Southern Utah Sampler: Ski/Bike/Climb

I picked up "little brother" Sam early Friday morning and loaded up skis, bikes, and climbing gear for a trip to Southern Utah. We only had a couple days, but decided we should try and make the most of our time. Our first stop was the ultra scenic Indian Creek pictured above. We met uncle Roman and Sam's brother Aaron and headed to the Battle of the Bulge Buttress where we all thrashed about on some of the easier but classic routes like "Think Pink" and the "Cave Route."

Think Pink, 5.11-

Cave Route, 5.10+

Here I am, PSYCHED

for Sam who is in the process of "honoring" his first Indian Creek 5.10

Some late afternoon rain sent us scurrying back to Moab for some Micky D's, where we bid farewell to Roman and Aaron. Sam and I had designs to ski something in the La Sals, but being unfamiliar with the area, just blindly drove up and up to a trailhead at 9,200', where we camped, conveniently right at the snow line. A topo at the trailhead informed us that Mt. Mellethin, a 12,700' peak and second highest in the La Sals, was an easy skin/ridge traverse from the car.

What's wrong with this picture?
The women's ski boots, the tights, the board shorts, or snow in the middle of the desert?

Mount MellethinOur line descends from the top, cuts through the middle of the upper cliff bands and takes the chute on the looker's left.

On the way, we topped out Peak 12,271 making good use of the summer trail.

A quick ski off Peak 12,271 and a short booter up the south rigde caused Sam to get a little confused, thinking he was in the desert The La Sals are a beautiful range with an apparent abundance of big lines.

Sam on the summit, still hot

Awesome corn skiing on what turned out to be a pretty mellow line brought us back to the car.

A quick bite at Subway and it was off for round two

The stellar North Chimmney was the route of choice

Summit shot from Castleton Tower

We ran down the trail and jumped in the car to try and bang out phase 3 of the day before dark Riding the Slickrock Trail seconds before laying my bike down. I am a terrible mountain biker. The ride was by far the scariest part of the day for me.

We raced the sun
and made it out just before dark.