Pick up lines

"This is the end of the skintrack, eh?" I say as I come upon a stranger whose skintrack I had been following for the last couple miles. I think I startled him.

The stranger was also skiing by himself. I don't mind skiing by myself, but I prefer to use the buddy system. "Do you mind if I ski with you?" For better or worse, I've never been too shy about asking to tag along. Like that time that I took the Amtrak to Yosemite by myself, or the time I went to Indian Creek by myself to climb with previously unknown people. Or the time I asked a couple strangers if I could carpool to a rando race. There are dozens of such instances. Is that bad? I dunno. I just figure that if I never ask, then the answer is always no anyway. Usually people are pretty cool and happy to have someone to ski with, so it usually works out for them too. Usually.

Me and the stranger made several laps of awesome north-facing 35 degree goodness. I'd never skied in this sector before and it was fantastic. He was the only other skier I saw all day. Try and ski on a Saturday in the tri-canyons and say that. Hopefully he enjoyed my company as I did his. Thanks for the good tour Owen.

Skin loop modification for Trab skis

There is some stuff out there on the internet about this, but I'll add my 2 cents because there are a few things that I didn't understand from the other posts and this may be valuable for someone who needs a tip or two on the process. After looking at Andy and Jared's mods, I took a stab at doing my own and think they turned out rather nice if I can say so myself.

I ordered some Trab 100% mohair race skins and they came with the Trab tip & tail attachments already on them. Using an exacto knife, I cut off the tip and tail attachments. Then, using the exacto knife again, I trimmed the skins so a 2" thin strip at the tip. I used the logo as a guide for how skinny I wanted my strip.

Rather than explain the blow by blow (boring!) Here's a picture of the finished product.





A couple of notes on the process:
1) I used sports tape to hold the bungee together and put sports tape right above the washer(a 1/4" washer I think) so it won't move when attaching skins and also at the top to have some surface area to grab when ripping the skins.
2) I used my Dad's sewing awl to sew my thin strip back on the skin. It uses a beeswax covered thread and is quite heavy duty. Perfect for this sort of thing. Two small rows tacked on there should be more than enough to hold this thing together.
3) The bungees I used were about $3 from Home Depot. Maybe 10" long. The thinner the better I think.

Thanksgiving 5k (plus a little more)

For turkey day I joined some new friends for a hot lap up to the top of the snowbird tram before breakfast. They were quite a bit faster than me with their stupid light race setups. I need my boots to get here soon! When we started it was 2 degrees Fahrenheit. I was sweating, so by the time I reached the top I had crazy ice chunks stuck in my hair. My bottle was nearly frozen solid as well. At the car, I ate a small pack of shot blocks and a few crackers for breakfast. Water was still frozen.

Then for dessert, we crossed the road and skinned up toledo bowl and along the ridge up to the top of superior. Bart and Andy were skinning comfortably and I was straggling behind always by a few minutes. They were nice to not turn down the screws on me too much. We scored some sweet pow at the top, negotiated a couple of tight chokes, and then wahoo'ed down the apron to the road. I hit a rock and blew 2" of edge right out of my skis. $#*&! Hopefully the shop can work a little magic to get them fixed, because I REALLY cannot afford to buy new skis this winter.

Total vert for the day was probably around 6k. The rest of the day was filled with turkey, mashed potatoes, candied yams and pumpkin pie. Hmm, maybe my penchant for treats is the reason I got smoked up to hidden peak?

Gloves on a budget

With regular ski gloves built for lift skiing, my hands get way too hot on the skin track and then I fumble around with them ripping skins, accessing pack, etc. I wanted a really light pair of gloves that were not too hot, but also wearable for the down.

About 2 or 3 months ago I picked up a pair of OR fleece gloves from the sale bin at a ski shop. Great gloves with some tacky rubber on the palm & fingers. Anyway, I have a bunch of bright orange rip-stop nylon left over from when I sewed my kite last year. (What man doesn't like to get down and dirty with a sewing proj every now and again?)I made mittens out of the ripstop and sewed a fleece "pocket" onto the outside cuff of the glove. The mittens pack into the fleece pocket, then when the wind picks up, pull out the rip-stop mittens. Works pretty well. The construction is rough and the stitching on the thumb is on the outside, but who cares, right? I used them today and with wind gusting 20 mph at 9,200 feet and 15 degrees, they worked well enough to keep my fingers from freezing during the transition. These may be my go to glove now!

