Hannah rockin Moonbeam

I finally got this thing figured out and posted it onto vimeo. Its kind of a long video. Watch it if you like.

I took Hannah up to Solitude last week and we rode the "big lift". She was unsure of it but whats a dad to do? Push their kid outside their comfort zone. She got the hang of it. Fun to watch how much better she has gotten this year. Still a ways to go but its been a fun winter watching her ski. Enjoy.

Sloppy Seconds

Last week, I tried to go to Solitude or Brighton on Sunday. It was a zoo. I have never seen it so busy up Big Cottonwood. I guess with Sundance and the Outdoor Retailer event going on it put alot more heathens up the canyon on a sunday than usual. I pulled the plug and returned Monday for some sloppy seconds. Not what I had in mind but better than nothin.

Powder Blueballs

So, I got up this morning knowing it was going to be tight to make it up to the resort before the whole world. I needed to help lindy get the girls ready for church before i could head up the canyon. Well, I was too late. Traffic up the canyon was ridiculous. Slick roads and people in civics holding things up. By the time I made it up there the parking lots were full and cars lined the road with powder hungry skiers and boarders. I decided to pull the plug and try it again tomorrow. After all, it's posed to snow tonight. That really only makes me feel a little better. I'm sure it was pretty sweet for those that made it up there. Here's to tomorrow! 

expectations lowered

So, I have not had many chances to try out this camera while skiing so far. It snowed a little this week and I sneaked up to get a few turns in before work. Here is the video. Its nothing too exciting. The snow was heavy, manky powder. It was still softish. How fast our expectations get lowered. Anyways, here's to hoping more light fluffy Utah powder is on the way. It looks like I need to shift the camera up just a titch. It was still great to get out and you will never hear me complain about getting some decent turns in before work.

Christmas Time!

Ok, the requests are starting to come in. "What do you want for Christmas?" Well, there is still plenty to choose from on my Birthday list. But, here is some additional items for you to choose from.

I always enjoy a good Probar. They pack over 300 calories and are good to have around if I get busy and don't have time for lunch or breakfast on the way to some early morning skiing. Here is a link. PROBAR. I like the Koka Moka best.

I am also in need of some new water bottles. Over the last few years I have migrated to the camelback podium bottles.  You can get these bad boys at your local bike shop or at your local REI store. I prefer any color except black. Either the 20 oz. bottle or the larger 25 oz.

Just like pretty much everyone I know, my fuel of choice is Carborocket. Now, its pretty much the best ever endurance fluids you can get. I could use a replenishing of both the standard carborocket as well as the Half evil 333. All flavors are pretty good. You can either order direct from Carborocket or your local bike shop. If you're ordering online, you may as well toss a pair of socks into the cart. Not only do I like those socks but he used the word "rad" in the description. I'm sold.

To further aid me in my snow evaluation, I could use one of these as well as one of these.

I could always use a new pair of cycling gloves. Ergon makes the best grips around and they just started selling gloves. I would venture to guess they make pretty good gloves as well. Size Large. Ergon-bike

You can never have too much Stans tire sealant in your garage. It seems you always run out just when you need it most. Stans no tubes tire sealant

Like alot of guys my age training tends to take a back seat. Stuff gets in the way time is crunched etc. Lynda has a pretty good following of her training plans. You could always hook me up with a training plan for the "time crunched" forever midpack racer. They start at $50. LWCOACHING

Back to the socks. I follow a pro endurance racer named Sonya Looney. She is pretty much a bad ass on the bike and I enjoy her posts. She wears some pretty cool socks and I want some of these. I know they are pink. I don't care. I want them.

Speaking of clothing. Twin Six makes the best cycling T-shirts etc around. You could choose pretty much any of their T-shirts and I would be happy. Twinsix.com

You could also get a gift card to one of my favorite outdoor retailers. Backcountry.com

One more item. A harness for my Avalanche Beacon. BCAACCESS.

So far this season, our snowpack is looking rather bleak. How bout some snow? Hello? Is this thing on?

Hearding Cats

Hearding Cats, my guess is kind of like trying to teach a 5 year old to ski. I like to pretend I have patience but its clear to me now. I don't. I may seem calm and jovial on the outside but inside I'm boiling! WHY WON'T YOU LISTEN TO ME???? I have to alter my expectations. If she's having fun, thats all that matters. Right? I sent Dug (who's on a blog hiatus) a txt asking if he had any tips. His response? Put em in ski school and go skiing while they are learning. For some reason I knew that was going to be his response. Problem is, ski school costs money and I have very little extra of that floating around right now. Maybe sign her up for a few 1/2 day lessons for 50 bucks at Solitude. Thats about the best price I have found so far.

