Layne's Blog

Top 5 of 2011

2012-01-25T06:00:00.000-07:00

As I was getting in a ski session/workout before work this morning Iwas thinking about the last year and some of the things I’ve been able to do. I'm a lucky person. 2011was a good year. I have an amazing wife, great kids, and a great job. I hope that 2012 will be as good. There were several things that didn't make it in my list, but here’s my top 5:

#5 Wild Iris. Camping/Climbing with the family and friendswas super fun. I’m mostly a sport climber, and Wild Iris has to be one of myfavorite all-time places to visit. We were only there for a few days, but thekids always ask to go there now, so I’ve got the kids hooked too! An annual tradition from now on.

Abe on the Zorro Wall. (Jami Caldwell collection)

#4 Skyline Mountain Marathon.My first Marathon. Beautiful course, tiny racefield (we all fit on one yellow school bus on the shuttle to the start), greatviews, singletrack, etc. It hurt so good. The 2012 iteration should be evenbetter with friends running the race and trying to best my 2011 time. The racereally does start at mile 20. The last 10k was a beatdown!

(Photos from Skyline Mountain Marathon Facebook page)

#3 Lisa Falls/Too many powder days to count. Alta recordedover 750” of snow in the 2010/2011 year with skiing from early October to June.It was incredible. I skied lots of pow, and saw a few new areas which alwaysmakes it fun. Lisa Falls probably sticks outas the most memorable skiing day of the year with over 5,000 feet in descent/ascent,an improbable looking line and good friends. Haven’t skied it? You need to—It’samazing.

(Greg Moellmer collection)

(Jon Middlemiss collection)

#2 WyomingSkimo Weekend 2011. Jackson/Targhee races were brutally hard physically andmentally. While I’m not real speedy, this is still a great time and a funweekend with friends. I won’t mention the results. But hey, at least I was out there right? Right?

#1 Uintas loop. This was a beautiful sunshine-filled daywith LOTS of singletrack, and lots of notrack through bogs & rockgardens. Red Castleis beautiful. Awesome day—the furthest I’ve ever ran. 35 miles. Just as anaside, I tried to get out of this run, but Greg was having none of it. Thanksfor not letting me wimp out Greg! I need good friends like Greg in my life to help me have fun... We had to drink water from a stream w/opurification aids and neither of us got giardia. Bonus!

Greg made a great video of the day.

Kings Peak Ultramarathon, 3 Sep 2011 from Greg Moellmer on Vimeo.

Wasatch Citizen Race Series 1/12/12

2012-01-13T10:54:00.004-07:00

Last night was the first of (hopefully) many nighttime races at Brighton. Temps were a balmy 7F, with no wind and clear skies. If not for all the lights, the stars would have been spectacular I'm sure. With the holiday racing series having decent attendance, this was sure to be a well-attended, fun event as well.The course started at the bottom of the snake creek lift, and climbed up to the top of the majestic lift via skinning and a short bootpack. The format was burn as many laps as you could in 60 minutes. I got 6 laps in just over 60 minutes, which was good for me, but not the 8 laps that the Drs. Dorais did.

Hopefully everyone that came out had a fun time--I certainly did!

Thanks Doraises, Brighton, Brighton Ski Patrol for making it happen!

Scoutmaster Andy instructing the troops.

Stratos boots, 2 pairs of Pierre Gignoux, Carbon Aliens, TONS of pairs of TLT5s, F1s, and 4 buckle beefies were seen on racers. My son asked why everyone was wearing miner helmets at the race.

After 60 minutes of hypoxic recreation, get your relax on!

Wyoming Skimo Weekend

2012-01-12T17:00:00.000-07:00

And we're off!

I love this quote from Mark Twight:

If you weren't given the gift you can't get the gift so the best you can do - if your goal is important - is work as hard as you possibly can, pay attention every hour of every day and then maybe, maybe if you've done enough and been smart enough you'll emerge from the muck of mediocrity to shine a bit brighter than you shone before. Then, upon reflection you might decide your goal is a bit more important so you'll start paying attention every minute of every hour of every day. You'll find people who are better than you and you'll take an empty cup when you meet them. Their example will destroy or inspire you and if it's the latter you may stay and learn. You might imitate, doing as they do because you've already accepted that you do not know best - if you did you'd be leading the group they were trying to join. Perhaps being exposed to their superior ability will drive you to work harder than you thought possible, or necessary. Maybe you'll overcome your self-imposed (or worse, society-imposed) limitations and shine even more brightly. Wow, you're getting it: positive reinforcement for hard work and suffering. So maybe you give your goal even more significance and you begin cutting away the ideas and the expectations and the people who you believe prevent you from achieving it. Now you become a real selfish prick, and you begin paying attention every second of every minute of every hour of every day, and you sustain your awareness for weeks and months at a time. You no longer think yourself a unique snowflake, you're a steel-edged blade shaped like a snowflake and you're spinning at warp speed. You're the biggest fish in the pond. You're a badass. Now you have options.

Well, I don't really have options other than to grovel but I still have fun doing it. The hard part for me is comparing yourself to others because of the different levels of "the gift" that I have and what others have. Anyways, I think my star might have shown slightly brighter than last year, but not quite as bright as I was hoping. Well, enough jibber jabber, on to the recap.

Jackson (Nationals)

The USSMA ski mountaineering national championship was held on Saturday January 7 at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. I did this race last year and got crushed! With some lighter gear and better fitness I was optimistic about having a better result this time around. I had a few objectives that I wanted to accomplish: First, not finish last (2011 I was last place!) Second, finish in 3:30. Third, ski more aggressively than last year, which isn't really measurable, but whatever.

I am always surprised at how quickly the race starts out. For a 3-4 hour race that goes straight uphill, it feels weird to start out with an anaerobic sprint, but I joined the crowd and ran for a couple hundred yards before settling in. Because of the high pace, the field is strung out almost immediately into a long thin line of lycra-clad racers doing some heavy breathing.

The day was beautiful, the sun was out and the bumps were huge! I felt like I couldn't hit my top gear all day--maybe from the third-world virus(dang street tacos!) I had earlier in the week? I could watch people whether on the skinner or the booter slowly putting time into me and not being able to match. Ugh. I hate that feeling.

My watch showed 8,000 feet of gain in just over 11 miles. While I'm dissapointed that I didn't hit the time that I was hoping for, I did improve 27 minutes from 2011 and finished in 3:49 and NOT in DFL. That's a moral victory, right? Also, I felt like I skied better than last year, so I was happy about that too.

Team Wasatch was well represented with Jason and Gemma placing third, Jared and Andy placing in the top 10 and other Utahns putting in solid efforts.

One thing about me for better or worse (probably for worse) is I take some self-appreciation from what I do and how I do it. I remember getting a fortune cookie once that said "Just when you think you're winning the rat race, along come faster rats." In my case, there are always faster rats. It seems I've always been a step below my peers at whatever it is we're doing. Take climbing for instance. At the crag my friends were working and sending .13+ and .14s while I worked the piss out of a .13a before finally sending. Now with skiing, I have friends that are in the top 10 in every race they do, while I'm struggling just to finish! Skimo ain't for sissies that's for sure. Go do a triathlon if you're looking for something easy.

I'm not smiling--let's just be clear on that.