Week 45

In Europe, they count weeks. 11/13 week ending is 45. Work wasn't really demanding this week as I'm in between projects at work. I took the opportunity to recreate a bit.

Monday: 4 road miles moderately-hard.

Tuesday: Skied with KDay. One run down main baldy chute. Great snow. KDay lost a ski about half way down and 100 yards later it landed straight up in the snow. Nice! We were pumped it didn't run down the whole mountain. Of course I couldn't pass up THE perfect opportunity to quote Charles Dumar. "He's skiing on one ski!"

KDay playing Where's Waldo.

Not quite first tracks, but the snow was still excellent.



Wednesday: 10 road miles with the biggest hills Kaysville has to offer. Climbing gym in the evening.

Thursday: easy warmup 5 x 2:30 intervals (that is how high the hill is--I prolly need a bigger one, but this hill is so close.)

Friday: Skied Alta approx. 5k vert. Main Baldy, collins, 3 laps on East Greely. The best snow I've skied this year by far. Excellent day.

I was able to squeeze in a few fresh turns on Greely. It was pretty tracked up though. Snooze or lose.



Saturday: Skinned to bountiful peak. 2.2k vert and a small off piste run at the top and tried to avoid any grey spots (rocks), then down the road to the car. Hung with kids. Studied.

Crazy rime crusted tree. The farmington ridge is notoriously windy and this guy sits right on top. Tough tree.


Next week I should start to get a bit faster. I'll finally get my bindings and race skins. Dyna performance won't come for a few weeks so I'll have to just mount the toes only and wait for 12/1 to get the boots. Then I'll really be in business.

October Skiing 10/29

I finally made it up to Alta to check out the new snow. The snow fell last weekend (10/25?), so by Friday it wasn't quite as good as I'm sure it was earlier in the week. Some snow makes you feel like a superstar and some makes you feel like you hardly know how to ski. The conditions were more like the latter than the former.

My intention was just to get out and skin a little bit, and just be out. My friend Tanner joined me for his first ever tour. We skied main baldy chute in pretty good conditions although it was all tracked out and some bumps were starting to form. Despite the early season conditions and marginal sun-baked snow, I think the hook is firmly set in him.

I'm still waiting to get my new boots and bindings. Who knows why a ski company doens't have all their product shipped by 10/1. ETA is mid-November.

Last week I ran about just over 40 miles with about 7-8k of vert and was able to get a few turns in too. Nothing too crazy. I'm starting to feel a little bit of fitness for the upcoming winter. I have 4 or maybe 5 races circled this winter. We'll see how it goes.

Superior at sunrise.



Tanner above snowbird looking down canyon.




Main Baldy entrance.

Coverage was better than I thought it would be.

Doldrums

still waiting.


Happier times.

I love the fall. It would be absolutely fine with me if the seasons were fall, winter, fall, winter, etc. Bypassing summer and spring. I've been logging some miles both trail running and trail riding to build some strength and endurance for winter.

In the past, the fall has been spent bouldering and sending routes. I haven't done any of that this year unfortunately. Other than at the Front, but that doesn't count.

You see, I've thrown a bunch of money down for light ski stuff to see what I can do at some rando races this winter. I feel a little like Nacho Libre. "Precious Father, why have you given me this desire to race and then made me such a stinky warrior?" I'm not expecting to be competitive in the races per se, I just want to see what I can do personally. Race against myself if you will. I'm not even that great of a skier, so why is it that every time I go run (BTW, when I run, my brain turns off. Simple arithmetic becomes difficult)I think of the new carbon boots or the 140 gram bindings that I'll have this winter? It's kind of retarded.

So, right now is the doldrums for me. I'm ready to start skiing. I'm still having fun running. As far as climbing goes, a few sport routes here and there are all I can muster. But let's get on with it already. Where's the snow?

Bairgutsman 2010 race report

Crazy Bob's Bairgutsman was today. The race has been run for 30 years, but still has a small race feel to it. Basically, it runs from the Mountain Road in Fruit Heights almost to the top of Francis Peak--a total vertical gain of over 5,600 feet in 5 miles. Upon reaching the top, the course goes down the service road to the Bountiful Peak turnoff where the finish line is. 10.56 miles total.

I was hoping to run a 2:15--an arbitrary number since this was my first year running the race, but 2:15 sounded like it would be a pretty (for me) respectable result. I was on pace for the first 3 miles, but miles 4 & 5 took me 30:42 and 31:55! I was trying to power hike with a purpose, but I was starting to get a bit more tired towards the end of the climb. I have never done any hiking like that before! Live and learn I guess.

