Opening Day (Hardwear Sessions)

Backcountry Skiing in the Wasatch Mountains

View Andrew's Photographs from Previous Seasons on Flickr.

The First Day of the 2007/08 backcountry ski season in the Wasatch Mountains

By Andrew McLean

There is a lot riding on the first day of a new ski season. Technically, you could call sliding over sand, rocks or grass in the middle of summer a "first day," but realistically, the first day should be your best bet on when you can start reliably skiing day after day, week after week. The first day also serves as a gauge of the of the overall ski season, with an earlier start always being better. Late starts (like this year...and last year) mean you are pinning all hopes on a strong mid winter and spring, which can be demoralizing if they don't come through.

For me, the first day of the 2007/08 ski season in the Wasatch Mountains was yesterday, Dec 1st. I could have conceivably gone out earlier, but once I start skiing, that's all I want to do and the idea of starting and then getting shut down, even for a few days, is more than I can bear.

Unlike juggling, which once you learn you never seem to forget, the start of each ski season is always a new learning experience. "Let's see... what am I going to need? Skis, boots, poles, hat, gloves, goggles, food, pack, skins, beacon, pack, shell, pants, shovel and water." I must be forgetting something. The only way to know is to go.

There is an art to picking your first day of the season, with the key being that it should be better than expected. More than likely, it is going to involve rock skis and base repair, but for the sake of stoke, it should also have some good turns. If you go too early and have a horrible experience, it sets an undesirable tone to the start of the season.

For this season, I resisted the temptations of a few early season teaser storms (and missed a few good days in the process) and waited until we had minimal base with a trace of new. Nonetheless, it was almost still too early. Cruising up a trail I'd been on hundreds of times, I missed the turn off as it was hidden by neck-deep brush. Once we got back on track the route finding alternated between walking over rocks, falling in sink holes and baja'ing over deadfall. Such is the early season experience.

But, the skiing was better than expected, which is all that counts. I was expecting a "D-" and it turned out to be a very acceptable "C." Maybe even a C+, with shots of nice powder, mixed weather and only two major core shots in my skis. High elevation, low angle, sheltered terrain was the choice of the day, where mellow skiing kept the speeds down, and your skis on top of the snow, rather than sinking too deeply into it.

As a shake down tour, everything went pretty well with the only casualties of the day being my camera and camcorder. Alas, no photos of the first day of 07/08. But that's what first days are for -- working out the bugs so that when the big days of winter finally arrive, we'll all be ready for them.