Dirty Snow

I made a quick visit up to Montana to visit my parents for the weekend. I managed to talk my Dad into driving me up to the Beartooth Pass on Friday for a bit of skiing. With the gloom and doom of rain forecasted for the rest of the weekend I was stoked to have a bit of sunshine and made a couple of fun runs on the Gardner Headwall, but when I moved over to ski the Rock Creek Headwall the rain and fog had set in and I decided to call it rather than stumble around looking for the entrance into the Headwall. Needless to say it was another good trip to the Pass.

We bypassed the lift on Twin Lakes Headwall and aimed for the Gardner Headwall.

The left line off of Garnder Head Wall was a fun one. It started off with some fast steep turns off the top and funneled into a choke that was a left a bit boney from a wet slide.

Here I am on the Gardner Headwall. I am the little spec in the upper left hand corner. There is another skier in the lower right the skiing the main shot on Gardner.

Wildflowers are amazing. They can thrive in the barren tundra at 10,000 ft.

I attempted to ski the Rock Creek Headwall, but got shut down by the thick fog. This is a photo of my Dad creeping around in the clouds.

Wouldn't be a trip to the Beartooths without a little fog and tundra.

Chicago's Mountains

Larissa and I headed to Chicago for Memorial Day Weekend. Although Chicago is an awesome city with plenty to do, I found myself most drawn to the views of the skyscrapers. The highlight of the trip was taking an architectural tour of the birth place of the skyscraper. The tour consists of a boat ride down the Chicago River which puts you right in the middle of Chicago's Skyscrapers. Although I prefer natural settings, I was in awe of the immense structures that man has created.

Larissa, Peter, and I at a Chicago Whitesox game with the skyline in the background.

The Bean in Millenium Park. I was amazed by this thing as was everyone else

Is that sand on the banks of the Chicago River? Nope that would be concrete, glass, and steel.

The Sears Tower with a little lean.

I kept seeing reflections of this sketch ball. As if he was following me?

The view from the top of the Hancock Tower.

Beat the Heat on Box Elder

With temperatures forcasted to be near 90 degrees for the day, I decided to head for the mountains to cool off. The goal for the day was to ski of the summit of Box Elder Peak (11,101 ft). Didn't make the summit, but learned some valuable lessons along the way.

Lessons Learned:
1) Starting at the crack of 11 am is a little to late this time of year.
2) Get a map. I thought I could figure it out once I hit the trail but quickly realized this wasn't the case. I kind of got some directions from some horsemen that eventually got me headed in the right direction.
3) Bring adequate water or means to get water from a stream. I spent a good portion of the day eating snow to keep hydrated. Doesn't work so good.
4) Dogs are great ski partners, but they don't set a very good boot pack.



I ended up on the trail in the middle of the picture which led in the wrong direction and cost me about an hour of time.

Enough of the dirt, time to hit the snow.

A lot of the day was spent staring at this guy?

Mayes thinking about a swim in Utah Lake.

Don't let the smile fool you. I was a bit disappointed to be out of time and juice to make the summit.

Lookers left is what I wanted to ski.

Looking back on what I got to ski.

Had a fun day, but stoked to be back at the Truck 9 hours after I started.

Vernal?

I had heard mention of Vernal single track a while back, but had yet to check it out. With a recent article in Bike Magazine comparing Vernal to the likes of Fruita and Moab, I knew I needed to ride this zone. The weather was perfect and the single track was tight. I will definitely be back.

It always good to start out the day with a little pre-ride stretching

............ And a sacrifice to the Bike Shoe God.

Larissa at the entrance to Fire Sale!

Scoob trying to get me to pick up the pace.

Screw the view lets rally some single track.

I thought my new aerodynamic haircut would help me go faster, but no, I was dragging ass as usuual.

All of the tight single track left Scooby drooling for more.

The trails had strategically place scultpures. They were very cool and often incorported old bike parts. I definently got good vibes from this place.

Crow and Lacey joined us for the weekend. Lacey is stoked on her new truck and camper.

The campsite. Not much shade in Vernal.

Crow headed for a collision with a rock.

Lacey about to nail a fun switchback on Fire Sale.

Choices?

We chose Dipity and it treated us well.

Scoob finally had to give in.

Desert Smiles!

Ski Partners

In states such as Montana, most don’t think twice to load the Dogs in the back of the truck when they head out to backcountry ski. Utah does not have this luxury. Both Big Cottonwood Canyon and Little Cottonwood Canyon are designated “Water Shed Areas” which is really another term for “ No Dogs.” Don’t get me wrong, with the amount of backcountry ski travel these canyons see, if everyone brought their dogs, it would border on ridiculousness. By venturing out of the Cottonwood Canyons into places such as the Oquirrh Mountains, Emmigration Canyon, and the Snowbasin periphery, I have had the opportunity to tag along with Scoob and Mayes. The dogs make especially good ski partners when heading out for Solo Missions (no other humans). They are great at testing snow stability, no bitching, and best of all they ward off fellow skiers trying to poach lines.

Scoob trying to go for a free ride on the skin track.

Screw the view, Lets huck the cornice!

Mayes scouting her line.

Scoob stomps on the snowmobile track.

Here is another one of my wack narratives. Luckily I watch these videos before I post and make sure I veto it so I don't bore everyone. I threw this one in because the dogs make up for the boringness.

Howling

This is the only photo that I took while chilling in the parking prior to a full moon journey in the Uintas on Wednesday night/Thursday morning. My photography skills are extremely weak making it next to impossible to get any kind of blog worthy photos while skiing at night. Anyway, I don't think any photo would do full moon skiing any justice.

Since discovering the joys of full moon skiing a few years ago, I have become a fan. I have been able to get out on numerous full moon expeditions, including three nights last season. This year all the full moons had fallen on storm nights and I was beginning to think it wasn’t meant to be.
The month of March proved to be different. With a couple of feet falling the day before the full moon and a clear night forecasted, I knew it was on. I got the call from Stoy “ Hey, Full Moon in the Uintas, you in?” “Hell Yeah!”

Alex was able to rally a crew of 10, almost unheard of if you ask me. We had a relaxed skin up with multiple breaks to have a few drinks of whiskey, wine, and beer. Then skied an amazing shot with perfect creamy powder, made even better with the beautiful moonlight. It was so good we had to go for seconds. The out was interesting to say the least, a stout zipper crust, made for a couple miles of snow plowing. Made it back to the trailhead by 1 a.m. and was in bed by 2:30 a.m. and then up at 6:30 a.m. for work. I had a hard time keeping my eyes open at work, but couldn’t wipe the smile off my face from such an epic night.

Canada

A preview of the movie Larry is editing of our trip to Canada last year.