On 16 February 2004, my advisor Jim Steenburgh, his friend Kenton Peters, and I skied into Hogum Fork and skied the Hogum 500 and (most of) the Hypodermic Needle. Photos courtesy Jim.
A week with no new snow and a reasonably stable snowpack prompted us to think Bigger than Usual. I met up with Jim and Kenton at the base of Little Cottonwood Canyon and we set off from the White Pine trailhead, bound for Hogum Fork and its bounty of big fall-line terrain. Our proposed objective was a)the Hogum 500 and b)the Hypodermic Needle. Here, Kenton enjoys the view from Maybird of the Hogum Hogback to the west. Our ascent route from here will take us up the sub-ridge on the right of the photo. The Pfieferhorn looked as stunning as ever as we huffed and puffed our way to the ridgetop. Another view of the Hogback with our ascent route just out of the frame on the right. The last few feet of the climb to the ridgetop involved booting up a little gully.
View from the ridgetop: Looking southeast into Red Pine and Maybird, with AF Twin Peaks just visible in the left background. Looking north at Broads Fork Twin Peaks and Lisa Falls Couloir on the left, and the Tanners slide path on the right. Looking west, that's me and Kenton in front of Thunder Ridge with the Needle plainly visible just behind me. Coalpit Headwall is also evident sloping away to the north off of Thunder Peak. There are a million crazy lines over there. Looking southwest up Hogum Fork, with another "classic" steep line, the Sliver, on the right side of the photo. Looking north again, Kenton and I pose in front of Broads Fork Twin. Looking northeast up Little Cottonwood Canyon towards Alta. Mt. Superior's peak is just above my right glove. A closeup of the Needle and its long apron runout. We skied from about 2/3 of the way up the couloir, where it gets "way skinny". Zoomed out a little bit. Big country! Me atop the Obelisk, a peculiarly vertical piece of rock on the ridgetop. We had some lunch here before heading down the west-facing Hogum 500.
Kenton is a phenomenal skier, even after he broke the heelpiece off of his Dynafit binding and thereafter skied with his heel latched down with a piece of nylon strapping. Here's me, thrashing my way down the Hogum 500. The snow was nice and soft, but a little tricky to ski. The Hogum 500 from the bottom. After a week with no snow, even this relatively remote line gets pretty hammered. We had another quick bite to eat before starting to skin up the apron below the Needle. Here's Kenton and me en route up the east-facing snowfield. We were not optimistic about the quality of the skiing. It seemed variable and crusty. Soon we got a view of the Needle from below. It was a lot steeper than the apron. Once we got to the base of the couloir, we took our skis off and kicked steps. Kenton led most of the way up, and measured the slope angle at around 45 degrees. Lookin' down. The skiing in the couloir was good old-fashioned "hop and hope". Kenton skied smoothly, not wanting to strain his broken binding. Jim and I, having intentionally free heels, had no such reservations. We did our best Scot Schmidt body-smear turns through the gully. The apron proved to be decent skiing, if still tricky and variable. On a good day, the apron alone would be a worthy objective. Here's Jim cruising down the apron. You can see the Little Cottonwood Canyon road in the upper right of the picture.
Getting out of Hogum fork was, as expected, a big adventure. The snow got really thick and it was exhausting. It was a very satisfying tour with great views, nice weather, and character-building snow.
Cheers
Justin