All I know, its she is having fun. So long as I don't make too many rules! I made that mistake while trying to get her to listen to me while teaching her how to swim. I ruined it for her. She didn't want to go with me anymore because I had too many "swimming rules". Well, that made me feel like shit so I am trying to keep it light and fresh. If she's having fun and she is  making a little bit, even just a smudge of progress its a good thing. Here's a little video from our outing to Alta Sunday for their "free after 3" thing. Its a pretty sweet deal. Enjoy.

Oh S&^%!

This last few weeks has been a bit wet here in the 801. With the several new inches of snow that has fallen in the mountains I decided, why fight it.

I haven't been skiing a whole lot in the last month. Since I committed to the epic fail that is also known as True Grit 50, I tried to spend more time on the bike in preparation. Since then I have been on the bike a few times but the weather has not been ideal for riding. It has been more ideal for skiing however.

The last 2 weeks I have spent transitioning to a job that I have had for 7 years to a brand new job. Same gig, just with a new builder. One that is emerging from this craphole downturn and ready to rock and roll. I am also ready to rock and roll after 3 years of picking myself up off the mat each day to roll into work and get my teeth kicked in again. The time had come to make a move.

So, with all of that going on plus a new kid on the way and trying to get  room finished in the basement recreation has taken a back seat a little bit. With the new snow I was searching for someone to ski with Friday. Steve came through for a late afternoon meeting. We needed something fairly quick since Steve had a hot date with his wife that night so Mill D North fit the bill. It dumped on us pretty much the whole time. The wind was mostly calm and the snow was piling up. It was fairly dense below 8000 ft but above 8000 it was much lighter. We spent an afternoon in the mountains with new snow. Thats a good way to spend an afternoon.

The real excitement came on the way down the canyon. Steve was driving his Subaru and the road was slick. It looked as if it warmed up a bit melted some snow then got cold again and froze it. Steve made a maneuver to pass an Aerostar mini van, immediately after we hit some ice. We could see people up ahead on the road and I knew there were some cars off the road. As we got closer, we started sliding. Steve downshifted, still sliding, he finally stepped on the gas just in time, we fishtailed a few times almost taking the dude out that was walking across the road. I was trying to decide if I should brace myself or jump out. Luckily, Steve has trained in defensive driving and we made it. We immediately stopped to watch the Aerostar blast into the cars. That never happened though. They must have seen us fishtail and slowed way down. We are such dicks, stopping to watch some carnage.

Steve got us home like a champ. We always say, live to ski another day. We usually just mean don't take unnecessary risks while in the backcountry. I guess it can apply to the drive as well. Steve assured me that I was covered with several airbags. I wasn't worried.

Good times. Thanks Steve.

Ya know, Dug might just be right with this one! There is absolutely nothing that I could possibly add to his extremely thorough review of Diet Coke. I mean, I hate the taste of regular diet coke and have always opted for Coke Zero or the original Coke. I have recently stopped at the local Chevron and mix half Coke with half DC w/Lime. Yum. Yes, I just typed Yum. Anyways, I bought a 12 pack and tried it straight up today and the results were still Yum. Now, this doesn't mean I will discard my other soft drink choices but this is definately something that will be added to the mix.

On anther note, we hit up Scotties again Friday morning early for some recycled powder. I say recycled because it had been ski'd out heavier than we all had thought, plus the wind was blowing from the opposite direction that the avy forecast said it was. There was still really nice snow up top in the bowl and in the trees to the west of the main Scotties shot. Still a great morning. Only downside was, I left my poles behind. The wind knocked over my skis and my poles in the parking lot. I put my skis in the back then pulled my soaking wet undershirt off because I was freezing, then the wind kicked up again so I threw on another shirt and made a b-line to the car leaving my trusty old bent poles behind. Heard a rumor that someone may have picked them up but we have yet to be reunited. Hopefully the poles they picked up are indeed mine, if not I guess I have an excuse to get some new ones.

Beautiful Reward

Last week was a pretty good week for skiing. Wednesday we got to do a very nice Scotties Bowl shot. The snow was soft and fast. 18" of new snow fell earlier in the week and I had to make an exception to get out and ski some of it. The climb as always sucked. Well, thats not all true. I don't mind the climb, Im just slow and that part sucks. Not sure how to get faster. Anyways, I joined Dug, Mark and Steve for a nice long lap. No pictures, forgot my camera again. I suck.