The Grand Targhee Ski Mountaineering Classic

For Targhee, the goals were, again, not to finish last (I finished DFL in the race division last year), and to finish under 2:15.

Many of the same players stayed and raced at Targhee the next day. I felt really good on the climb up Fred's--2k in 35 minutes or an average of 56 vertical feet per minute! Feeling good was short lived. The second climb is really low angle for quite a while before it starts gaining significant vertical. For whatever reason, I'm slower on the flatter sections and faster on the steeper sections--that seems backwards, but it's true. I was at the transition with a group of 5-10 people that slowly glided away from me over the flatish next mile of the race.

Skiing off of Peaked into the cat skiing area, the conditions were (for me) difficult. breakable crust with ice patches, refrozen debris, rocks and bushes. I gave up time on this and got passed by 2 people towards the bottom of the descent.

I pulled into the transition for the last climb just after the 2, but was the first one out, and started climbing. I knew both of the people behind me were better skiers, so I tried to put the hammer down, but I had nothing left at that point after 2 hard races in 2 days. I stayed in front of them by 200 feet to the end of the climb and began the last ski down, only to be passed by both of them before hitting the cat track down to the finish. I was bummed to get passed so close to the finish.

I'm sure that without Jackson the day before, I could hit 2:05ish, but I didn't have it in me that day. I finished in 2:20, completely frozen from crashes on the last descent. I was at the top of the first climb with several people who ended up finishing in 2:00-2:10, but two days of racing were catching up to me as the race went on.

Overall, it was a great experience and alot of fun.

Wasatch Holiday Racing Series

2011-12-25T22:23:00.001-07:00

This year some SLC friends have planned a few rando races that have, coincidentally, coincided with holidays. This has been great for me as I'm trying to put myself into good enough shape to improve on last year's race results at Jackson and Targhee. The great thing about these local get togethers is the variety of ski equipment used. Anything from Trab world cups to BD megawatts with all sorts of stuff in between. At the end of each event I think everyone has had a blast regardless of where they finished relative to others, etc.

First, we had a "turkey trot" on Thanksgiving at Brighton. Andy had a good write-up here. The Vert 120 was in early December and Christmas Eve was the Christmas Eve Rando Rally. All of the "races" took place at Brighton who has been very friendly to us this year (Thanks Brighton!) Whether because of the poor snow pack this year forcing may to ski/skin at resorts, or because of real interest in randonee racing, the attendance at all events has been great with several people on race gear at each event.

The Christmas Eve race was super fun. I think it ended up being about 4,800 vertical or so and about 9 or 10 miles distance in about 2:20 (Guessing a bit here--I forgot my watch). I passed and got repassed a few times so it felt like a real race! Chad (Powder Keg guy) and I were back and forth a bit with me a bit faster on the earlier climbs, Chad faster on all the descents, and then about the same on the climbs towards the end. I pulled into the last transition just as he finished ripping skins--I knew I wouldn't catch him on the descent with my Grandma descending (to be fair, I was trying not to wreck my race skis so I was skiing more methodically on purpose). Man, those descents through chowder and crust are really hard on race skis! At least for mere mortals like me they are. Jami asked what is easier in the races: the climbs, or the descents-I think the answer is the first 30 seconds of each. After that it starts to hurt a bit and neither feel "easy," especially if the descents are off piste.

I feel like we need some kind of club name or something to give some mountain cred to the fast guys we have here in the Wasatch. Team Wasatch? Wasatch SkiMo? I'm excited to see how the Doraises, Samurai, Tim and other locals do in a couple weeks at the races. It should be a fun exciting weekend of races again in Wyoming.

I even convinced little brother to come out! If nothing else, at least it was a nice, beautiful day.

Big thanks to Andy & Jason for putting these together. It's been a blast!

December Training Update

2011-12-19T07:35:00.000-07:00

Last week 12/12-12/17 I ran 20 miles (10 trail, 10 around town) and had about 20,000 vertical feet of uphill skinning. I can feel the fitness coming around. I feel much better than last year at this time. The Jackson race is now less than 3 weeks away, so hopefully I've done enough to improve on last year and finish somewhere mid pack this year. I can't remember ever wanting to just be average! Oh, the shame.

Our holiday racing series in the Wasatch continues this upcoming Saturday with the Christmas Eve Rando Rally. Come check it out! We'll be done in time for everyone to do their last minute shopping...

No SkiLink!

2011-11-23T17:40:00.000-07:00

This is a letter that I sent to Rob Bishop, my Congressman about the proposed "SkiLink" from Canyons resort to Solitude in Big Cottonwood Canyon.

Dear Mr. Bishop,

I am writing to you today because of your recent comments in the news about the proposed “SkiLink” gondola connecting Canyons resort to Solitude. I think that this project is ski area expansion masquerading as traffic reduction. I am disappointed by your decision to support this project and I think the project is misguided.

Keep in mind that to even get to the proposed gondola (from Canyons) one would have to get to the top of the mountain by buying a $90 lift pass at Canyons, ride a cabriolet, a gondola, and two lifts to even get to the top of the resort where, presumably, the SkiLink ride will take skiers downhill to an adjacent resort where they will then be required to purchase a $68 ticket to ski at solitude. Is this 45 minute navigation of Canyons plus $90 worth the hassle of a 45 minute drive up Big Cottonwood Canyon? I don’t believe so. Furthermore, I would assume that most residents or visitors who decide to live/vacation in Park City are there because they want to stay/ski in Park City. There are lodging options at Solitude for visitors and many UTA buses that go up and down that canyon daily for people that are concerned about traffic and congestion.

While you as a state representative should be promoting economic growth, I don’t think that this should happen at the expense of developing Public Lands and negatively impacting an important watershed area. In addition to the SkiLink, additional parking, base facilities, lodging, etc. will all be required to accommodate the increase of people. Ironically, Solitude is know for not having lift lines or too many skiers on the mountain. That will no longer be the case if SkiLink is built.

The Wasatch Range is a fairly small mountain range. Is would be impossible to undo and restore this land if it is sold to Talisker and developed for this proposed lift. It also sets a precedent for further expansion. More lifts at Park City, Alta, Snowbird, Solitude, and Brighton are being discussed. That is every major resort in the Central Wasatch. Backcountry enthusiasts and others who use these undeveloped slopes will never get them back. Not to mention the negative impact on the watershed that provides water for much of the Salt Lake Valley.

I ask you to please reconsider your position on the proposed SkiLink, and say no to selling more public lands to Talisker.

Respectfully,

Layne Caldwell

2011-10-24T20:24:00.000-06:00

A few weeks ago I ran a cool loop in the Uintas with my friend Greg. He made a fun little video of our day if you consider watching two guys running slow in the mountains "fun." He's got some pretty good camera work too. I think that shooting video makes the day a bit more interesting AND makes you feel like a rockstar.

Kings Peak Ultramarathon, 3 Sep 2010 from Greg Moellmer on Vimeo.

Crest Trail 10/22 - BRRR!

2011-10-22T23:57:00.006-06:00

My little brother Boog wanted to ride the crest trail today. We started at Guardsman's and went to Desolation then down to Mill D--short ride, but I huffed and puffed up a couple of hills, so we did get a tiny bit of cardio too. It ended up mostly being a nature ride as we stopped to photo each other and some of the leaves changing color. It was a nice day to be alive.

