One of many amazing lines spilling off the flanks of Kessler peak, God's Lawnmower cannot be missed on the drive down Big Cottonwood Canyon. It is the very obvious slide path on the North Face of Kessler Peak in the immediate vicinity of the Mill D South Fork parking area. If skiing from the top, the line starts out at its steepest (55 degrees or more), and quickly mellows into the mid 40 degree range for the first 1500 feet of skiing. It is possible (and often advisable) to start below the true summit to avoid the rocky, sugary steep drop in. Low-lying trees and the occasional short cliff band pepper this face, yielding a wide array of descent options. The slope angle gradually mellows, and 8900ft to the bottom is low slope angle skiing in brushy conditions. Also, as the name suggests, God’s Lawnmower is a giant slide path. Only step out onto this face if you are confident in the snow conditions.
God’s Lawnmower can be approached in two ways. The most common is to park in the Argenta lot, ascend Kessler via the Argenta slide path, and traverse hard left towards the top to gain the skier’s left shoulder of God’s Lawnmower. The big benefit of this route is the ability to ski the whole line down to your car.
Alternatively, you can start in the Mill D South Fork Parking area, start heading up Cardiff Fork, cutting into the trees approximately where the Kessler peak summer trail enters the woods (be mindful of private property before that point) and gain the low ridge that hemms in God’s Lawnmower on skier’s right of the line. From there, ascend the ridge. As you ascend the ridge, there are plenty of opportunities to drop in shy of the top that still yield great skiing. If skiing the line top to bottom, this approach requires you to ascend back up and over the low ridge on skiers right and out the road to the Mill D South Fork parking area.
This route contains a few cliff bands that can be in various states of snow covered. Heads up! You can scope a lot of the boney sections if ascending via the east side ridge.
If skiing off the true top of the line, the first few turns are often in poor snow on steep rocky terrain. The juice is rarely worth the squeeze.
Pondsy
03/21/2022 5:29pm
I've skied this twice, once with Wasatch Jesus Himself. The top really is as sketch as the books say. A great line though, steep, wide open, typically good snow. Definitely worth the trip.