I've been wanting to ski a line in the vicinity of Monte Cristo dropping into Mill B (Big Cottonwood Canyon). Not sure what people call it around Utah. I like the 'Sky Ramp', although I've heard other names on the webs. I've been gaping at this picture in and old school copy of 'Wasatch Touring' for sometime, and finally got syked and skied it. Here's the picture from the book, apoligies about the quality, but it's what I got. Still, quite the photo, I think.
Had the pleasure of putting in some nuts-deep booters. Like this one:
But all in good fun to the approach shot. Here's the first glimpse of the ramp:
And Gar' rapping into the heart of darkness... approach with style. Kind of.
Kluh and I followed hand rapping. With this level of snow one could probably downclimb the upper portion of this chute, but it is definitely steep enough to get your attention in ski boots. After flailing around kicking snow on each other, and somehow getting skis on, I beat a couple hop turns down the chute. Gar and Kluh after witnessing me ram my tips into the rock walls every turn decided on a different approach. Here's Gar blasting off:
Go go gadget rocket skis. Kluh:
One more really long nuts deep booter led to the BCC/LCC ridgeline. Here's a view looking back with Heart of Darkness being the prominent narrow chute in the background.
Now the fun part. I skied the shot, and being the good friend I am, took the line closest to rocks (farthest from the exposure). We all managed to kick some decent sized sluff, but a mini-spine feature on the ramp kept the sluff over the cliff and made turns very manageable. Anyway, the sluff lent itself to some cool pictures blowing up in the background.
Gar:
Kluh:
Followed by some meadow skips / slogs we found our way to the road. I guess the only downside of May pow turns are the exits:
Not complaining though.