I have this awesome PINK camera that my wife gave me as a Christmas present a couple years ago (I broke two of her point and shoots so she gave me one of my own to break!)It's not a great camera(but I LOVE it Honey!)--the pictures I take with it always turn out pixelated, hazy or bad in some other way. Anyway, whenever I look at the photos on it, there are always about 50 new ones that one of the kids have taken. Kids are hilarious.

2011 Bair Gutsman Race Report

2011-08-25T19:11:00.001-06:00

After last year's race, I was a bit dissapointed with how it went, so I was looking forward to the 2011 iteration of the race. This year's course would be a bit different from prior years because of the Farmington Canyon road closure. The decision was made to run it as an out and back course running up bair canyon until the service road just pad Grobben's Corner, then fastening the seat belt for a hair-raising descent of the same trail.

In my running I've really tried to learn to conserve a bit the first few miles of a race to leave some energy to finish strong. Many of the heavy hitters from last year's race were absent for this year, so maybe the pace wouldn't be quite as ballistic right from the get-go.

At 6, the gun went off and up the road we went. It is almost exactly 1 mile to the dirt trail. I went out nice and easy, but just fast enough to "sort" a bit so I wasn't having to pass people once I got to the trail. Up to the third stream crossing, I was feeling good. I was gradually gaining of a fella in front of me. Just after the third water crossing he gapped me not to be seen until the top. The vegetation was extra thick this year what with the record snow year we had. I'm guessing I was somewhere around 5th until we hit the ferns. Ah, the ferns. I got lost in them this year. Somehow I left the trail and ended up bushwacking through ferns, reeds and gamble oak (I hate gamble oak!). After what seemed like an eternal 10 minutes, I popped out on a ridge with the trail 200yds off to the side. While I was getting up close and personal with my plant identification, I lost 5 spots. Gotta love the gutsman. Another 1.5 to the top that was pretty uneventful. I was, like pretty much everyone else, forced to hike. My watch was showing the gradient over 30% for much of this section. I passed, or repassed a few people on this section. Eventually hitting the top, I grabbed some swedish fish and pointed downwards.

Despite my proclivities for "dangerous" recreation (climbing, b/c skiing, etc.), bravery is something that I always struggle with. Is bravery required for running? I don't know, but the speed at which some of the racers descended was sphincter-clenching for me. So I got passed (or repassed) 2x on the downhill. Overall the descent was about 5,000 feet in 5 miles. You do the math--It was steep! After hitting the pavement, my quads were toast. I was forced to leg it out the last mile so I didn't get passed again. I saw someone over my shoulder and thought "Well, he's going to have to earn it if he wants to beat me." Amazingly, I held him off for about a mile. I never do that! I have a long established history of getting pipped at the line or passed on the finishing straight. It felt good to fight someone off this time. I crossed the line in 2:44. 9th place this year and 26 minutes in arrears of the winner (A former college XC runner and 2:35 marathoner--so I can't feel too bad).

Full Results here.

Mile splits (Total Distance 10.27 according to Garmin)

2011 & 2010
1-8:38............8:37
2-13:07..........13:21
3-23:35..........22:06
4-35:24..........30:42
5-25:29..........31:54
6-11:53
7-13:29
8-13:51
9-9:54
10-7:08

Comments:

In some ways I was pumped about how the race went. In some ways dissapointed. The 2 that passed me on the downhill put 7 and 9 minutes into me. My knees were hurting from self-braking and I'm not sure how much faster I could have gone. But still--9 minutes?! I got lost--that sucked and I lost several minutes, not to mention copious amounts of skin cells from brush. After looking at my time, I think I could have done 2:15 on the regular course (Had I not gotten lost--guess at which mile that happened), so I think my fitness is better than last year. Although my time year over year was similar for the first 5 miles it felt comparatively easier. And I was 5.5 minutes faster on the death row mile this year. The climb felt hard, but easier than last year.

Skyline Mountain Marathon 2011 Race Report

2011-08-24T18:11:00.000-06:00

The Skyline Mountain Marathon was awesome. I loved it. Fantastic small race with amazing single track and excellent vistas of both Ogden city and Ogden valley/pineview. I'll try and break up my report into a few sections to make it readable.

#1 - start to Ben Lomond saddle aid station (6 miles, 2,800 feet gain)
#2 - BL saddle to the North Ogden divide(6 miles 2,800 feet loss)
#3 - NO divide to top of climb (3.5 miles, 2,000 feet gain)
#4 - Lewis peak trail to Winsurfers beach. (6.5 miles, 3,000 feet loss
#5 - Windsurfers to finish (4 miles, flat)

#1 The race started at 6a near a campground in Liberty. Some quick directions were given and then the race director did a countdown from five and yelled GO!

My plan was to run the first climb conservatively to save my legs for later on in the race. It was pretty dark for the first mile which forced me to run at a mellow pace--just what I wanted to do. The first climb is 100% runnable without anything steep enough that would make you want to walk. I settled in behind a guy who was moving at my intended pace and plugged along. Winding up the mountain through switchbacks, we eventually climbed out of gamble oak territory (I hate scrub oak!) and into the subalpine through groves of aspens, firs and meadows of wildflowers. The sunrise was brilliant with the Eastern sky full of shades of orange and yellow as the sun hid behind the clouds. Invigorated from the nice views of the valley, and the wildflowers I had a feeling today was going to be a good day. Before too long we hit the first aid station at the Ben Lomond saddle. A small group of 3 got there just before me but didn't seem to be in much of a hurry to move on. (1:15ish I think-I don't remember exactly) So, I filled my bottle and took off ahead of them for the next 6 mile section that eventually descends down to the North Ogden divide.

#2 I recognized much of the terrain on Ben Lomond from the ski tours over the past few winters. However, the next section down to the divide was new to me as I'd never been that direction summer or winter. I leapfrogged with an enthusiastic young guy who passed me, and I passed back within a couple miles before the next aid station. I was at the divide (mile 12) at about 2:05. I had no real expectation for how fast I would be, but hoped that I could finish in 4:30-5:00 hours. I was on pace for that, and maybe even a little ahead of it.

#3 I knew that the climb onto the South Skyline trail from the divide would be hard because I can't run most of it even when I'm fresh! So I power hiked. My Wasatch 3x finisher friend Greg calls it "hiking with a purpose." I tried to, but felt slow. Luckily for me I was just slow enough to make it to the top right as they were setting up the aid station. Lucky me. Apparently the volunteers were late and the first 6 or 7 guys missed the water/gu refill and were forced to run about 10 miles with no water refills. Ouch. Even with my 20 oz. refill at mile 15, it was getting hot and I was out of water again by mile 20 with the last aid station at mile 22.

#4 This was one section that I've run several times this summer. It feels long, and the downhill is a killer. Not hard, but just sustained pitch forever. I knew that this was a section to motor and I tried to as much as I was able. Aside from 1 runner (Davis High class of '81 he said) that power hiked past me on section #2, I was in my own private Idaho not seeing anyone in front or behind me. I was left to suffer alone. And suffer I did. My knees were angry at me. My quads were starting to gripe. I started to see a few half marathoners at the end of the section. I could feel my pace slowing from 7:30-8:30 to 8:30-9:30. On downhills! I felt like that was as fast as I was able at that point. So I hunkered down in the pain cave and got on with it. 4:02 cumulative time to windsurfer's. At this point I was really hoping to finish in under 4:30, but it would be a real push to make it at this point.