Friday we got up early for some Pink Pine. There was a huge army that was out that morning. Not even really sure how many. At least 8, no more than 15. The climb up to Pink Pine was nice, UDOT was bombing on the North Side of the Canyon. Its always kind of cool and somewhat nerve racking to be hiking and hearing huge artillery go off in the not too far distance. I got to the booter just a few minutes behind the last person of the main group so I hung out there for a few for Dug and is Brother-in-law. Dugs binding broke again so he had to drag one of his feet up the entire skin track. It did look like a lot of fun and I almost locked my binding down but in the end I decided to use mine as they were intended. Booting is always interesting. This is only the 2nd time I have done it so its not like I have vast experience. Its kind of a cool thing to boot up a ridge. I try not to think about what would happen if I slipped and fell. Its kind of steep. The boot up to the top didn't take too long, we put our ski's back on to skin a little further in and then took in the view. Pretty amazing. I took this little video clip at the top.



The shot after the booter is much longer than stopping just short. Dug said its always better to boot it if you have time. I would agree. Snow was really, really good! Super sweet turns up top, little crust in the middle and great turns the rest of the way. 2 great tours with some of the best snow we have had in a month or so. I managed to tear the shit out of my heels on Friday. My moleskin slipped right off my heels. It doesn't work so good when its bunched up somewhere in your socks. Hopefully they heal up fast. Shoes don't feel too good right now. Worth it though.

Dry spell with spring like conditions over the next few days. I think I will be able to get out on the bike a few days this week. I am craving some red dirt but also have really been enjoying this year skiing. I lost count but I think I have been out 20 or more times. Waaaay better than last year. There is still a few months left of skiing. March/April will probably bring a mixture of riding and skiing. I can live with that.

Hey kids, dont forget!

Got out for some sub-zero hiking and subsequent skiing with the usuals. Temps were downright cold and the winds definitely were not helping to warm things up. Nonetheless we started our way up flagstaff but instead of climbing flagstaff we headed towards Cardiff. I had never been over that way so I was a bit excited to check out something new and different. The climb was going great (as great as suffering can go) until I hit an icy patch and slid off the skintrack. You can see this from the gps track below my demise.

The full gps below

Once to the top the wind was really rippin. We transitioned to ski mode, well most did. I fucked around and forgot to switch my boots into ski mode. I wondered for half of the first decent why do I feel so retarded. No, it wasn't the sheet of ice that we all slipped off on. I slid what felt like 50 feet but was probably more like 15 until the snow got soft enough to hold an edge. Woowee, that was exciting. Still pissed about forgetting to flip my boots. Won't let that happen again. The snow was soft once we were off the ridge. A little more wind affected than we thought it would be but still soft. We transitioned again and started our way out to poleline pass. Climbing went pretty good until we were about 2/3 of the way up. We found the rain crust and it wasnt going to let us skin to the top. We transitioned to bootin. My first boot pack and not the last. It was interesting to see how well the snow holds when its like that. It was like a staircase in some spots. I felt kind of like Rocky in Rock IV climbing the mountain. Except he was a bad ass and did it in Sorels. I had nice stiff ski boots and poles. Rocky rules. 

Once to the top of poleline we transitioned again and half the group took off just as I was getting there and I brought up the rear. The turns down Cardiff Pk were pretty good. A little heavy in spots but overall pretty good. Ski to the road and walk a block or so back to the car. 

As always, with each tour I learn something new. Todays lesson, don't forget to switch your boots out of walk mode into ski mode. It will make you look stupid. Or at least MORE stupid than usual. 

Thanks to Steve for the pictures. I forgot my camera. 

Mike and Dug almost to the top. Mark and his buddy are hiding on the ridge in the trees. 

Me after sliding off the skintrack and losing contact with the group

Seeking shelter in the trees. They didn't offer much protection.

Our tracks. Someone else beat us there and put some tracks in too. 

More Pinkie

I thought it would be good for Brad to get out on a little tour in a place other than The Willows in BCC. I thought Pink Pine would fit the bill. Pretty mellow approach, some steeper climbing and some pretty cool scenery. Sunday was a great morning to get out. We arrived at the parking lot about 7:30 and there was only 2 other cars in the lot. By the time we got back it was overflowing out to the road. First, here's some scenery.

Once to the top of the ridge we were treated with a peak of the mighty Pfeifferhorn. Its an amazing peak. We could tell that the winds were ripping through the ridge the prior day because it was scoured and slick. Very different than the prior week. Once at the top I popped a few small cornices off the ridge, things were a little slabby up top. Didn't get anything to move much, probably because Dug and crew knocked it all out the day before. Thanks again! I kicked out a few turns then traversed over to the apron, the turns were very fast and very sweet. Have I mentioned how much I like my skis?