I tried to get towards the front end of the race, because with 300 participants on narrow single track, I didn't want to get stuck behind the autobus on any of the climbs. Interestingly enough, I ended up being the slow one on the hike sections and got passed by 6 or 7 people on the climb.

Tangent: There were a couple of stud 13-15 year old kids that were running near my same pace. One kid tried an unannounced pass, wiped out, got up, ran about 200 more yards and then began throwing up all the water he'd been drinking. Have you ever seen anyone throw up? It's nasty! It was only water, but I forced myself not to look for fear of making my stomach do the same.

After what seemed like forever, I reached the top of the climb, shuffled past Paul Bunyan's golf balls, and tried to catch the person in front of me. We must have all been running at the same speed because I could never close the gap. I didn't pass and didn't get passed by anyone from the top of the climb to the finish line. In fact, most of the time, I couldn't even see anyone except for the long straightaways. I crossed the finish line at 2:29:03 in 28th place. I was the fourth place girl.

After I finished, had a chance to recharge etc., the 2:15 goal really was nagging at me because I knew that I lost tons of time on the last section of the climb. I want a rematch! Too bad they only run the race 1x a year. The winner this year knocked almost 10 minutes off the CR and covered the course in one hour and 50 minutes. This really was a neat event, with good energy.

My mile splits so I can compare against next year:

1 - 8:37
2 - 13:21
3 - 22:06
4 - 30:42
5 - 31:54
6 - 11:11
7 - 7:08
8 - 6:38
9 - 6:52
10 - 6:56

I guarantee there is 15 minutes in there somewhere that I can make up.

Full results here.

Can I make a suggestion?

Today's view.


I went running with the father/son combo of John & Greg yesterday. It wasn't light enough to run in the pines until 5:45 or so, so we started with some power walking out of the Upper Big Water Trailhead. Our plan was to head to Brighton where I would turn around & head home (17 miles) and Greg & John would continue on without me(43 miles).

As we picked our way up to the ridge in upper millcreek, Father offered, "Can I make a suggestion?" Son knew immediately that his Dad's suggestion was an alternative to the nice, clear trail that were were on. Without hesitation or even hearing what the suggestion was, son responded, "NO! We are not taking that goat trail!" Until that point I didn't realize that there must be a lot of history between those two and the nearby mountains they frequent. I could feel that Father loved being out there with Son. I need to have similar experiences with T as he gets older. The goat trail is exactly what father was suggesting by the way.

The Wasatch Front has been sweltering hot, with triple digits in the forecast for the first time of the year. However, at 9,800 feet it was a beautiful morning with temps in the 60-70 range. Ahhh. I'm afraid mid-day 70 won't be seen in the Valley until October.

6:00a sunrise at near the Canyons resort.


It is wildflower season in the high country.


Me with Father on my heels.


Stats: 17.5 miles
Elevation: 6,500 gain, 6,500 loss
Blisters: 2-One on each big toe.

Favorites

Coolest area?


High E. Pretty memorable exposure.

When I was younger, I climbed way more than I do/can today, but I don't have a very good record of anything that I've done because I never toted a camera and never wrote anything down. Enter this blog. I've tried to record a few things here and there that I'd like to remember or be able to look back on someday.

Anyways, the author of a blog I read recently posted his top 10 climbs. Many were impressive. It got me thinking if I have a top 10. I'm not sure. I've done a lot of rad climbs, and hope to do many more rad ones. I don't know if I could rank them, so I've just compiled a few of my favorites by grade. As the grades get harder, they have more bolts. :) Some are long, some are short. Some are recent ascents, some are from long ago. Also, easy trad routes are still quite memorable for me for several reasons, while easy sport fade quickly. Routes that were hard for me, or that had multiple attempts I remember well and have included some of them on my list. Anyways, here are a few:

5.6

Cat in the Hat (Red Rocks)
High Exposure (Gunks)

5.7

Snake Dike (Yosemite)
Jubilant Song (Red Rocks)
Celebration Wall (Red Rocks)
Bear's Reach (Lover's Leap)

5.8

Lowe Route (Lone Peak)
Pentapitch (LCC)

5.9

The Line (Lover's Leap)
The Coffin (LCC)
Gold Wall (Lone Peak)

5.10

East Buttress, El Cap (Yosemite)
Sons of Yesterday (Yosemite)
Serenity Cracks (Yosemite)
Mexican Crack (LCC)

5.11

Ananda (Ceuse)
Right Pile (BCC) (I know, super broken/chossy, but my first hard 5.11 made me feel proud)
License to Thrill (AF)

5.12

Don't tread on me (causey)
The abyss (AF)
Margarita (AF)
Oxygen? (AF)
Hierarchy (Causey)
Football (Maple Canyon)

5.13
Social Values (Causey) This took me many attempts.

There are many other cool routes that I haven't sent, so I didn't include those, but I hope to someday. The end.

