Trip Report: Alpine Ski Tour - Ski at Alta Friday May 2
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Alpine Ski Tour - Ski at Alta Friday May 2 By Eve Kovacs |
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| SKI | 05/02/2025 | MOD |
| Particpants: Eve Kovacs, Mark Maier As this was my first attempt at organizing a trip for the WMC, I had in mind a modest goal such as skinning up Collins and skiing the Ballroom run. However, Mark contacted me and suggested that we could ascend Mt Baldy, descend to Sugarloaf Pass and then possibly ascend Sugarloaf Peak. I had not previously ascended the north ridge of Mt. Baldy, so I was keen to do this. Meanwhile, when skiing Sugarloaf on the previous day, I ran into some skiers who had descended the east ridge of Sugarloaf and skied Devil's Castle, so the idea of doing the traverse was born. We met at Wildcat base at 9:30 am after a good freeze, so the snow was firm, but softened as we ascended. After reaching the top of the Wildcat chair, we continued up Mt Baldy shoulder on skis, switching to ski crampons for a short while. As the slope became steeper, we transitioned to boot crampons to ascend the rest of the route. The snow had softened enough so that the boot pack was quite comfortable. The skis felt pretty heavy to me by the time we topped out! We got a nice view down Main Chute on the way. After a sunny break at the summit for some refreshments, we started down the east side. We weren't sure what route we were going to take, but the descent line down Living The Dream proved irresistible. We had an enjoyable descent in great corn snow on the south side of Mt. Baldy and ended up in Snowbird. A short skin brought us back to Sugarloaf Pass and from there we had an easy ski ascent up the south side of Sugarloaf. The views from the summit were well worth the short climb. The route down the east side of Sugarloaf (which neither of us had done) looked very reasonable, so we proceeded to ski down the narrow ridge and, after a brief hop across a short rocky section, popped out at the col between Sugarloaf and Devil's Castle. From there we had another very enjoyable descent on corn snow which persisted almost to the base of Sunnyside. The slog back to Wildcat base was less fun but mercifully short! This is a highly recommended tour (3100' vertical) for a day with good visibility and good stability. |
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