Saturday, April 7, 2012

Davis County MTB Tour 4/7/12

A couple of friends of mine were were planning a big day planning on skiing coalpit, the hypodermic needle and the Y couloir. Certainly an awesome day to link those 3 lines--I wanted in. The only problem was the start time of 1:00a for me to meet the fellas on time. I wasn't feeling it--My body needed just a bit more sleep than that. With the little dusting of snow and the hard freeze we had a couple days ago an alternative popped into my mind. My "alternative" was to MTB up to the ranger cabin in Farmington Canyon and lap some Mud and Rice that I've skied several times over the last few years. The Farmington Canyon road has been closed for over a year due to some rockfall, so the only way to get there was by foot or by bike. By foot would take forever, so bike it is. 11ish miles from my house to the skis transition.


Great reflection of the full moon on the GSL this morning.


I quickly figured out a way to lash my skis and boots to my bike and set the alarm for 4:15a. I was skeptical of what the skiing would be like, but sometimes you never know until you go. Anyway, it was cold on the ride up and the ride felt much longer in the dark. My toes were numb basically the whole day. As I type they are sore from the cold ski boots they were stuffed in all morning. I breakfasted  on some spinach and sweet potato pizza leftover as I watched the sunrise. A beautiful clear windless morning, I could look south and see the Wasatch range all the way to Timp. Looking east I could see the high peaks of the Uintas. Looking south was Francis Peak and the Farmington ridge. It was going to be a memorable day.


Owen's skintrack from the week prior? He's the only other person (that I know of) to ski this area this year so it had to be him. 

I was psyched on the view.

Type 1 fun.

Little 80s turns!
My transportation for the day. Not a drop of gas used to ski today. Not 85 octane anyways.
The skiing was fantastic. Really really fun stuff. About 6" of new which this season classifies as a powder day. I was home by noon to start easter-egg hunts, do some honey-dos and spend time with the family.

Stats for the day:

Miles on bike: 22.
Miles on skis: 8-10ish?
Fuel: My spinach and sweet potato basil pizza.
Time: 7.5 hours home to home.




4 comments:

joey said...

Nice. I thought the FAA used the road to switch operators up at the radar station?

Layne said...

They did until the road closed. Rumor is they take them up in a chopper now.

OMR said...

Nice Layne! I checked out another option, albeit not as Eco-friendly, driving up Skyline Drive out of Bountiful gets you almost to the top, then patchy snow along the road to Bountiful Peak, which was agravating on a bike. Another week or two should mean clear sailing to B-peak. Found nice skiing on the NE aspects.

Owen

Wasatchsolo.blogspot.com

KDAY said...

This is the coolest ski effort ever. Two reason... Bikes and Farmington Canyon. You're the freaking man!