Hogum Fork Extravaganza

Words by Ben White

As the saying goes, “the weather and snow looked perfect for skiing big stuff so the boys started calling each other up.” Juan was working on finishing his Chuting Gallery, but not just getting down them. Juan has been sending it in clean fluid style down every line in The Chuting Gallery . Ten or fifteen years ago, it was cool to just make some turns down a big face. Juan is flashing this stuff and I was psyched to be called up to shoot photos of it.

A while ago, some friends and I had the idea that we should camp out in Hogum Fork and spend a weather window ticking some of the biggest, most beautiful lines in the Wasatch one after another. That’s what Juan, Caco, Yawn, and Conor would do starting the night of March 7th in order to get a jump on the ideal March 8th morning that was lining up. I went and spent the night on The Obelisk, a natural rock feature that provides an ideal viewing platform for watching skiing on the east side of North Thunder.

It was lightly snowing and totally thick clouds when I went to sleep. I woke up wondering what time it was, if I had to get out of my sleeping bag and pee, and if I could fall asleep and hold it. Then I saw their headlamps cruising up the Hypodermic Needle and jumped out of bed to start a timelapse.

As the sun popped over Patsy Marley and warmed the south and east faces around me, Mack Lambert arrived. It was wonderful to have a buddy there to hang out with while the boys did their thing. He was planning on shooting video and I was planning on shooting photos. After a night out, my camera was frozen and somehow not connecting with the memory cards in it. I put it inside my coat, hoping it would warm up to an operable temperature by the time the boys were ready to drop in.

Mack and I watched Ethan pop his head up from the summit of the Pfeifferhorn. Juan, Caco, Yawn, and Conor were still working their way to the top of Dresden, The Needle, and The Sliver, respectively. Ethan called over the radio and Mack shot a photo of him, looking tiny like an ant on top of one of the coolest summits in the Wasatch. Ethan made quick work of the Northwest Couloir, which we couldn’t see, and then said he wanted to watch the show on North Thunder. My camera had warmed up just enough and began to work properly.

Caco was ready first and let loose down Hypodermic Needle. 1800 vertical feet disappeared in under a minute. Juan was ready next and dropped down Dresden Face, making it look like Big Emma at Snowbird. While Mack and I were busy making sure we got the shot, Ethan called up on the radio to warn Juan of a big sluff coming to clean out Juan’s exit over the cliff band. Juan pulled over, let the sluff pass, got in position, and aired the exit. Conor practically straight lined The Sliver. Yawn fired down The Needle as well. We watched them all link up and high five. Their energy filled Hogum Fork. Mack and I high fived, having watched a phenomenal display of teamwork, athleticism, technical skill, and luck. Those dudes were bonded for life. Words can’t do it justice.

Teams of people were pouring up the skintrack that the boys had put up The Needle. Mack and I exited Maybird, crossed the creek and hitched back to our cars. It was rad.