Skimo

There are two types of people in life: 1) People who are gear junkies and 2) people who aren't. I am a #1. But I don't have enough money to have the nice stuff, so I make do with used stuff to fill out my quiver of stuff. Which brings me to skiing.

When we moved back to Utah from San Jose, I knew I wanted to start backcountry skiing. I was a latecomer to skiing. I didn't start until I was 23. And I only went 2x during the almost 3 years we lived in CA. In short, I didn't really know what I was doing or what type of touring gear to get. I settled on a cheap pair of 1st generation Bluehouse Districts and used Naxo bindings. Throw in some skins and some avy gear and I was off.

The snowbasin winter xterra had a ski mountaineering race for $30, so I decided to enter and see what it was about what with me being a skier who now travels uphill under his own power. I showed up and it was very apparent that I was toast before the race started. My gear: 187cm 105mm waisted skis, heavy bindings, nordica beast boots and wall to wall nylon skins. Each foot must have had 10+ pounds of ski gear attached. Needless to say, I wasn't fast. I started out at the back of the pack and stayed there the whole race. Skinny greyhounds in spandex race suits, these telemark looking tiny green boots, and skis that were as thick and as heavy as a pringle or so it seemed. "One of these things...."



I was quickly hypoxic after the gun went off and tried to just keep a pace that I could sustain for a while. At the top of the first lung-bursting hill, and I remember not knowing how to fold them very fast (I'd been out maybe 10 times when I never felt rushed.) and laid them out in the snow stick side up while I tightened my boots. The volunteers must have been wondering what the heck I was doing.

On the second descent, I guess I was so tired that I forgot to buckle my boots. By then, the fastest guys were on my tail after finishing their 3rd climb on the longer course. I didn't make them crash, but I was definitely in their way as I chattered down the hill in unbuckled boots. Man was I slow!

Anyways, long story short it was a horrorfest for me. But I loved it. I knew that I had found something unique and awesome in the sport of ski mountaineering. I think I was crosseyed for 4 hours after that race. I did some serious research and learned that I wished I had a mentor when I got into BC skiing--my stuff was just too heavy for what I really wanted to do. But I couldn't just scrap all of this stuff so what to do?

Fast forward 18 months and I am now the proud owner of some racing gear.

The gear for 2010-2011:

Ski Trab Duo Sint Aero skis (used) 965g per ski (borrowed pic)


Ski Trab race bindings (discounted) 140g per binding

Dynafit TLT 5 Mountain (still need to buy) 1120g per boot (borrowed pic)

100% mohair trab skins (discounted & no pic)

Not the lightest stuff out there, but this is what I could get in my price range. Now I have to see what I can really do now that I've cut my gear weight by about 60%.

Wish me luck!

Wasatch 17

Jami is a runner. She is motivated by running fast. Me? I'm a sorta runner. I am motivated by--well, I'm not sure yet. Maybe endorphins or maybe suffering? But I like it.

For some unknown reason, I've wanted to do the Wasatch 100. It is really impressive that people can run that far over such difficult terrain. It is all very inspiring to me. Maybe sometime I'll try it. MAYBE. I've had a lot of fun trail running the last couple of years and this year I decided it would be fun to run the race course in manageable 20-25 mile chunks just as a litmus test to see how tough I am and whether or not I could pull something like that off if I wanted to.

I have always been a very recreational runner, but with my new renewed interest in ski touring, I thought running would be a good way to get stronger for my winter activities. Also, it provides a good opportunity to do some recon and see if there are good ski lines to be had.

At any rate, I started at East Mountain Wilderness Park at 5a after stashing my bike at the bottom of Bair Canyon and headed off. The Great Western Trail is awesome. It climbs and climbs and climbs with views of the valley the whole way. Everyone once in a while I'd look down and notice that I was gaining altitude. It was awesome seeing the sunrise and mountain shadows stretch across the valley as the sun did it morning yawns before doing its business in scorching the desert earth.

