Alta -- Baldy Chutes -- Making it look steep

rutt

Mt. Baldy towers over the Alta and Snowbird ski areas. It's summit is about 500 feet above the top of the the Snowbird tram and the Sugarloaf chair lift in Alta. On the Alta side, there are a number of possible ski runs, mostly in steep and narrow chutes.

My daughter, son, and I climbed from the Alta side last Friday. It took my teenagers about 35 minutes to climb it and it took me more like 50 minutes. To be fair to myself, I was carrying the 1Dmkii with 24-70 2.8L and stopped to take pictures once on the way:






The view from the top is dizzying (note Salt Lake City almost 6,000 feet below through the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon.)



We descended Main Chute, which has a very steep entry, seems like a 20 foot wall when you are standing on top of it getting the courage to push off. But looking up at my son skiing there, it doesn't look as steep as it feels from the top:



I think this give a better idea:



Looking up Main Chute from the bottom:



What's going on here? How to convey the steepness of a place like this? I think I have a partial answer. Looking down is more scary than looking up. Down is where you are afraid to fall. The wall on top of Main Chute wouldn't be scary at all if it were sitting on top of flat snow. But looking over the wall, one is all too aware of what will happen if one falls. That's what sets off the acrophobia and gives the sense of how seep the place is.

There are plenty of great shots of airbourne skiers flying down walls. These scenes are mostly shot from the side. Looking up can be very dramatic, but I think it's harder to capture steepness that way.

wxwax

Great stuff, Rutt!

Photos always flatten stuff out, I notice it on motorcycle images too. Pity, it's really hard to capture steepness.

Still, you scared me, no way I'd do that! :yikes

Andy

excellent set of ski shots! exposures spot on, crispness is just right, color beautiful

thanks for sharing these, very inspirational john.

ian408

Makes me dizzy thinking about it

About the only thing I can think of to give scale would be a shot with the
tram or something else people are familiar with (scale wise). Even then, it's
hard to convey something with that large a scale.

Ian

rutt

ian408 wrote:

Makes me dizzy thinking about it

About the only thing I can think of to give scale would be a shot with the
tram or something else people are familiar with (scale wise). Even then, it's
hard to convey something with that large a scale.

Ian

Thanks. I think that's probably why I like this shot:



The pine trees at the bottom of the run give it scale. The skier farther down the run gives it scale and gives scale to the trees at the bottom as well. This particular adventure didn't involve any such thing as a tram.

I have some more ski shots to share, but they deserve their own threads as they are different stories.

ginger_55

You can always sit down and scoot down. Been there, done that, a long time ago.

anon

rutt

ginger_55 wrote:

You can always sit down and scoot down. Been there, done that, a long time ago.

anon

In places like this, that's a pretty dangerous thing to do. Your skis have have the power to stop you. Your nylon ski clothes do not.

ian408

rutt wrote:

Thanks. I think that's probably why I like this shot:



The pine trees at the bottom of the run give it scale. The skier farther down the run gives it scale and gives scale to the trees at the bottom as well. This particular adventure didn't involve any such thing as a tram.

I have some more ski shots to share, but they deserve their own threads as they are different stories.

I totally missed the second skier. And yes, that helps a lot.

Ian

winger

I always wanted to do those off trail powerder runs, but I was always too chicken.

Great shots and like I said before, I love Utah and the sking out there is fantastic.
(except that time I lost my ski in the powder and it took 10 people 45 minutes to find it)