#5. The crux. After descending 3k vert in 6 miles, I knew the hard part for me would be the last 4 miles. Just keep the legs moving and see how it goes I told myself. My friend Craiger offered to run the last bit with me and I was grateful for someone to run with. I was slowing down, and it was starting to get ugly. I saw my 4:30 finish come and go. My legs & especially my knees were begging to stop. Could I at least go under 4:40? After what seemed like forever, I could see the finish line. A few minutes later and I was done with my first real marathon race. 4:39:15. 7th place and 38 minutes in arrears of the winner.

Well, I'm glad I did it. I would have liked to run more solidly from mile 18 to the end but that's racing. Within 15 minutes after finishing I was already thinking of what I'll do differently next year. I've never really considered myself a runner, but I don't know if I can say that now that I've done a marathon. Hopefully running this summer will get me ready for trans Zion and possibly rim to rim to rim of the grand canyon this fall and a non last place finish in Jackson in January. We'll see.

Memorial Day Pow 5/31

2011-07-20T21:57:00.004-06:00

Today is 7/20 and I haven't skied since memorial day. I guess I've kind of been ready to don some running shorts and work on my tan. Besides, I don't own whippets, ice tools or crampons, so it makes many of the springtime ski objectives harder to do. I digress. With the bumper snow year, it was cold enough and coverage was good enough to ski on memorial day. I wanted to ski the memorial couloirs on Olympus, but Greg won out with Red Baldy. So, we headed up white pine in LCC to the top of red pine.

We made a quick run off the ridge white pine shares w/ Snowbird, then hoofed it up to the top of Red Baldy. We tried not to wake the white yeti, but the snow was pretty stable and good. So, we enjoyed face shot powder turns all the way back down the face of red baldy.

5/7 Tour

2011-05-09T22:40:00.005-06:00

I really wanted to go with my friend Greg to King's Peak, but I needed to till the garden and do a bunch of chores that I've been neglecting the past couple of months from skiing, work, and studying for that one test. I had one chore that I was especially looking forward to doing.

Last winter I never did make it up to do the traverse from Chinscraper to Francis Peak, so I decided to do it Saturday. I set my alarm for 4a and woke up at 2:50. I couldn't go back to sleep, so I finally rolled out of bed at 10 after 3 and decided to go get it done.

I was back home before noon and had plenty of time to do the other chores I needed to do.

The old Red Rocks guide used movie ratings for scary/bad pro (PG, R or X) and a thumbs up by the route name if it was a good route. I think the Northern Davis travers is definitely PG with a thumbs up. There was nothing technical to speak of, although skiing the south face of Thurston was a little thrilling with that "don't blow it!" feeling because of the firm snow/ice.

The worst part of the tour was Bair Canyon for sure. the snow was now breakable thanks to the sun and I had to do a bushwack that only a moose or an elk can appreciate to find the summer trail. It made me think (temporarily) that I might be done for the year.

Totals were approximately 13 miles and about 9k total vert.

4 a.m. from the fernwood parking lot.

5 a.m. from the great western trail.

6a. I switched to ski boots and skis somewhere just after 5a.

Just before sunrise now.

I saw the sun on the ridge for a minute before it dissapeared behind the clouds. It was a cool sunrise that I had to enjoy alone.

Sun just touching the tops to the central Wasatch and Uintas.

Thurston Peak marker for the highest point in Davis/Morgan counties.

Some of the bowls I went across had some pretty fun skiing along the way but nothing is close to 10,000 so the snow was pretty much garbage.

April 13th 2011

2011-04-13T20:40:00.006-06:00

James was visiting from Cali and really wanted to get out on a tour. I'm slammed at work right now, so we I offered a 5a start time. He was still interested. I was apprehensive because I was expecting terrible skiing. Instead we found smooth supportable crust that corned up nicely by the time we were done.

Supportable crust...AND you could see the sunrise. It was going to be a fun day.

Nice morning to be out.

The rain & warm weather have made these really cool runnels on anything south facing. It looked like someone ran a huge paintbrush down the slopes.

Cornice trundling anyone? We didn't have the right gear to try and make this beast move. It would be amazing to watch it roll though. 25 ft. tall!

My powderkeg exploded

2011-03-14T22:07:00.002-06:00

Last Saturday was the Wasatch Powderkeg. I've been looking forward doing this race for a long time. Unfortunately for me, it also came during the week that I was sick. I did almost nothing for the week leading up to the race to try and get better. No such luck. I woke at 4:40a on Saturday, got dressed, downed some cough syrup (I REALLY hate the taste of that stuff), filled my pocket full of cough drops and headed out the door.

I had enough time to wait in line for the john, and then do a 3 minute warmup before they were calling us to the start line. They had us run across the parking lot for about 400m to the transition area to "sort" I guess. Then there was a flat section of skinning as we headed over to the great western lift. I was really trying not to burn my matches too early because I knew I wasn't feeling great. I alternated between feeling okay and feeling like I'd been doing ab ripper x from coughing all the last night. Thoughts of quitting entered my mind, but there are so few rando races I can go to, that is a hard decision to make. I kept with it. I hit the first transition just after my new friend Tim, ripped skins, and rallied down the breakable crust run to the next skin transition. I arrived before Tim and he said to me "Holy cow, you can really downhill!" It isn't often that I am complimented on my skiing chops. Thanks for stroking my ego Tim! Tim and I swapped places a couple times over the next few climbs/descents enjoying racing each other and a couple minutes behind some racers and a few minutes ahead of Greg and others.

I don't know if it is fitness or sickness, but on the second to last climb, I started going backwards through the field. My legs had no response in them. I doubled over a few times with coughing fits, and felt like I was in survival mode. Tim passed me and I wanted to say "See you at the finish" because I knew I was done. Just as confirmation, some dude with voile drifters passed me. Yup, finished. About the same time I saw my friend Greg ski past me on his way to the ski to skin transition I just passed through. Maybe 5-6 minutes in arrears of me. I struggled to the top of the climb, made the long ski to the bottom of milly and then slowly climbed up to the top of the Millicent lift, then waddled up the booter. I was surviving at this point, just trying to finish. All the while Greg was closing in. Dang it! I made it to the top of the booter and over to stupid chute just before Greg. He pulled in right as I was leaving. I said "See you in 20 seconds" and dropped in. Not long after Greg skied past me after I crashed. Now seems like a good time to mention that Greg had an appendectomy a couple weeks ago, so the race timing wasn't exactly ideal for him either but he still competed.

I tried to quicken my pace and catch back up to him to make it a race, but then I had DOUBLE quad cramps! I sat for a second to let it pass and knew that I was toast. Greg was a couple hundred yards in front of me the whole way across the lake and I could never close the gap. Props to Greg for hunting me down and pushing me at the end. I hated being passed, but seeing people I knew out on the course made it an awesome race. In the end I came across the line a couple minutes behind Greg (he's a much better skier than I) and was pretty relieved to be done.

Great showing by the Dorais bros. who finished 3rd and 5th overall.