Up at 9k feet, spring is just starting it seems. Buds were starting to appear and grasses peeking up out of the thawing dirt. I picked my way over the trail below Thurston Peak. I detoured up to the top of Thurston Peak(highest point in Davis County) to check out the view. I took a minute to stuff some snow into my camelbak as I was already running low on water and headed back down to catch the trail again.

Proof that I made it to the top.


View looking South from Thurston.



Eventually I ended up at the top of Bair Canyon and it was time to tenderize my quads and blow out my knees by dropping approximately 5,000 feet in 4 miles. Ouch! Picked up the bike at the bottom and rode back to the trail head to get the car. All in all a fun day.

Stats according to Garmin:

Ascent: 7,316
Descent: 7,427
Miles covered: 17 running, 5 on a bike.
Time: 4:30. Someone else go run it and tell me if I'm fast or slow.

Red Baldy

At 8p last night Snowbird had registered 4" of new snow. I tried to call Greg to see if there was a way out of the 4:30 wake-up call as it didn't look like the conditions would be worth it. Ring-ring then busy signal. I exhaled as only a defeated man can and went to bed with my alarm set to 4:25a. I'm so glad I couldn't get a hold of Greg.

Sleep does wierd things to a man. Or rather, lack of sleep. I've woken up at 4:30 too many times this winter to count all with the objective of having a little fun before responsibility sets in for the day. Many excellent midweek powder runs have been scored this way. As an avid skier with a full-time job, what choice do I have? Luckily for me, I married an awesome woman who has me on a long leash and supports such sleep-depraved morning fixes. At least it’s not drugs Honey.

As we rolled higher and higher into the bowels of upper LCC, I was expecting a letdown much like the Hallway Couloir was the week before. I only took one shoe to hit snow while piling out of the car for that to change. No crunch, No sound of rubber on pavement. In fact, I don’t think I heard my foot hit the ground what with all the beautiful white bliss that had fallen from the heavens muffling the sound. Suddenly, I was psyched. Skins on by 5:45, we headed for the top of Red Baldy at the very end of White Pine, 3.5 miles or so and many vertical feet from the trailhead . The firm surface underneath the 6” of new snow allowed for fast travel, and before long we were atop the LCC/American Fork ridgeline with ski tips pointed back down into White Pine.

It’s funny to me how sometimes skiing can be really terrible. With a little bit of new snow, skiing becomes amazing again. Last Thursday I expended a lot of energy getting to and descending one of the worst ski runs of my life—Breakable rotten crust with frozen rollerballs and avy debris mixed in for good measure. By contrast, today (7 days later) was unbelievable. Smooth buttery turns on light powder snow only LCC can produce. And it happened on April 29—several weeks after many Utah resorts closed for the summer.

After having my skin exfoliated at the summit by gusting winds and graupel snow, it was time to have some fun. There were moments of Hellen Keller skiing on the face and Greg closed his eyes for several turns to see if it made a difference. It didn’t. At the lower elevations, visibility improved, and there was still excellent snow. Many great turns were had. This morning embodied the reason I ski—great snow, exercise, and exciting terrain.

Unfortunately, Responsibility only allowed for one long, beautiful run before demanding that I head straight to work. Begrudgingly, I complied.

Red approximates our descent route.



Greg.


Skintrack.


Storm.


Booter.


More pictures here.

Church

Sometimes I take my phone to church so I know what time it is, etc. I teach Sunday school and need to know what time it is and I don't own a watch. Anyways, trying to prevent a meltdown at church, I gave Trenton my phone to play some games.

Well, apparently he knows how to take videos. I just discovered a half dozen videos of people seated around us at church.

This nice kid entertained T for a while


I'm just guessing here, but apparently the subject in video #1 took the phone and taped T. I don't think he liked it.


Where was I when this was going on? Wrestling a spirited two-year-old sitting right next to Trenton so I have no idea how I missed it.

Francis Peak

For many years I've looked up at the mountains and peaks above where I grew up in Kaysville. From Francis Peak to Thurston Peak, I've always wondered what it would be like to ski those open bowls. I don't need to wonder any more--They are awesome...

The plan was to ride bikes from the gates up to the towers and then ski from there out to Thurston Peak & back. Then it snowed on Friday making our bike plans impossible. Undeterred, we skinned the 5 miles from the gates to the top of Francis Peak and Paul Bunyan's golf balls.

After scouting around for an inviting line, we settled on a couloir below the south tower. 200 feet of 40+ degree ice & crust gave way to 2,000 of beautiful turns of blower pow that only Utah can produce.

