We went for a walk today here in Arizona

Things are getting crazy around here. It seriously won't stop snowing!

I got the Middle Ship Rock Chute (center of photo) today in killer conditions. I haven't hit it like this in 7 or 8 years. I skied it before all of the other tracks were in the photo below, this was taken after riding back up the Agassiz Chair. #alltimeconditions for day 28. Tomorrow we walk.

Very nice - send some love our way - please

Nothing that we had hoped and planned for happened today, the mountain had something different in mind for us. I can't complain.

The beautiful inversion clouds moved in on our objective right as we crested the ridge.


Visually it was a ridiculous day to be up on the mountain. Our intended destination were the chutes in the Cirque seen in the photo below.





We bailed after sitting for an hour waiting for a window and headed over to Allison Clay. It was untracked and absolutely stunning. This upper portion in this photo is probably only a quarter or a third of the complete line. Below the clouds the avalanche path just keeps on giving and giving.

REMARKABLE!

Keep doing what you're doing, it seems to be working.

All the best, be safe.

Thanks 64er!

Here is one more (a friends photo) looking across Allison Clay Bowl right when we came around the corner.

sweet

Those are some great photos, RA. Seeing that in person must have been just spectacular. I say it was worth the effort even though you had to back off.

Brownski wrote

Those are some great photos, RA. Seeing that in person must have been just spectacular. I say it was worth the effort even though you had to back off.

Thanks again boys!

I even said right as we first came up over the ridge as we looked off at the sea of clouds that "The hike was worth it for this alone". We backed off our initial objective but we still had some awesome skiing! In the end, the mountain makes the calls. :)

Here we go again!

http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=35.33305256126513&lon=-111.67671203613281&site=fgz&unit=0&lg=en&FcstType=text#.WH-BVoFHaEc

Well that was one crazy cycle we just had. We ended up with 93 inches in 6 days. 3 days were well over 20 inches deep. In one 48 hour period we had 50 inches!

Unfortunately the shit winds trailed the storms and our back country is now slab city, but the coverage is incredible and the problem layers are sealed completely up. Hopefully we get some quieter and calmer storms soon so we can really take advantage of the best base we have seen here in seven years (twelve for back country lines).

Anyways, I didn't take many pictures, it was really cold and dumping hard so I focused on GoPro footage instead. Here are the few I did snap. The skiing action shots were taken by my buddy Nolan.

Cars turned into marsh mellows around town.


Storm skiing the aspens on the 3500 vertical foot out of bounds Second Gully run. This one dumps you off near the bottom of the access road.


Night time in down town flagstaff.


Line up for the first big day of the cycle with 21 in 24.


More Second Gully.


One more, sorry. This one is my favorite of the sequence. :)


Best coverage on the steep back country lines in 12 years.


The rising morning sun lights up some aspen trees.

I dig it baby

thanks Camp.

Not too shabby for Arizona.

I especially like the action POW shots in the Aspens. I'm a sucker for those trees, your Aspens, my White Birch.

actually white birch and aspen are not the same species.  

Aspens out west  Popular here in the east  

that's OK CampVROOMVROOM  

 Ahhhh, yes, you are correct. I miss spoke. Thank you for correcting me, Tonto

ScottyJack wrote

actually white birch and aspen are not the same species.  

Aspens out west  Popular here in the east  

that's OK CampVROOMVROOM  

Aren't they related though? I guess I don't know and I've always assumed they were.

raisingarizona wrote

ScottyJack wrote

actually white birch and aspen are not the same species.  

Aspens out west  Popular here in the east  

that's OK CampVROOMVROOM  

Aren't they related though? I guess I don't know and I've always assumed they were.

ScottyJack is correct. Poplar is the species Populus, the trees in RA's pic are likely Populus tremuloides, the quaking aspen (or trembling aspen). This tree also grows in the east (or at least in the northern part of the east), along with the largetooth aspen, Populus grandidentata. Birches are similar looking but separate species, the Betula. We have primarily white birch (aka paper birch), Betula papyrifera and yellow birch, Betula alleghaniensis.

Good thing I spent two years studying forestry.

Meanwhile, keep up the good work, RA!

We went on a walk today.

The snow wasn't great, we spent probably 5+ hours traversing/skinning (more like crampon-ing) on gnarly rime and ice as well as every other imaginable surface and got very little actual skiing in. It was awesome!

Our objective for the day was this spicy little number, The Skinny Beast. We made it there and skied it. The snow was sloppy but manageable.


The exit crux move was challenging, photos never do it justice.




Our mountain may be awfully moody but she sure is gorgeous.




CPC sporting a small mandatory on the exit.

Woof!

Life is about the journey!  Great to be out there, good stuff.