The fullest moon of the year was scheduled for the night of Saturday, June 22, with the peak of fullness around six in the morning on the 23. I pitched the idea of getting some June turns in under the moon to my roommates and another ski buddy, and we decided to have an evening of barking at the moon like wild wolves. Due to prior arrangements, we decided that Friday night (the 21
st) would suffice instead of the true night of the supermoon. We packed our bags full of food, sleeping bags and skis. The gang consisted of Blake, Eric, Justin, Riley and myself. Our plan was to ski in Utah s Cardiac Bowl on the north face of Mt. Superior, because I had seen a boatload of snow in that area a few days prior while hiking up Mt. Kessler. Our route of ascent began in Little Cottonwood, taking the trail up to Telephone Pole Pass, following the ridge up to an appropriate spot, and dropping down the other side. We left the parking lot destined for the peak at around 6 p.m.
We had a nice trail the whole way up to Telephone Pole Pass, but once we started following the ridge, the trail felt quite exposed and a bit treacherous at times with skis on our backpacks. Everything went smoothly and we were at the snow just before 9 p.m. Blake and Riley were ready first and zipped down to the end of the snow. Eric and I had to climb up a small spire before skiing, and Justin took pictures. We joined Blake and Riley shortly thereafter. The moon was making its appearance, and it was glorious. After a snack of cheese, bread and salami, we decided that the moon was perfect for skiing under. The snow actually refroze, which was surprising for June, but it didn't matter. We were skiing under the moon in June. Skiing under a full moon in any month is a surreal experience. It was so bright that we probably could have gotten away without using headlamps.
The next morning, Blake, Eric, Riley and I all climbed Mt. Superior and looked at some mountain goats hopping. We had about a thousand vertical feet of skiing to our camp, and we snacked again before taking another lap. The snow had warmed and softened, and we had some nice corn to play in.
After packing up camp, we began our return. We took a different route up and over the ridge than what we came on, which spiced things up a little bit The scree field we walked across had a tendency to slide away under our feet, but we all managed just fine.
From Telephone Pole Pass down, it was easy going. A bag of chips and a jar of salsa greeted us when we unloaded our packs into the car, and nothing but smiles were split across our faces as a great adventure had come to an end. Ben White
