The winter of 2010 has lead to an unbelievable spring here in Salt Lake City. Throughout April and May, consistent storms in the high hills have delivered the powder while sunny skies dominate the valley floor. This makes ideal conditions to shred big lines by sunrise and skate into the sunset. Here’s an edit showing you what we’ve been up to lately along with a short visit back home to the east coast. All skateboarding by Parley Southworth and myself (Guest shot — Tigh Smith). Snow bros — Mark Hammond, Alecs Barton, Ian Provo, Forrest Shearer and Pouch Gauthier. Don’t forget to watch in HD! Enjoy!

Urban shredding… kindof

Gotta love the dawn patrol.

The crew: ZG, Cindi, Alecs with the snot rocket and the target in the background. Another one of the few big lines without all the sweeping avalanche potential in these crazy times.

When you have 5,500 feet of climbing and who knows how many miles ahead of you, its best to use Trail Shortener.

Winter time.

Summa time.

Perfect powdah and the sun is shining.

Euphoria set in.

A journey through the pines.

And up to the summit.

Epic views of the Coalpit Headwall.

And Lone Peak. That was a fun one.

The Sheep’s Pen.

Can’t forget the Bighorn.

Thats riiiight where Alecs lives.

Hi Mom!

Whip the skins and turn those things into a shred machine.

Strap em in and…

I’ll be buzzing for days.

Still feeling sick and hacking up all kinds of lung butter on the mining road, this first bit of light and sweet view of the summit gave me the power I needed for the final push.

Summit! I’ve been wanting this one for years now! Biiiig drop off to the west.

And steepness to the east. It looks so good and you know the powder would be epic but in these conditions, you would surely die.

This is my version of paradise. Calm and sunny on a high mountain peak… we kicked it on the summit for over an hour.

Lovin it.

Here we go… 6 grand of non-stop reward to the valley floor.

Can’t pass up the constant pillow poppers in the woods.

Sweet satisfaction.

And if ya missed it… here’s the helmy cam footage.

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Jake shredding his first Bryce Canyon line and heading right for his first red rock cliff.

Jackpot!!

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Look at those spine walls!! When did Alaska come to Southern Utah?

And like most things in life… if it seems too good to be true, it probably is. After getting Tony in position, a small cornice drop triggered this 1.5 foot deep, 40-50 foot wide fracture. Not a huge surprise considering all of this snow fell all at once over the past few days. On top of that, the park rangers were monitoring our radio conversation with their scanners and stopped us before we could do anything anyway. Apparently it’s illegal to shred these desert Nation Parks and you’ll get upwards of a $2,000 dollar fine and probably arrested.  Several people have been killed in slides just like this due to the weak rock underneath so that might have somthing to do with it. Or as the park ranger told us, “You’ll run right into the hoo doos!”

Still far and away the most beautiful sight I’ve ever witnessed.

The potential was sickening.

Slot canyon couloir anyone? It was so painful to stand on top of alla this and not be able to do a thing… A true feeling of helplessness took over.

So we went on a wandering journey through the woods next door to get away from the park rangers in hopes of finding something cool to shred in a more remote side canyon. It wasn’t long before we ran out of daylight and had to make camp in the middle of nowhere with no idea what we were gunna do or where we were. Not so stoked, we made a fire, cooked some dinner and settled into our down bags for another sub zero desert night.

Woke up and figured we had nothin to lose… might as well go explore and see what’s out there. Little did we know…

This would be our playground for the day. After stumbling upon such an all time spot, you could just see everyone glowing. None of us had ever seen anything like it. An overwhelming sense of how lucky we were settled in… to have the perfect weather, snow and crew all when it matters is really something epic. As amazed as we all were, everyone knew exactly how serious this was. Insane amounts of new snow, avalanche potential, HUGE faces, gnarly death traps, and cliff-out zones everywhere. Starting small, analyzing the snowpack and knowing where your limits are proved crucial at this point.

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Lets get to work…

Danimal goin deep.

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Brook, just seconds before sending it for the first time in Southern Utah.

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Tony finally gettin a chance to do some boardin.

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Mark, breaking the steepest trail imaginable at alarming speed through the deep pow… as usual.

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For a first descent? Who knows. This sunny aspect will probably be bare within a matter of days. Makes you wonder how many times this has ever been skiable.

In this photo, you can see Danimal overdosing on fun. Hoots, howls and all sorts of other wild calls were just ringing through the canyons. The energy in the crew was unbelievable and it went without saying that we were all here for a once in a lifetime experience.

One line each just wasn’t enough.

Then up n outta there…

Just in time to get socked in for the sunset.

Packed up camp with ear to ear grins then a long skin out under the moon dawg. The most epic experience ever? Just maybe.

Umphrey’s Mcgee Photo Animation by Zach Clanton from Zachary Clanton on Vimeo.

There’s a lotta new snow out there and more on the way! A few avalanches came down naturally during the most intense part of the storm. Pick one and use it as an up route.

Absolutely nobody around for miles! High avy danger means no crowds and epic shredding conditions. The theme of the day was gang shred slashing battles. The goal is to get as much snow down your buddy’s jacket as possible. Huge smiles were just stuck on our powder covered faces. Danimal, Alecs, Mark and I couldn’t be happier about the change in weather cycle. Now off to Snow Science class.

Then an amazing night with Umphrey’s Mcgee @ The Depot! These guys are definitely my favorite band live. If you’ve ever seen them before, you’ll probably do anything you can to get your hands on some tickets next time they’re in town. It wasn’t long before I started seeing countless friendly faces in the crowd. I kindof drop off in the winter so it was pretty cool to see loads of my summertime music friends. Afterwards, we went skateboarding into the wee hours of the night in the streets of downtown Salt Lake. The 20th of January summed up everything I love to do in life. You dont get too many chances to have a triple play day.

Umphrey’s photo animation video coming soon!

Good thing we’re splitboarders. Don’t wunna get busted in AF.

People have been saying the mountains are bony.

Nice pow ona NE face at 10,000 feet.

None of the NE lines on Box Elder are in yet… still fun to look and dream.

Hung out on top of an unknown peak for a while just soakin in the views, eatin a big lunch, then some sweet pow turns down the north face.

We’re headed over there. This whole side of the range is downright awesome. Out all day and never saw a single track. It’s true peace, solitude and high elevation.

A walk in the sky…

From one county to another.

Up, up, up

And over the Apline Ridge pass for the 3 mile shred out Red Pine.

Polarizers are fun.

After leavin the canyon, it was off to celebrate my good friend Kevin’s birthday late into the night with tons of homies at the Stonefed show @ The Hogs Wallow Pub. With only 2 hours of sleep, Danimal and I managed 24 hours of non-stop action!

Happy birthday buddy!

Cat n mouse game.

Broke in the skinner…

All the way to the top. Raymond and Kessler in the background.

There’s some good shredding to be had.

Feels great to be up here… might as well put on your gas mask if your down there.

Perfect conditions.

So good I had to check out another zone in the same drainage with Mark… looks like the winds had their way with the snow.

Saw some surreal colors & shapes in the clouds, got loads of recon photos, found somma the last remaining pow and called it good.