I didn't feel great physically, but this race was so much more fun for me than the Jackson/Targhee races because there were many more people at my racing level. Can't wait until next year!

Lisa Falls Couloir

2011-03-09T20:38:00.005-07:00

The purpose of the blog is a place for me to write down some things that I do so that I can remember that life is great sometimes. It's important to remember that on the days when you feel like you have to shovel poop. Today was a shoveling poop day. That is all.

Last Saturday I skied something that I've always wanted to do. I remember working in my cubicle at my job in San Jose looking at the photos of Lisa Falls in The Chuting Gallery on Andrew Mclean's website thinking "I have to do that sometime." Lisa Falls couloir is supposed to be one of the best in his book--AND one of the biggest undertakings. We had a gentleman's start (9a) and approached from Broad's in BCC. There was a nice skinner all the way to the top of the saddle between O'Sullivan and Twin Peaks so we cruised up there, then booted the rest of the way to the top. It was a fairly mild day and the views of the LCC south ridgeline as well as North BCC were inspiring.

It was an exciting day out what with a separated shoulder on the summit, 4 or 5 prereleases (my trab race heels have a DIN of about 3! and a runaway ski (mine).

The run had powder at the top, more pow on the apron with some refrozen avy debris underneath to keep things interesting, wet mashed potato snow down low, steep skiing, a couple rappels, and a heinous exit with a lot of rock hopping, down climbing, and then lots of bushwacking down to the road. Greg characterized the exit as "character building." So true. If we didn't have so much fun skiing the run, the memory of the exit would be much more painful. All in all a great day and a blast to finally ski that. The San Jose Layne would be proud of that ski day.

(Photos courtesy of Greg and Jon's facebook pages. Thanks guys!)

Navigating the ridge.

Booting to the top.

Conquistador Jon on the summit.

The line with Greg's edits. Amazing that the whole thing goes.

View from where we clicked in.

LC turning up high in the couloir with the LCC road visible 5,000 feet below.

TLT 5 Mountain liner modification for my styloid processes

2011-02-19T20:59:00.008-07:00

I tried searching the interwebs the past few days to see if there was info on boot mods for people with styloid process pain in ski boots. Nothing is out there. So, I'm throwing this out there for anyone that may find it useful.

One morning this week I got some skiing in before work. Afterward while driving back (I drive with my boots on early morning ski days) my problem area was hurting as it usually does after a couple of hours after being in the boot. I was walking really tenderly and I knew that that was the last straw. I couldn't go out again in those boots the way they were.

I got skunked by a shop in SLC not once but twice ("no you don't need to make an appt. Just come by." I come by. "Oh we're really swamped, come try again next week.") so I went north to Alpine Sports and they hooked me up! They don't really sell any touring stuff, but Jeff is an awesome bootfitter and touring boots aren't any harder to fix than a regular boot. We talked about punching out the shell to relieve the pain from my protruding styloid process of my 5th metatarsals (Hi Keith!) on both feet. The liner is thick and he suggested we try cutting a "window" (a quick fix and cheap) to relieve some of the pressure before we punch the shell (more expensive and time consuming). I really think this worked. I haven't ski tested the modification, but wearing the boot I couldn't feel the problem area anymore. Nice!

Note: The window only cut the outer layers of material off the liner. the inner part of the liner was intact. The window just reduces the thickness of the liner in the problem area.

This is something that would be super easy to do with just an exacto knife and a few spare minutes. I would have done it myself but I was so clueless about what to do.

Unfortunately for me, no skiing time today because of the boot issues. Instead, I went snowshoeing with some friends up to Thurston Peak. I decided I hate snowshoeing. We ran into some weather up high.

BOOT UPDATE

I went out before work for a few hours today (2/24) and am happy to report that the fix worked! My feet are happy. No pain or discomfort. Woot woot.

My feet are weird.

2011-02-14T22:15:00.004-07:00

Thanks for the pic Dr. Nelson!

My bone #12 hurts from my ski boots. I can ski all day in them, but they're pretty sore and red afterwards. Is that normal? And I'm in danger of losing a couple of toenails. For this reason I've been considering selling the TLT 5s I have. The problem is what other boot to get? I'm not buying F1's and other viable alternatives don't come out until next fall (La Sportiva Spitfire/Sideral, Scarpa Alien, etc.) I'm not sure if my foot just doesn't fit the dynafits or if my foot is really weird and need special bootfitting.

I can feel the 5th metatarsal touching the side of the boot even with my naked foot in the boot shell (no liner).

Need some motivation?

2011-01-26T19:11:00.003-07:00

Surfing the interwebs I was looking at the Gym Jones website and reading some of the bios of people that train there. It looks like a wierd mix of mountaineers and jiu jitsu MMA fighters and movie stunt guys. There are so few hours in the day and I guess I've already got some priorities established that would be hard to change, but man, it would be really fun and fulfilling to spend some time and get in really good shape. The kind of shape where fast miles and long runs, onsighting 5.12, and doing well in rando races are all possible at the same time. Sigh.

Quote from his website: "If you weren't given the gift you can't get the gift so the best you can do - if your goal is important - is work as hard as you possibly can, pay attention every hour of every day and then maybe, maybe if you've done enough and been smart enough you'll emerge from the muck of mediocrity to shine a bit brighter than you shone before. Then, upon reflection you might decide your goal is a bit more important so you'll start paying attention every minute of every hour of every day. You'll find people who are better than you and you'll take an empty cup when you meet them. Their example will destroy or inspire you and if it's the latter you may stay and learn. You might imitate, doing as they do because you've already accepted that you do not know best - if you did you'd be leading the group they were trying to join. Perhaps being exposed to their superior ability will drive you to work harder than you thought possible, or necessary. Maybe you'll overcome your self-imposed (or worse, society-imposed) limitations and shine even more brightly. Wow, you're getting it: positive reinforcement for hard work and suffering. So maybe you give your goal even more significance and you begin cutting away the ideas and the expectations and the people who you believe prevent you from achieving it."

I love feeling inspired. I'm inspired by alot of things and lately I've read some inspiring books about some amazing people.

Anyway, reading some of the mountaineer/skier/outdoor athlete profiles they had some of their accomplishments listed. I started laughing when comparing my list to their lists.

Theirs include first ascents/descents of remote, bold lines in the Canadian Rockies, Pakistan, and other exotic locations. Hard climbing of all types. All requiring bravery and serious commitment.

Mine:

- one hang the pink tape .12- route at the gym.
- last place, race division at skimo championships
- 12 hr. Ironman finisher.

My list of mediocrity could go on and on. Something that I think I struggle with from time to time is feeling successful at what I like to do. Lemme esplain. Einstein's Theory of Relativity concerns physics and laws of physics. I have a theory of relativity for athletics. It's all relative. My fast is another man's really slow. My slow is probably someone else's lightning fast. See? Jami says I have a hard time taking compliments, and it's true. If someone tells me I'm a good runner, I immediately think, "Yeah, but (fill in the blank) REALLY IS a good runner. They ran at (fill in blank) or did (fill in blank)."

My measure of success is different and needs to be different than the podium guys. I am just glad if I make it out for some type of activity, while others are guides, bums, or have jobs with more flexible hours. Now I'm rambling a bit. I guess I'm trying to make an excuse to make myself feel better for finishing last at the 2 skimo races I've done this year so far. At least I toed the line right? I'll try again at the CROWBAR race and the powderkeg and hopefully I'll be able to shine a little brighter than I have shone before.

