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Peak(s):  Mt. Guyot  -  13,372 feet
Date Posted:  05/07/2019
Modified:  11/06/2019
Date Climbed:   05/04/2019
Author:  bergsteigen
Additional Members:   BillMiddlebrook, EatinHardtack, MonGoose, SolarAlex
 Trigger Warning: Touched by an Ax   

Mt Guyot

  • mileage: 3.83 (human)
  • elevation gain: 1,681' (human)
  • trailhead: Swan River Rd
  • partners: Bill, Zach, Nick, Alex, Hunter, Dave

After a bit of back and forth on peak and line choice, we settled on the Swan Dive on Guyot. Guyot was one of the first 13ers I had ever skied, but I only skied the lower angle north face with a bunch of snowshoers. That was a lesson on getting back to the trailhead hours before the slow-shoers!

We'd also get the benefit of Bill's snow machines for easy access to the east ridge of Guyot. Thankfully I got to ride behind Zach and the other guys got pulled. Alex would skin to the summit, as he'd had enough of being pulled as a part of Summit County's SAR team. So we'd meet him up there. To set all this up, we had multiple car shuttles. We didn't want to clog the trailhead with vehicles, so we left 2 cars lower. But then we couldn't park where the snow started, so we dropped gear before dropping vehicles lower and walking back to the snow.

19327_01
Guyot sunrise sun hit
19327_02
Walking back to the snow

From there we got our gear on the machines and loaded up! Fun fun!

19327_03
Loading the sleds with our ski gear, Bill carrying my new skis! Can't scratch those up on day 3!

As we started off, it became obvious soon that Zach's unprotected ax on his backpack was going to cause me problems. It was sitting in a very sensitive area between my thighs, and even the shaft of the ax was in my face. So I just had to spread my legs wide to avoid the unprotected ax. It only scraped my leg once. At a midway break, we moved his ax to my backpack, where it couldn't violate anyone! I've never been touched by an ax quite like that before!


19327_04
Sled assist trailhead on Georgia Pass

From our special trailhead, we slapped skins on our skis and started up the first part of the ridge.


19327_06
Quick selfie before heading up - Photo credit: Nick
19327_05
Ants marching uphill in a zig zag

Soon enough the snow got thinner, and we switched to booting up. With so many in the group, most took a turn on leading. Thankfully I didn't have to lead, since the next person would just punch through my steps anyway.


19327_07
Starting up the ridge


19327_08
Dave leading the first booter with Bill
19327_09
Hunter enjoying the break


19327_10
Break from Bill's perspective
19327_11
Nick taking a break


19327_12
Ridge break pano


19327_13
More up to go
19327_14
Nick taking a break from leading

When we got closer to the upper ridge to the summit, Alex arrived and let us know about another 2 groups coming up the other side, also wanting to ski the Swan Dive. So we hurried the F on up!


19327_15
Summit here we come! - Photo credit: Bill
19327_16
Closer.... Photo credit: Bill


19327_17
Alex welcoming us to the summit - Photo credit: Bill
19327_18
Steep corniced section, from below


19327_19
Nick on the cornice section
19327_20
Summit surgery on a broken boot


19327_21
Pano NW


19327_22
Pano East

Since we had beat the other groups to the summit, we could relax a little bit, but still transitioned quickly. Alex was ready first, since he had been waiting an hour on the summit for us, despite starting later than us. Sleds have some advantages, but not always in time.


19327_23
Nick is stoked - Photo credit: Bill
19327_24
Zach's WTF face Photo credit: Bill


19327_25
Our group!

We headed down the line more or less in the order of summitting, except for the photogs.


19327_26
Swan Dive from the top, before we slaughtered it - Photo credit: Bill
19327_27
Alex kicking up some powder
19327_28
Alex in the middle section


19327_29
Hunter riding the steep cornice section
19327_30
Hunter found a white room - Photo credit: Bill
19327_31
Hunter in the mid section


19327_32
Dave kicking up some powder
19327_33
Dave ripping the line - Photo credit: Bill


19327_34
Nick starting off
19327_35
Nick slashing the powder


19327_36
Bill shredding

So with all this powder flying, I had hopes of some good conditions, but we could also see it was punchy in spots. So I knew I had to ski the line a bit more carefully, since I hate punchy conditions after breaking my leg in similar snow. Let's just say I skied the line triggered...


19327_37
Me on the top of Swan Dive - Photo credit: Bill
19327_38
Zach on the upper section


19327_39
Bill finding some more powder lower down
19327_40
Zach's not quite pleased with snow conditions


19327_41
Nick looks unphased!


19327_42
Zach finding some soft snow in the more wind protected zone
19327_43
Zach found some lounge time

With the variable heavy snow, punch crust, hardback, powder between every other turn, it was an exhausting line to ski. When conditions were good, I'd link 4-5 turns together, but when it was punchy, it was much slower. I was quite triggered by conditions, considering my recent history with this kind of snow. Meanwhile Zach was a string of non-stop cursing, that could heard by the group at the base.


19327_44
Exhaustion fall in 3 - 2 - 1 .... - Photo credit: Bill
19327_45
Down for the count! - Photo credit: Bill


19327_46
Zach is finally off the line


19327_47
Pano from the base of the line


19327_48
Traverse out of the drainage to the sled shuttle - Photo credit: Bill

We stayed as far right as possible to reach the lower sled, but still missed it by 300' some feet. Bill and Zach dropped their gear and went and got the 2 sleds.

19327_49
Hunter swan dive on the sled track
19327_50
Our tracks on the line - Photo credit: Bill

We skied down lower until the terrain got flat, then I jumped on the sled with Zach. Hunter had to start the pull earlier, being on a board. But Dave and Nick skied the lowest on the route. I was done when the skating started, haha! When you're using the cheat mobiles, then you don't have to work too hard!


My GPS Tracks on Google Maps (made from a .GPX file upload):




Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50


Comments or Questions
MonGoose
User
So Much Fun!
5/8/2019 9:39am
Great write up, Otina.


RyGuy
User
MonGoose clone?
5/8/2019 11:39am
I still think we have a MonGoose look-alike here. The real MonGoose wouldn't touch something under 14,000 feet. Not high enough for him.


TakeMeToYourSummit
User
Always...
5/9/2019 2:02pm
...use protection when having fun with an axe! I prefer a helmet & gloves - but I hardly ever ride on snowmobiles... so I'm sure this situation was more of a whirlwind romance! Awesome job getting this line; we'd looked down it last year & it didn't look that inviting.


bergsteigen
User
Thanks!
5/9/2019 8:12pm
Nick - Great group! Makes the good days so much better!

Ryan - Maybe Nick just needs to hike 13ers with meaning to him? Or he just needs to ski more of them, since they typically have the better lines.

Brad - I lost my whippet protection at Silverton, twice. Sooo dangerous, hiking with it all exposed Ã°Å¸Ë It€„¢s also dangerous to put the whippet under you while getting on the lift, or off... I doubt many lines last year looked good. This year everything is fat or slid.



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