Utah Transplants: Getting to the Coalpit Headwall is tough any way you try it

The Transplants Team - Cole, Matt and I set out early Sunday am to ski one of the great Wasatch Gems - The Coalpit Headwall.

Coalpit Headwall

Along the way, a few different errors were made but overall we're better for it.

Looking out of the Y Couloir at LCC.

Our plan of attack was booting up the gut - up the Y Couloir then run the ridge to the coalpit - but we fell into a few missteps along the way - like in retrospect taking the second right of the Y which took us to this beautiful sub-saddle. Matt and Cole look to the future.

1 - ABC always bring crampons. You never know what the conditions are going to be in the gut, even if you think you do. Bring them.

Stuff breaks. Anticipate it. Don't wait until its already broken to get it fixed.

Get a whippet. You'll feel safer while you're hanging over Hogum Fork climbing up some faceted snow.

The Y Crux Section. Don't ever let anyone tell you this isn't fun.

Overall the trip was a blast and we had a good time. It was definitely "type 2" fun - which is the type of fun that is more fun after the fact.

Kind of like topping out of the Y. Its funner when you finish. Look at those mountains behind Cole!

Here is the ridge booter. We decided the giant rock that is out of frame was impassible and decided to go below. Matt's in the frame near the top - putting his board into board mode.

The Ridge to Coalpit

Running the ridge was not as straightforward as it might have been. Not knowing if it was continuous, we bailed down a no-name couloir that I'm going to push to get named "Sunk Costs." It was an interesting ski down and required some mild cliff navigation.

Looking down "Sunk Costs" Couloir

I'm pushing for calling it "Sunk Costs" because the entire Y situation felt like it was a lot of wasted effort. I'd really like to get back up there with someone that knows the route better.

We skinned up into the coalpit basin...

... and headed for the ridge to hit up a booter that we thought we saw from the previous vantage.

The booter is there! I swear! Almost invisible - but present. The lower portion had slid out. It looks like the previous party had accessed it from above the saddle. At this point we were exhausted and took some time to chill out and assess.

We decided at this point it would be the best move to ski into Hogum Fork (left in above picture) and make our way out due to the fact that we were unsure if Coalpit Gulch was exitable - given the low snow year.