More from Gym Jones:

You have to be willing to bite off more than you can chew, to overdose, and to fail. If you won't risk the answer you won't ask the question. If you lack the will to ask then consciousness will not unite with muscle and bone. I criticize such a lack of will (especially in myself) and ask, "What's the worst that can happen?" The fearful part of me replies, "I may fall short of my expectations. I may not be who I pretend to others. My perception of self may be proven wrong, very wrong." The confident part of me says, "So what ... only after breaking myself apart may rebuilding begin." So go ahead, break stuff. Break yourself on the once-hard edges of yourself. And recycle the debris into the foundation of your future.

6am Sprint

2011-01-25T22:28:00.002-07:00

Sometimes I have a hard time getting up at 5a to go ski by myself before work. Every time I do though, I always have fun. I need to remember that when I'm waffling the night before a planned solo ski. Just go--you need it and it will be fun.

I planned to go Monday morning, but Sunday night I had what I thought to be the beginning of a cold. So I slept in. Then I regretted not going all day and had some self loathing for wimping out.

Fast forward to Tuesday at 5:15a. I had no problem hopping out of bed, getting dressed and out the door. It is always more fun skiing with a friend or friends, but it doesn't always work out what with my desk job and all.

Skis hit snow shortly after 6a. After the approach and 2 quick laps down one of my favorite new runs I decided to bail rather than get a third run in. Pounding graupel and no goggles made it an easy decision. Anyway, I ended up skiing about 4k vert and was back at my car at 8:30 headed to work.

Alta->Days->Hallway->Cardiff->Pole Line

2011-01-17T21:16:00.006-07:00

Kevin got his skis all dialed in and was game for a quick tour. I decided to give him a good tour of some popular runs near Alta. Starting at Our Lady of the Snows, we skinned up Flagstaff and make a quick run down into Upper Days. A quick little run, but the snow was good. From there we skinned back up out of Days and got on the R&B ridge (so playa) and over to the hallway couloir. We entered via the lower entrance which is wide and easy. Kevin is a rippin' skier. We are both on skis but we are not doing the same thing. He is fun to watch.

My favorite part of the day was watching KDay boost a 10 foot air off a hip on the way back to the car. Well done! I don't have the skillz to toss my bones like that and make it look so smooth.

With the steady fall of rain and warm temps the last 24 hrs., I'm sure conditions are terrible now, but they were great on Saturday. Thanks for the great tour Kev.

Lower entrance of the cooler.

KDay broke his pole BEFORE our first run. A 1.5 pole descent of the hallway with speed. Nice!

KDay tasting some wild snow.

Weekend Throwdown at the U.S. Skimo National Championship and the Grand Targhee Skimo Classic

2011-01-09T21:34:00.009-07:00

First place (at both races) Reiner Thoni with last place (at both races) Layne Caldwell.

What a weekend.

A few revelations:

I'm not a good skier. The descents at Jackson Hole were steep, bumped, and a little icy--I lost TONS of time skiing too conservatively. I may have some Jackson ski nightmares for a while and I think I could have gone much better and faster on a snowboard. (I used to board for 15 years)Who seeks out skiing bumps on race skis? Apparently all the fast guys in front of me. Skiing hero snow (light pow) makes anyone feel like a great skier. Big moguls on flimsy race gear can magnify holes in skiing ability big time. The descents at Targhee were much easier due to the new snow and more groomers.
Some real training would probably make a big difference. My "training" has consisted about 15-20 days on skis, with running some small hills on days when skiing was not possible. Or sleeping in because I'm sort of lazy sometimes.
I am a weekend warrior. Skiing 1 (maybe 2 times) a week is not a recipe for getting to be a faster skier. However, I have several priorities in life that are way higher than skiing, so I'm generally okay with that.
I was the only racer in the race division at Targhee that did not have a spandex skin suit. This year's field did NOT have any weekend warriors. Only guys with Trab world cups, Gignoux or some other carbon boot offering.
A friend who raced Targhee this year had a ~27 minute improvement on his time from last year. His gear last year was similar to mine this year. He's also trained really hard this year, but it gives me some hope that I can get faster if I want to with a little more structure and effort to train.
Canadians are awesome. Yes, I'm making a stereotype. After the Jackson race, we stayed at a friend's house in Wilson and the Canadian national team was also staying there. They were a bunch of great guys and I loved hearing the eh, hockey references (We've pulled the goalie), converting Farenheit and inches to Celcius and cm, etc.
It was cold on the summits. Saturday at the top of Corbetts a volunteer was checking racers for frostbite and told me that I to get something over my ears immediately. Luckily I had a headband in my pack. Anyway, my ears have both been kind of sore and swollen from the cold. I think frostbite was not far off. At Targhee, the weather was much better, but still pretty cold on top of peaked mtn. (5F then add in a good wind chill. Brrr!)

I've tried to (gulp) swallow my pride and be okay that I finished last in two races this weekend. Hey, finishing last is a hard job but somebody has to do it. This weekend it was me. Twice. :)
Totals for the weekend:
Jax (Nationals) - 7,800 vertical ascent and descent, 4:16. Last place, race division.
Targhee - 5,300 vertical ascent and descent, 2:26. Last place, race division.

The moral victory of the weekend was my 34 minute improvement over last year's Grand Targhee Ski Mountaineering Classic thanks to my better gear. I should also point out that I had tired legs/body from Jax the day before so on a fresh day maybe I'm 45 minutes faster than 2010. Gear makes a huge difference. Andy and I figured I'm about 1-2 lbs. per foot heavier than almost all other racers. (My 2011 time in the 2010 race would have been 5th or 6th from last--Not great, but at least not DFL.)

These two bulls were tangling in our hosts' driveway.

Ian commented that this was a little "dog" moose. Moose are super sized in Canada I guess.

SL Twins and Bonkers Fail

2011-01-01T20:20:00.005-07:00

What is it today boys? Let's ignore all this new powder and seek out some terrible snow and skiing shall we? Sounds great!

The morning started off pretty well with a fast skintrack up into Broad's Fork. After 1.5 miles the skintrack ended though and our group had to put a skinner all the way to the top of the drainage. That was lucky for me because I had a hard time staying with Andy, Bart and Jason as it was. They really hammer away on the climbs (no lollygagging) and are fast (top 10 finishes at the US Skimo Championships in 2010). About 100 vertical feet from the ridge between O'Sullivan and SL Twins, Bart was breaking when he noticed some serious windloading. Contemplating what to do, we all decided to stand and watch while Andy explored booting up around some rocks. It didn't take long before we were all freezing. I could no longer feel my hands or any of my toes. Brrr! Eventually we decided to turn around to be safe and to be back down by noon. The hike was nice as I'd never been up Broad's before, but the skiing down for me was almost completely survival skiing. There was a smorgasbord of wind crust, refrozen avy debris, and a little bit of powder. Add that to the deadfall and the rocks down the summer trail exit (I had a nice header there) and it was probably the worst skiing I've had all year. I guess we just chose the wrong area today.

But, you know what they say, sometimes it doesn't have to be "fun" for it to be fun.

I wonder how Bonkers would have been today. Looked pretty good.

