Chatter Creek Snowcat, Jan. 31 - Feb. 3, 2009

[Tony Crocker]

The wind that I saw at Kicking Horse blew hard here overnight. Therefore we stuck to the trees today. Chatter was dry for 2+ weeks but fortunately got about a foot over the past few days. Snow is somewhat thicker than usual, so a bit trickier to ski. I got a bit chilled doing transceiver drills and took a while to warm up. Late start after the drills and 5 new people this year, so only 7,800 for the day.

Enchanted Forest burn area. Good now but crusty with south exposure before the recent storm.

Krys skis some pow in Enchanted Forest.

We regroup after some trees before skiing The Phat clear-cut.

Bottom of the clear-cut.

 

[Tony Crocker]

Day 2 was a great improvement for me despite fairly similar conditions. I was not chilled, but the big change was that I decided to try out the K2 Pontoons that Chatter is renting this season. They felt more comfortable right away than my Mantras that yesterday was just my 3rd day skiing on them.

The first 2 runs were fairly mellow spaced trees, but for the 3rd they took a shot at the alpine. The wind had packed a thick surface layer, but by jabbing a pole in the snow I could break through to at least 6 inches of fluff underneath. So I knew to make rounded and not abrupt turns to avoid breaking through, not that I could necessarily execute, and I'm sure I would not have yesterday. I went 2nd after the guide, and at the bottom looked back to find over half the group down from breaking through the crust. The 3 of us with the guide were all on Pontoons. Later in the day the guides tried another alpine dropoff that had much better snow, but at least 3/4 of the skiing was still in the trees.

The more fun test was the steeper tree skiing. Base depths are below average so the snow is not smooth, with lots of rollers covering logs, terrain contours etc. Yesterday I tried to avoid the mounds and frequently had to check speed to avoid getting off balance. With the Pontoons I could make short turns when necessary, ski through tighter openings with more confidence and launch the smaller bumps with smooth pillow landings nearly every time.

As my Volant Chubbs have internal damage after 12 years of valued service and are now relegated to Baldy duty, I am seriously considering a reverse camber ski as their replacement after this experience. They may not be necessary for regular Utah locals or skiers with Patrick-level technique, but for us amateurs I recommend a Pontoon-type ski highly.

I recharged the camera battery overnight but forgot to put it back in the camera. #-o

 

[Tony Crocker]

Weather and terrain were similar to the first 2 days. BUT there was a new layer of 5 inches of very light and dry on top. 5 inches won't do that much to a lift-served base, but here it raised the bar from average cat-skiing to well above in terms of snow quality. Not quite the epic conditions of last year, but there were a few face shots to be had on the steeper tree runs. The Pontoons made this a delightful experience.

While last year was the peak of my snowcat experience, I did follow it up with some more huge powder days at Castle Mt. This year and my first trip in 2007 are in some ways more impressive for Chatter Creek, because there is/was not much happening in terms of snow farther south in B.C. during these times. The snow depth is below average, and there are some sectors not yet open due to snow stability issues we've been reading about all season. Nonetheless the reason for paying for cat skiing is the powder, and we definitely have that.

Fresh pow in the subalpine.

Our guide instructs before a narrow drop in.

Opens up into a nice bowl.

Nancy was a bit enthusiastic, passed the guide and rolled down a ~25 foot embankment. They call this the Chatter Splatter. :lol:

Farther down we had to pick our way down a partially filled-in cliff band in the trees. With scouting below perhaps some of the more athletic skiers could have launched it.

Dave guides his wife Maylee another way through this steep section.

Sometimes the reality lives up to the advertising.

 

[salida]

Fun to hear your experiences on full reverse camber skis. Can really make or break some of those crud type days.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

As my Volant Chubbs have internal damage after 12 years of valued service and are now relegated to Baldy duty, I am seriously considering a reverse camber ski as their replacement after this experience. They may not be necessary for regular Utah locals or skiers with Patrick-level technique, but for us amateurs I recommend a Pontoon-type ski highly.

I always wondered how reverse-camber skis do when you're on a DFU traverse or a really steep chute/cliff-type area that's scraped down to the bone. Obviously, they're a tool for specific situations, but I remember Gordy from Str8line mentioning on TGR that he didn't recommend Pontoon/Spatula-type boards for his camp, or something to that effect.

 

[Tony Crocker]

Last day at Chatter Creek it warmed up a bit, so the 5 inches fluff blended into the previous snow and thus skied similarly to the first 2 days. No change in weather unfortunately. They spent some time driving the cat toward the alpine area where we had the epic day last year, but it was clouded over so they turned around and came back to the same areas we had been skiing the past 3 days. We were more confined in where we could ski this year than the previous two, due both to weather and snowpack issues. So the vertical was down a bit, but as mentioned above the quality was still there.

jamesdeluxe raises some interesting points about the skis. On hard snow you would be supported on a shorter edge, so more balance would be called for in the situations he describes. From reading the mags there is a range in how much reverse camber these skis have. So for a personal ski that will see more than just cat and heli duty, perhaps a ski with some, but not an extreme amount of reverse camber would be appropriate.

Return to The Phat with new powder

Weather and getaway day result in more than one group in same sector near the lodge.

Instructions on top of burned out ridge

Nice pitch and snow in Trojan

Looking down Trojan

Ready to drop in our last run

 

[Tony Crocker]

Pics added to 3 days of reports.

 

[jasoncapecod]

great pics...
i remember skiing a burned out run like that when i heli skied..the charcoal never came off my jacket...

 

[Tony Crocker]

I don't know when the fire was, but it was before my first trip in 2007.

 

[Admin]

i remember skiing a burned out run like that when i heli skied..the charcoal never came off my jacket...

You're not supposed to hit the trees.