Brad forgot his poles. Its ok Brad, we all forget shit once in awhile. Thats precisely the reason I built my hooks. I want all my stuff in the same spot so I can hopefully minimize the possibility of forgetting something. I gave him one of my poles for the climb and we found him a good long stick to serve as his other pole. I rendered my other pole for the escape out since he was on a board and would need them more than I. I know, I am a great friend. I told him even the great ones forget a pole sometimes. He also had a few equipment failures but we weren't in a hurry. We got it all handled and enjoyed a nice morning with some sweet soft turns. Again, the views weren't bad either. I didn't catch Brads face afterwards but he was smiling from ear to ear.

A visit to Scotties

The moon sets and the sun rises in perfect harmony

Grizzly Adam took some AMAZING pictures that morning. I have never seen it so beautiful up there for a dawn patrol ever. Granted I have only been on a dozen and a half or so but still. It was one of those mornings that you were glad you pulled your head off your pillow. I wasn't feeling great. I had a hard time chokin down some toast in the morning but thought I was up so I may as well go. Worse case scenario I rip skins before the top and enjoy some turns. I only got one long decent in but the hike was worth getting up in its own. The turns weren't bad either. Pretty icy near the top, couldn't hardly keep an edge. We pulled the plug just before the summit and started the transition. Some fast dudes got 2 laps in and others just 1. Scottie's is one of my favorite spots due to the open bowl and the terrain features available. I spent most of the morning hiking by myself looking up at the trail of headlamps above. I forgot how many kickturns there were on Scotties. Some were barely the length of your skis.

There was a pretty big crew that got out. Mark, Rick, Adam, Aaron, Steve, Rob, John, Brandon (on his maiden voyage) and a few others but their names escape me. Pretty big group.

The turns were nice, there was about 8-10 inches of new snow on top of the stout crust. Dust on Crust is a good way to describe it. Once in awhile you would hit the crust but mostly you were able to stay up on top. I brought my gps but forgot to turn it on. Until next time.

Handy

I got tired of my ski stuff laying all over the garage on the floor so I decided to do something about it. I didn't get out as much last year so it wasn't that big of a deal, I was able to put my stuff away and it didn't lay all over the garage. Maybe I have more gear now? Who knows. I had an open wall and a spare 2x4 so I drilled it into some studs and got some hooks at Lowes and went to work. First I had to find my drill, then I had to charge the battery. I can't remember the last time I used it. My motivation would have to wait until the battery was charged. Damn!

Here is what it looked like before-

Here it is after one battery died. It doesn't hold a charge much. I think I got this drill as a wedding present 12 years ago. Might be time for a new one at some point.

I added a screw at the far left so the skis would slide out and fall over. This comes in handy for a few reasons.

And here it is in all its glory!

Next up would be a shelf over the top to store gloves, goggles etc. Maybe next year. I only have so many handy matches to burn in a year.

On another note, got out this morning with Dug, Steve, Tyler and Dugs 12 year old Holden. We headed out to Pink Pine Ridge. Thats a cool area to ski, we found pretty good snow up top on the n/e slopes. We got in 2 quick laps. Holden killed it on the up and boy that kid can ski. 12 years old! I wish I started skiing before I turned 19. Oh well. Can't turn back time!

Tough Guy

So, I have been lucky enough to get some new gear lately. Partially due to some ffb winnings and partially due to a generous offering from my mother for Christmas and my Birthday. I thought it would be fun to give a review of some of those things. Not that anyone will care what my opinion is but someone might. Right?

Todays review will be on Flylow "tough guy" Gloves

Now, I am fully aware that Rick did a post last year about some similar gloves but after I read his post last year I thought to myself, would those really work as well as he says they will? So, I decided to look for something similar after a few tours this year where my hands were sweating. I usually used my ski gloves I bought from REI several years ago. Removable liner inside, leather exterior that came up on the forearm with a elastic closure. Typical ski glove. Works ok, I just seemed to get hot sweaty hands. 

I finally found a pair of gloves and they were cheap, 28 bucks so I thought what the hell, I'll give em a shot. I was pleasantly surprised. My hands were cold at first (they always seem to be) but after a few minutes of climbing they warm up. They are waterproof, I have good dexterity, so far they seem pretty durable but at 28 bucks you could buy a few pairs and still not spend near the amount of a nice pair of ski gloves just like Rick said last year.  

So, after a few tours with these gloves I am very happy with the purchase. If your hands get sweaty and wet while out touring you should try these out. If you don't like them you can give the gloves to me.

Ouch!