At least the sun came out even though temps were below 0 or just above.

All three of these fellas were rocking carbon fiber boots.

Pick up lines

2010-12-11T22:38:00.004-07:00

"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

2010-11-30T20:11:00.005-07:00

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)

2010-11-26T17:39:00.002-07:00

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

2010-11-13T22:22:00.000-07:00

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

2010-11-13T22:00:00.005-07:00

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

2010-10-29T18:12:00.006-06:00

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

2010-10-19T21:57:00.003-06:00

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

2010-08-07T21:35:00.002-06:00

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?

2010-07-18T16:23:00.004-06:00

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

2010-07-13T23:37:00.002-06:00

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

2010-07-01T21:42:00.003-06:00

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

2010-06-26T22:11:00.005-06:00

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

2010-04-29T13:22:00.004-06:00

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

2010-03-31T22:05:00.000-06:00

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

2010-03-28T07:54:00.000-06:00

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

2010-03-21T17:42:00.000-06:00

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

2010-03-14T20:34:00.001-06:00

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

2010-03-07T20:28:00.001-07:00

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

2010-02-17T20:33:00.000-07:00

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.

BL#2

2010-02-07T00:41:00.000-07:00

Nate also had a couple of choice nuggets to say during the tour.

Quote of the day:

"I'm not gonna lie--cyclists are gay."

Quote #2 while looking at the view of Ogden from BL:

"Getting suspended is a blessing in disguise."

Ben Lomond

2010-02-07T00:16:00.000-07:00

Nate and I skied Ben Lomond. The view alone was worth the hike. About 5,500 feet of climbing I estimate and some of the best turns of the year for me. Nate and I saw 0 people once we left North Fork Park. You just don't get that in the Cottonwoods.

Our reward.

Taking it in.

I loves me a good skin track. Lap #2.

Huckster Nate 1 second before liftoff. (Sorry I missed it Nate!)

Bountiful Peak (again)

2010-02-02T19:50:00.000-07:00

I finally convinced my younger brother Boog to come out on a ski tour last Saturday. The crazy snowpack this year has forced us to meadow skip this winter. We would have ventured into the steep stuff, but noone had brought an avalanche helmet.

At the beginning of the winter I had Lone Peak, Coalpit, Lisa Falls, and Kessler on my list of objectives. Lisa Falls Couloir is probably the only one that is safe right now (has anyone skied it yet this winter?), but with the thin snowpack, might not go right now.

Anyways, Boog (Jeff), Greg (Boog's med-school buddy), Nate and I went up Farmington (again) to ski. I have to admit, I sorta hate the long flat skin to the goods, but we only saw 2 other skiers and they were leaving right as we got there so it is kinda worth it. There must only be a few of us who ski up there. We had an interesting assortment of ski rigs. Greg had F1's, Trabs & dynafits, Boog had some Head alpine boots, my loaner pocket rockets/naxos & I was somewhere in the middle with my bluehouse/dynafit/megaride combo. Nate had basically the same setup as Jeff.

We gained the ridge, let the wind nearly blow us over, and made some great turns down through some trees. We made a few laps through the trees, skied one last run off of our parking lot ridge--we should probably give it a name or something--and had to leave so Nate could go on a date. I hope she was a hotty Nate! By the end of the day, we were all in various stages of bonking, so it was time to end it anyway. There are some rad looking chutes off the summit of Bountiful Peak that will have to wait another day.

I'm trying to get some ski time in my legs to do the CROWBAR, powderkeg & maybe Jackson Hole next month. We'll see--not sure how much I want to commit to on my heavies. Wish I had the coin for some rando race skis & boots right now, but maybe next year. Can I get a sponsor? Please? We'll see.

One more Tami Knight cartoon:

C'mon Ullr!

2010-01-16T20:33:00.000-07:00

It's mid January. Where are you Ullr?

Despite the lack of snow the past 7-10 days, the reason why I love ski touring: powder turns a week after a storm. Farmington Canyon isn't exactly the best for ski touring, but has some fun terrain if you know where to look. I made a couple of quick runs off the ridge that drains down to deep creek up Farmington Canyon. The bushes on the hillside made some pillows there were fun skiing. A steep skin track out, back down to Farmington Creek, then back to the car.

Still some soft fresh snow to be had if you're willing to sweat a bit.

It was pretty warm up there. My thermometer measured 37 at 4 pm. It is nice to get out of the soupy valley air and up in the clean mountain air during these inversions. For 1/16, the snowpack is really meager though. Just enough to ski at 8,000 feet. Sorta brushy, but no rocks and some soft protected powder.

Brushy, but fun.

Blech. We have to live in that soup.

Targhee Rando Race Report

2010-01-09T23:00:00.000-07:00

I don't know why I've gained an interest in randonee racing the past year and a half, but there is something about it that is just...awesome. Despite my heavy stuff
and lack of physical aptitude towards the activity.

I've really been looking forward to the Grand Targhee Ski Mountaineering Classic. For a while this last week I didn't think I was going to make the trip. Then, on a whim, I asked a guy (Jared aka SLC Samurai) I didn't personally know, but whose blog I read, if I could catch a ride with him up to the race. He was super cool and said yes.

On the drive to Driggs Friday night the temperature was fluctuating between 0-5 degrees F and had been in the negative teens earlier in the week. Luckily, for the race we had bluebird skies and temps in the + teens & twenties all day. Couldn't ask for better weather for a race.

I raced the heavy metal category (reserved for heavy ski setups) with about 15 other guys. The race category looked pretty serious with many $3k (or more) ski setups. Those guys are really fast too.

From the start of the race, the race category guys basically ran out of the start while all of us HM guys started plodding away. The first climb basically goes right up a groomer all the way to the top--no switchbacks and a few steep sections that tested the skins pretty good. I felt great on the first climb. I tried not to overcook it on the first 2k vertical of the 5k vert that we would climb during the race. I made it to the first transition with about 6-7 other HM dudes, ripped skins and tried to hustle down the first descent as quickly as I could. I think I need more practice on DH skiing because my quads were toast at the bottom. Another transition to put skins on and climbed up to 9,800 feet again and amazing views of Les Tetons behind the resort.

A short bootpack put us up on top of Peaked Mountain and Pete Swenson and Brandon French (top 2 finishers) came cruising down while I was making my way up. Jealousy and envy set in. Targhee had a bunch of snow during the week, and I had a couple of powder turns at the top of the run, and lots of thigh burning chowder turns down the 35+ degree lower section of the downhill. I wish I could say I made it down without stopping to give my wimpy legs a rest, but I can't. It was challenging skiing! After the transition at the bottom I almost instantly started feeling like my legs were wading in mud. I couldn't get a very quick turnover or steady cadence going and really suffered on the last uphill section. I lost a basket on my pole too, so that didn't help. I did manage to repass a few people though, so apparently, some were hurting worse that I was. We kinda had a death march going on up there for a bit. Or maybe it was the view to my right that was distracting me:

At last I gained the ridge again, locked down the hills and tried to hustle to my cheesburger and Mtn Dew that were waiting at the finish. And chips. And water. And candy. I finished in 3:00:10. 45 minutes behind the heavy metal winner, and 1:23 behind the race winner. Not impressive but someone needs to bring up the rear right? That is an important job.

