Lone Peak & Wolverine Cirque - Scarpa F1 Mods

The last two week's of ski endeavors from the group. Family/Friends- please skip the first handful of pictures they are all related to technical boot modifications.

(Brian - Add awesome Ski Pic here)

The hard boot transition is not 1-year in - and there is really no reason to go back.

Here is a brief overview of every modification made to the Scarpa F1 to facilitate the splitboard.

Above - Sticky Tongue Pad on the inside of the tongue - this helps keep pressure on the top of my forefoot and lock my heel down. There always seemed to be a gap/lack of pressure in this location with only 2 buckles.

Above - the power strap has two layers of flexible/stretch strap. My desire to have a progressive forward flex led me to cut one of the layers off. The power strap now allows more flex and softer flex when make toe side turns.

Above - note the two guides/grommets for the wire on the sides of the boot. These are mounted upside down allowing more slack in the wire when the boot is locked into ski mode. Unlike the TLT 5/6 mods - the progressive forward flex comes from tongue flex allowed by the shell flexing open.

Above - perhaps the most aggressive modification - about 1/3 of the thickness on both the lateral and medial side of the shell has been removed with an orbital sander and 40 grit sand paper. It's hard to see in the pic - but the ribs are sanded down - and a good bit of the smooth material is also gone. The best way to do this is to remove the grommet and the power strap and then sand away at the region pictured above the hinge until you think the shell flex will meet your needs. This was a gamble - but it really works. I've even had some luck pressing and buttering with the added lateral flex.

Brian on the Lone Peak ridge - we hiked up from Alpine requiring a Saturday alpine start due to the sunshine and warm temps.

Descending with Box Elder in the backdrop - this run maybe called "Highway or Stairway to Heaven" - its a cool u-shaped valley that shows its glacial origins well.

But on the ridge a quick cloud bank blew through and kept the snow firm - requiring us to camp out behind this rock for a bit to wait it out.

Presidential Weekend

 This Hurricane biking thing is becoming a President's Day tradition.

Dani is so good at biking these days that she was able to ride the Holy Gaucomole loop.

and we all got a reprieve from the smog....

biking with one of the best back drops in the state.

Tyler broke out his new + sized bike - which after some debate, we all decided was cool.

The Guacomole - wait a sec - that was from a November trip that never was with Terry and Brian - which also included early morning Virgin laps (below), Gooseberry, and Grafton.

Purple Stache + size on the right.

Dani - climbing the st after the Holy Guacomole super tech.

Lifestylz. Ava and Cole were also in attendance - thanks to them for organizing the campsite.

Ava - also rode mountain bikes for the second time and crushed it.

We also rode the Quail Creek and Zen trails and had so much fun we forgot to take pictures.

Neffs Canyon - Thomas Fork, Aborted Whipple, Hobbs Chute

Transplants + Nick went to ski the Whipple Couloir via Neff's Canyon.

Neff's Canyon is new to our group - but has been very well received due to its proximity to downtown and complex/rocky terrain as seen (below).

The Couloirs pictured here behind this gnarled tree jumped to the top of our list.

Brian preparing to ski Hobb's Chute.

Brian changing over at the top of the Whipple Couloir - too much sun was warming the south making the Whipple seem like a bad idea.

Hobb's Couloir from across the drainage.

Me in Hobb's. We dug several pits in this couloir ~8800 ft ENE, and noted a snowpack of 140-180 cm. With the exception of one localized spot under a pocket of small trees - we found rounding wet facets at the ground and were unable to activate the slab on these ground facets. We also probed several areas to gain an understanding of the snowpack depth.

We saw similar results on due N ~9200 ft except the deptch was 160-200 cm.

We have been into Neff's a few times before this winter. Most notably when Brian and I decided to extend a quick after work hike that started in Millcreek to around 1 AM. Dani called Cole to rescue us.

Nick below sking below the awesome rock slab that forms Hobb's Chute.

Thanks Nick for taking a lot of awesome pictures. We hope to ski with you again soon.