Yesterday, me, Sam, his brother and Plummer met up in the morning for some skiing. We originally were going to the Monitor Bowl in BCC but heard from some others that ski'd it the day before that it was no good and to stay away. We decided to drive up to Alta and hike into grizzly, take a peek at Silver and Days. Maybe a run in each depending on how it was. When we left the mouth of the canyon it was 13. At Alta 32 and sunny. It was a gorgeous morning as we skinned up into grizzly gulch. It got hot fast and we were all shedding layers. We got to the top and traversed the ridge to the west then came back towards the east to a nice North/East facing shot into Siver Fork. The plan was to ski a shot here and then a shot into Days on a similar facing slope. The top was a little more choppy than I was expecting but after 3 turns or so it was nice soft snow. This was a pretty fun line we ski'd. This was Sams little brothers maiden voyage. He was on Sam's old skis since Sam just got the Megawatts. His little bro rocked it. Very good skier. Like Sam, he is fast on the up too. On the bottom part of the slope things were a little tight manuevering the trees/cliffs. Brian went first and got a little too far back on his skis in the deep snow and popped his ACL. We reconvened at the bottom and decided Brian and I would ski out Silver Fork to Solitude and Sam with his brother would hike back up and ski back to the car and come get us at Solitude. A sad ending to very good ski shot 1 week after the last snowfall. Im still amazing by the backcountry, so much terrain, so much good snow even a week after the last snowfall.

looking west at Superior

The Pfeifferhorn in the distance

me sweatin my ass off

Sam and his bro. Sam was lookin for some Barry White on his iphone

I hope Brian has a quick recovery. This was my first tour with him and he is very knowledgeable and willing to teach. I love guys like that.

I am really enjoying my first full season of Backcountry. I am lucky to have so many friends willing to go with me and teach me their wise ways. Like Yoda and Luke. Take me to the backcountry you will hmmmmm?

On a 2nd note, on an email thred between Dug, Sam and I. Sam was expressing how much he loved his new Megawatts. I too am loving them. Dug so eloquently responds, "welcome to the orgasm that is Megawatts" That gets the quote of the week.

Lame

As Dug pointed out it is lame to blog about a ski day that happened more than just a few days ago. Well, Im really lame because I am going to do the same. I took some time off between Christmas and New Years and I got a few ski days in. So, in an effort to not bore you and force you to click to someone else's blog I will paraphrase Dug. He said after 1 of our days, "I feel like I should talk to the Bishop". Now, Im not sure what Dug had goin on but, I agreed and laughed. I later told my wife what he said and she said, "did he jizz in his pants?" I said, well, i doubt it. Hope not.  Its like trying to explain sex to a virgin. Its impossible. Its one of those things you just have to experience for yourself. Here are some photos.

First, we had a fabulous day at Solitude. It was deep and I was wishing I had my Megawatts mounted.

Then we had a nice shot into Days across from Alta.

The badass mofos kept going for an epic day given to them by Reed Benson.

Me and Steve caught some air of this small cornice coming back down Flagstaff

More good soft turns coming down Flagstaff

 Topped it off with a little sleddin with Hannah. She loves sleddin and skiin, as long as she's outside she is happy!

All in all, a pretty damn good 10 days. I may be lame for blogging about it late, but I don't really care. It will probably happen again. 

Just a SO-SO day

Got an email from Dug yesterday saying that he was thinking of getting out this morning and wondered if I was interested. I emailed right back and said yes. I of course waited a few minutes so he wouldn't think I was overly excited. Truth is, I have been itching to get out and the timing just has not worked out over the last week or so. I know, a travesty, I haven't been skiin in a week or so. Conditions continue to be stable and that is always a good thing.

We started a little late due to the winter solstice and its still dark at 7. We met at the spot at 6 and made our way up to the top of LCC. Parked and watched a snowboarder dude roll right over Mikes ski tips. He hadnt put them on yet and they were just on the ground but still, really? Luckily they rolled over the flat parts and didnt do any damage. That would have been pretty sucky. We started our way up the Silver Creek headwall. This was a bit sketchy at times due to the slipperyness hidden just blow the fresh snow. We made our way to the top to take in what would be a pretty so, so few runs. Here's the up and a view shot.

Here we are ready to Harvest the goods. They all whored into my shot. Whores. Im in the meat in the sandwich here.

Looking straight into Silver Fork

Our fearless leader, photographer and guide.

Me after the climb, I mustered up a smile.

Some turns, it was all untouched.

Few more action pics here, here and dugs writeup. It was just a SO-SO day in the wasatch with Jamie, Dug, and Mike.