There is a small window of time in the Spring where the snow is just right and the weather conditions are ideal for some pretty awesome hiking. I also couldn’t wait to use the new mountaineering gear I got for Christmas for the first time. It was the perfect day to summit Deseret Peak from the Twin Couloirs.
Hiking up this drainage with microspikes was pretty easy over the frozen morning snow.
This is Dry Lake near the base of Deseret Peak. We will be going up the Twin Couloirs (left) before heading to the peak (top center).
The closer we got the more I saw how this was going to be one of the coolest hikes I’d ever done!
Rocks were tumbling off the cliffs as the sun heated the surface. One of them came whizzing down and smacked this tree just ahead of us. You could see the gash and the chunks of rock that broke off from impact. Further uphill, we followed the marks in the snow where it bounced down the slope more than the length of a football field.
The plan was to go up the West Col (right) due to the amount of rock in the path and slide down the East Col (left) since it was smooth.
This is one of the Christmas gifts that allowed me to do this. Without these Grivel G10 crampons, the climb up this ramp of snow and ice would have been a lot more dicey.
SO. FREAKIN. COOL.
1,200 feet up in just a 1/2 mile was like climbing a staircase…just without the handrail.
Can you see the group behind me? …look near the lowest part of the rock slide
This is a pretty tame/entry-level ascent for beginners like me to build some mountaineering experience for harder things to come.
It didn’t take long to hit to the top of the ridge.
Deseret Peak is just a short walk up the summer switchbacks from here to the actual summit.
This was my 2nd summit of Deseret Peak. The first time was in 2016 up the standard way, via the Mill Fork Canyon Trail. At the time, I had no idea you could come up one of these rocky slopes.
Standing on the tallest peak in the Stansbury Mountains with my other Christmas gift in hand!
Some head down the summer switchbacks while others took the ridge.
Each snow patch is like an apron to their respective chute. Dave and Greg are standing on the one we came up. We go down the other off in the distance.
It’s a little intimidating to think about sliding down this for the first time since as you have no view of the bottom from this vantage point.
No need for a sled down this! Glissading on your heinie is plenty fast enough….although your rear does get pretty cold and numb before you reach the bottom.
Here we are about half-way down.
Looking back up to see what we just slid.
Coming in hot across home plate.
This glissade doesn’t look like much from here, but what a rush!
Yeah. We did that…and it was pretty incredible.
As we hiked out, with an awesome experience under my belt, I now paid a lot more attention to that notch we saw coming in. I decided right then that I would do this before the snow was gone!
Later, I learned this “notch” is called Temple Couloir.
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