; the mountains are a source of rejuvenation and inspiration. As a creator and communicator one of my greatest means of self fulfillment is to capture passionate people in wild places with the most outstanding light. Sometimes this is easy and the conditions are ideal, sometimes not. I continue to return, finding purpose in the challenge and motivation in the accomplishment. This time we didn’t make it to the summit; often times we are turned back. Many think of this as failure, but we do it because the mountains are the place where we find ourselves by exposing ourselves to the extremities of the mountains on the terms of the mountain.