(There is a map at the bottom of the page)

Five of us went down to the LaSal Mountains, outside of Moab, for a three day tour during the Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend. The group included me, Erin, Will, Ben, and John. We left SLC on Saturday morning, ate a McBreakfast in Spanish Fork, had a run-in with the Law just this side of Moab, and arrived at the trailhead (9,700') around noon.

We each carried a light pack with our personal gear; clothes, sleeping bag, etc. We also hauled a sled with our food and tents. Hauling the sled turned out to be not as bad as anticipated.
Bobby.
The four guys hiking up.
Mt. Tukuhnikivatz and Tuk No.

Our chosen route was the Laurel Highway, a ridge extending from just above the parking area, past Pre-Laurel Peak, up to Laurel Peak. We planned to camp somewhere on that ridge, but hadn't really decided where. Around mid-afternoon, we came across what we dubbed "The Practice Field" (I think it is actually called "Julie's Glade"). We dropped packs and hiked up for a few turns. It was a short course and pretty low angle; the snow was soft and creamy powder. We each got about 6 to 10 turns per run. The entire Moab valley is visible from here; beautiful.
Will as mule, Ben as driver.
John and Bobby, with Tuk and Tuk No in the background. (Note John's "hobo style").
Bobby making turns.
John making turns.
Erin.
More of Erin.
Yet more of Erin.
Will with Ben in the foreground.
More Will.
Back to hiking.

Just beyond the Practice Field was a small stand of spruce. This turned out to be the crux of the hike up with the sled. The skin track was fairly steep; but worse, it was also narrow. When the trees opened up to a small meadow with more spruce up ahead, we decided to make camp (10,700'). If we had bothered to scout around a little bit, we would have found an excellent campsite just a couple hundred yards farther. Not that our campsite was bad, it just recieved a lot more afternoon sun than morning sun.
Camp: Will cooking, Bobby dressing.

After setting up camp and a long and hearty dinner of beef stew, beans, bread, and stuffing, we all crashed. 18 degrees at bedtime, 12 degrees in the morning. It was a cold night, but I slept quite well (I think we all did).

The next morning, Ben and I suggested a short tour before breakfast. We hiked up to a shoulder (11,000') below Pre-Laurel Peak, and skied low into the North Woods. Shortly after the start, Will's knee was giving him some pain, so he skinned back up to camp, eventually heading back down to the Practice Field. The rest of us enjoyed a beautiful 1400-foot descent through spruce and aspen on 12-inches of large crystal sugar snow. This was some of the dryest snow I've ever skied (even in Utah)! There was one short pitch through the aspen where Erin was the only one to NOT fall.
Moab valley from camp.
Tuk and Tuk No.
Bobby and Ben.

We hiked out of Gold Basin, back up to camp, ate a large brunch, and melted enough snow for our afternoon tour. Ben, John, and I headed back up around 1 pm. The three of us reached our high point for the weekend at roughly 11,600', just below Pre-Laurel peak. We considered bagging both Pre-Laurel and Laurel peaks; however, as we got higher the snow deteriorated to very crusty wind slab. We did enjoy great views of Mount Mellenthin (12,645'), Mount Tukuhnikivatz (12,482'), Tuk No (12,048'), Haystack Mountain (11,640'), as well as all of the mountain meadows, and the canyon country around Moab. From this vantage Ben and John were getting very excited to come back in spring conditions for the thousands of feet of great corn skiing.

We started skiing back down the wind slab moonscape ridge above the North Woods. The plan was to follow the ridge until we found an opening to the north, back into the spruce. Things changed when we saw the top of the Funnel. Large open bowl, dropping into a fun gully. We were a bit concerned with the exposure to avalanche. We did note however, that all of the slides we had seen were on North-facing slopes, and all had been on steeper terrain (this slope was at about 25 degrees). Also, there hadn't been any new slides since we had gotten there, and conditions were stabilizing. It turned out to be an excellent 1600-foot run.

The sun set while we hiked out, arriving in camp just a few minutes before Will and Erin had dinner ready for us. [While John, Ben, and I skied the Funnel, Will had gone back again to the Practice Field. His tele turns have improved dramatically. Meanwhile, Erin stayed in camp; she wasn't feeling well.] John and I barely had time to change clothes before being given big bowls of chilli-n-cheese and a tortilla. After dinner, everyone was feeling much better (except me). That was a fun night. We were all laughing, and joking. Will demonstrated how his new Ti bowl is ergonomically designed to be almost, but not quite, impossible to hold. Erin showed off her shovel rodeo skills.
John after dark.
John and Bobby, very very tired.

The second night was a bit warmer in our tent, but I didn't sleep nearly as well. In the morning, high thin clouds had moved in, obscurring the sun. The other two days had been perfectly clear blue skies.

We packed up camp, loaded the sled, and started back down. John and I started down with the sled, me at the helm, John on the brakes. Again, the spruces just below camp turned out to be the most problematic section for the sled. Once we were out of the trees, we could really get going. I was even able to make some tele turns through the still-fantastic snow. Down below Julie's Glade, I was making a big sweeping turn preparing to stop. I heard John yell from a ways behind me, "I don't have the brakes, Bobby!" The sled tried to pass me, and rolled. We continued to have a lot of fun driving the sled down until we got back into the flats. Tedious.

At around 10 am, we got back to the car. It took us a while to pack everything back up, but we got it all in. John and I took one Last Run down past the switchbacks in the road, while Will drove the truck down to get us. Great low-angle tree skiing through aspen and scrub oak for another 1,000'. Including our sled run, John and I had a 2000' morning ski.

We stopped in Moab for pizza, then headed home.

THE END

P = Parking area
X = Camp

(I hope to add some runs to this map in the Spring!)