Pic of the Day: April 7

Every photo tells a story. Seeing how we're all basically on lockdown, I thought it might be a fun idea to post a photo every day and tell the story behind it. Hopefully this will provide you with a small daily distraction from the bullshit. Hopefully this will help keep me sane as well.

Peace in the Chaos

This is probably my favorite shot from this season so far. Friday, March 13. This was the week everything really started to fall into chaos. Two days prior, Tony called saying he cancelled his snowboard trip with his dad to Poland. Work at Snowbird was insanely slow so I figured I could get an extended ride break in, giving us time to go for a tour.

We left the resort boundary not really having any aspirations to ride anything notable. We thought of maybe just messing around in some low angle trees. Sometimes the mountains just beckon you though. We've looked at the line in this photo a thousand times but had never rode it. Usually when we go to this zone we had other objectives or the snow conditions just weren't there.

We kept looking at it as we walked the ridge. Seeing how it was only like a 10 minute walk, we decided to just go over and take a look. After all, we could always bail if it didn't look good. At first, it really didn't look good. The entrance was completely melted out except for a small, tight hallway between the cliffs. We almost bailed. But perspective is everything. We decided to just strap in and traverse over above the hallway and look at it from that angle. And from there it just looked super fun.

I set up the shot and had Tony drop first. The entrance required a straightline to a big left turn. From there it opens up into a steep, beautiful couloir. The cherry on top was we got it in pow. As soon as Tony made that first turn, I knew we nailed the shot. For a fleeting moment, the darkness the World was descending into receded from our minds.

One day later the ski industry shut down. All the resorts in the Central Wasatch were closed for the season by 8pm. No spring shenanigans. No closing day. No chance to ride that line again till next year. I guess it was just meant to be that day.