**NOTE - This was written prior to the Outdoor Retailer Trade Show in Salt Lake City, UT. It has snowed significantly since then. The snowpack is shaping up.

We woke to another beautiful bluebird day in Salt Lake City, UT with a couple of days to kill before the hustle and bustle of the trade shows. With minimal overnight snowfall and less than ideal coverage in the backcountry, we decided to go for a tour to get the legs going and to incorporate a little beacon practice to keep our skills sharp for when it gets good. And it’s bound to get good — right?

Kjell Ellefson and I drove up Little Cottonwood Canyon to meet up with female freeheel phenom, Kate Hourihan. The sun may have been shining brightly while playfully illuminating the beautiful terrain in Grizzly Gulch, but it was deceptively cold. Even in the face of mediocre conditions and looming frigidity, we were all enthusiastic about making the most of a day in the hills.

Touring up the gulch made me dizzyingly aware of just how little snow has fallen in the Wasatch this season. It could have just as easily been early November. Where there is usually, by this point in the season, a groomed cat track for the first couple miles of the skin, there was nothing more than an awkward side-hill skin track that barely evoked some semblance of a recognizable feature. It can be a little jarring negotiating terrain that that doesn’t feel familiar when it’s somewhere you have been before. Trudging on, we meandered up through the woods and decided on a relatively short, low-angle pitch that had a decent amount of untouched snow. Airing on the side of deliberate over-cautiousness, we skied the face as though we were in the thick of a huge winter and had to plan our descent with prudence and escape routes in mind.

The conditions were a little bit of soft snow on top of a really firm wind-scoured layer. While we’ve all had far better days, it felt good to be out with the crew and keeping our skill sets sound. We made our way down to an open snowfield near the start of tour and spent an hour or so practicing our beacon skills and going through mock scenarios with our probes and shovels.

With less than high expectations coming into the day, it felt great to just get out and breathe some fresh mountain air. Little refreshers never hurt either.

-Alex Paul

Photos by Kjell Ellefson