The plan at the beginning of the day was to ski out to Thurston and back but the snow was so good & skiing so fun that we decided not to leave upper Bair Canyon.

Run #2 consisted of the most linked turns (65?) I've ever done for another 2,000 foot run.

After more fun we debated about following our skintrack back up to the North side of Francis Peak or cutting a new track to the south ridge of Bair, thus bypassing some ridge scrambing in poor visibility. We opted to traverse across the steep face and ended up booting about 1,500 feet back to the road.

Skiing back down the road to the parking area, we skied snowmobile-chopped snow while dodging patches of dirt and mud. It felt like springtime.

All in all, a fantastic day. 8,000 feet of vertical, and roughly 15 miles covered. (The approach is long!) There is something oddly satisfying about looking up at Francis Peak from my back porch and being able to see my tracks. Ahhh.

I've skied better snow (although yesterday was still REALLY good) but I can't say I've had a funner day of skiing.


Nate contemplating the fulfillment of an objective-Skiing Francis from the towers.


Nate scoping some lines.

Me and Axyl




Nate not riding a bike on the way to Francis Peak.

Francis Peak

Time to finally go have a look at the mountains above where I grew up. The plan is to start at Paul Bunyan's golf balls and head north skiing anything on either side of the ridge that looks good on the way to Thurston peak. Now that the road to the radar towers is dirt, the approach will be via mountain bikes so it should be much easier than to boot from the bottom. Should be fun!

Adieu Nordic

Nordic Valley (Wolf Mountain) closed for the season tonight. My ski patrolling Dad hooked me up with a bunch of free passes so we had a group go shred the mountain for closing the closing Saturday. Tigger, Pooh, some radical 80's dude, several rednecks in coveralls, and a couple of fancy ladies met us up there to shred. It was a blast! Everyone was close enough to the same skill level that we just kinda moved around the mountain together at the same speed.



Wes hooked me up with some snow fruit boots and I proceeded to rip. This guy has got nothing on me...


I took our grill up and we cooked polish dogs for dinner and we stood around in the freezing cold, eating, laughing, and having a great time. I think that this will have to be an annual event. From here on every year, for closing weekend at Nordic we'll be shredding in dress-ups. Good times!

In other news, I also did the Powderkeg Saturday morning. Since The Incident a few weeks ago I haven't felt good enough to really do much on my leg without it rebruising and making me grit my teeth, so the long-course was not possible for me. The recreation course had 3,500 feet of climbing over 6 or 7 miles of racing. I really like these races but I wish I had the $$ to get some racing skis & boots. My 187cm 105mm waisted skis are great for powder, but make me move like cold molasses on the uptracks.



Overall, I felt okay. I finished 10th in the Rec AT division, 20 minutes adrift of the winners. Samurai flexed his muscles and beat me by 5 minutes and had 2 more transitions and 1,500 more of climbing and skiing that I did while winning the race division. Impressive! Skimo racing isn't for wimps, that much is for sure. Very cool race, well attended, and great energy.

White Pine Tour

Made it out for a quick tour in LCC with Nate, Greg and Greg's friend. The friend had to be home by 9a, so it was one & done unfortunately. Alarm at 4:15, skinning by 5:30 or so. We headed up White Pine to the top of no name bowl and skied back down into White Pine. The best blower snow of the year by far. I like to call it "ego snow" because it is so easy to ski, it makes you feel like a rad skier.

A little bummed to miss the CROWBAR race in Logan as I've looked forward to it all winter, but my left leg is still pretty bruised up from the incident two weeks ago. I'm pumped for the powderkeg this weekend though.

Who says men can't wear pink?


LCC South ridgeline.


Das Pfieff. Notice the wind at the summit.


I haven't had the best luck with cameras so I had to lift these images from Nate's facebook. Thanks Nate!

Yurting

To celebrate 7 fantastic years on Feb. 12, Jami and I rented the Steam Mill Yurt in Logan. With the Days and the Mays, we had a blast! I wanted to try and get 10k vertical while we were there but only ended nowhere near that. All well.

Have to say that I'm luck to have Jami. With 7 moves and 7 kids it's been a wild ride and we've made some great memories together. I hope there is 70 more.

Wifey pushing around some low angle goodness.



KDay showed me how a real man skis-with style.

Up track.



Slednecks. Saw about 100 of these guys.






Nate's blister prevention kit did the trick.



Heavy pack.


Solitude.


Had a great time!


Kevin has more photos here.