Corn Harvest on Mount Superior

Apr

I’m always up for a ski. Unfortunately, or fortunately, my friends know this. Derek called and wanted to do a dawn patrol of something up Little Cottonwood Canyon. After a couple of south facing suggestions we settled on hitting Mount Superior which rises nearly 3000′ from the canyon highway, right across from Snowbird Ski Resort.

We met at 6am at the park and ride and drove up to Alta. Parking at the Hellgate Condos we walked down to the start of the climb and donned crampons. I was surprised how little snow remains on Superior and as we climbed up the face I remembered that it was July 1, 2005 when I last climbed the face of Superior. On that occasion I was solo and headed for Country Lane (or Suicide Chute as it’s also known) and on that day there was still plenty of snow with a continuous line to the base. On this day in April of 2007 Country Lane is done, cliffing out with no option for a continuous descent.

Despite having gone on a bike ride the night before we made great time and topped out just below the summit in about 1 hour and 30 minutes. The climbing was engaging with good firm snow for cramponing and some spicy steeps near the top. Derek and I lounged for another 20 minutes, enjoying the views and company while waiting for the sun to soften the snow to “corn” for us to harvest. And harvest we did.

The descent was steep and engaging. Derek and I swapped the camera to film the descent which was enjoyable at the time and more so know that the video is complete. Check it out on Derek’s site – Fritzrips.com in either standard resolution or in HD quality.

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