Cripes that was hard. Awesome race though and a great experience. Kevin, Nate, Mike, Greg and anyone else that has AT gear, you all should sign up for one of the 2 Utah races this March. My weekend companions Jared and Joey rocked it and Jared took 7th overall. All of the other racers were super cool and it was a fun event to be involved in. In hindsight, I wish that I would have tried to push on the last climb a bit more. Even though I passed a few people there, I felt like I also lost alot of time. All well. 5k vert in 3 hours would be good any other day of the year, but in that race, doesn't seem that good. So some disappointment, some success, and an awesome day.

Cold One

2009-12-10T11:59:00.000-07:00

My eyelashes were freezing. It had to be zero or lower. Add in the wind chill. Brrr. Alta Guard showed 5 degrees at the base this morning.

I really wanted to get up to the mountains and see how the snow is coming along and didn’t really have a chance until this morning. As always the hardest thing about a 4:30 wakeup call is making the feet hit the floor. Setting foot to floor really is the crux. SLC seems too far away on workdays, so Farmington Canyon/Bountiful Peak is usually on tap for midweek jaunts.

The Watcher says he likes to watch the world wake up. After many mornings of starting out with a black sky then seeing the eastern horizon pink up, then the sun creeping over the distant ridgelines, I agree. The mornings are beautiful and a great time to be out. Today was no exception. Beautiful, clear morning. And I didn’t see any mountain lions. Maybe I’m alone on this, but when I’m skinning in the woods by headlamp by myself, I think “What if I see a mountain lion?” I’m terrified of coming upon a cat, or even worse, a cat coming upon me from behind. Irrational? I don’t know. I’ve never seen one but they still haunt me—I know they are out there somewhere. I go through scenarios and what I would do in my head. Then, after scaring myself nice & good, I throw on my earphones and forget about the cougars.

The coverage is coming along nicely. There was a lot of windjacked snow and exposed rocks & bushes, but there are some pockets of really good snow also. The difficult part is avoiding what lies beneath-- toothy rocks and stumps waiting to end your ski season prematurely. I don’t want to have a early end to the season before it even really gets started, so I’m trying to take it easy until we get a bit more snow. Today was mostly an exercise day with a tiny bit (600 ft?) of good turns. Oh, and some R&D for my Regallo wing (NPW) kite.

That kite pulls like a mother! The wind was perfect this morning. I may need an assistant (any volunteers?) to attempt it with the control bar & skis. I just flew it on handles today and had to plant my gluteus in the snow to avoid being pulled down and losing my kite.

I'm going to traverse the ridge all the way to Thurston Peak this winter then ski into Mountain Green. Who's in?

Wind Jack on the leeward side.

I took Trenton to the ski hill for his first time of the year. Big improvement from last year. Pretty soon, he'll be shredding all on his own.

Non-action shot of the kite. Too hard to take one during flight.

So Long Grandpa.

2009-11-23T22:19:00.001-07:00

Bountiful Peak Reconnaissance

2009-11-18T19:00:00.000-07:00

I really wanted to get out and skin & ski some today, but didn’t want to do the drive to Alta again. From my bedroom window, I can see a smallish north-facing ridge that runs off of Bountiful Peak. I’ve looked up at that ridge so many times in the last two weeks. It has to be one of the only places that holds significant snow. Time to go check it out!

After I woke up a bit late, stopped at Smith’s for some moleskin to cover my blister from Monday (Dang boots. Any solutions to prevent blistering on my heels anyone? Kieth?) and fussing around with chains for our “truck” (read: mini-van complete with kid car seats) it wasn’t exactly early any more. I made it to the parking area at around 6:00. It was obvious I wasn’t going to make it far that morning on skis, and further, there wasn’t much snow, so I decided to run up to that ridge instead for some reconnaissance for the future.

Running in the dark with the wind blowing through the trees is a little eerie at first, but then it starts to sound like music after a while. The constant rhythm of shoes touching ground, the breathing, the wind through the trees—I like it. I had my ipod but couldn’t bring myself to turn it on. I don’t get to hear nothing very often and sometimes it is rather nice. No mountain lion sighting either, so that is nice.

I followed the Bountiful Peak road up to Farmington Lake, then bushwhacked up to the top of the ridge.

Looking down from the top of the bushwack.

Then I ate some snow. I didn’t bring any water. On the descent, I had first tracks almost the whole way down. Totals: 8.5 miles 2,500 vertical gain & loss. A little different than what I planned to do, but it turned out nice anyways. I really hope we get some more snow soon. Sounds like we will this weekend

Not much snow there!

Paul Bunyan's golf balls in alpenglow.

It looks like the valley is in its first inversion of the winter and the air looks so dirty from up high.

Redneck shooting target. In a no parking zone no less.

La Primera Excursión Del Invierno

2009-11-16T19:31:00.000-07:00

First Light.

Initially, I decided to wait until we got a little more coverage to take the skis out. Well, we got a little bit more (7”?) on Saturday, so I decided to go up to Alta this morning and check it out. The crux of any early ski morning is putting foot to floor when the alarm goes off. Usually this is easier to do when you are meeting someone, but today was a solo trip – no takers yet. Then the stoke starts to take hold and the rest of the morning is really fun. I was skinning by 5:45. The road winds a lot more than just going straight up, but as I’m not super familiar with the area, and knowing that the snowpack is still meager, I took the road. Is that the long way to Catherine’s area? It seemed like I gained hardly any elevation on the meandering road until I was looking up at my run.

After getting to the ridgeline, it was clear that when I was in church yesterday, it was game on up on the mountain. Alot had been tracked out already on Greely, High Rustler, etc. It was fairly tracked out where I went, but I was able to spoon some other tracks and ski some pretty good snow. Not bad for mid-November. All that hiking and only had time for one run. Arrg. I was back at work in K-ville by 9 though, so there wasn’t a ton of time this morning.

3 seconds before turning on rocks with a little bit of snow.

. It felt great to get out and stretch the legs a bit. BTW, my new Dynafits are awesome on the uptrack! Garmont MegaRide/Dynafit combo is apparently way nicer for locomotion than Naxo/Nordica Beast combo I had last winter. Who would have guessed?

From the bottom of “So Long” it was tenuous at best to get back to the trail. With all the rocks and stumps I was skiing over, I decided I wanted to end the morning in one piece so I took the road back down to base. There really isn’t much snow up there. Apparently, they are opening this Friday, but I’m sure it will be limited to a few runs.

In other news, one of our adventurous little girls got the first stitches in the family. We had 4 people restraining a two-year-old. She was not a happy camper. My Bro. sewed her up good though. Thanks Steve!

The 5 x 1 walking formation. Don't mind me ladies, I'm just pulling into my driveway.

Paging Mr. Abbey

2009-11-08T21:48:00.000-07:00

“Light. Space. Light and space without time, I think, for this is a country with only the slightest traces of human history. In the doctrine of the geologists with their scheme of ages, eons and epochs all is flux, as Heraclitus taught, but from the mortally human point of view the landscape of the Colorado is like a section of eternity—timeless." -Edward Abbey

My phone pics don't do it justice. What a way to spend a birthday--cruising around the desert looking at this scenery. Good friends, good scenery, good everything.

Mounting Dynafits

2009-10-29T22:38:00.001-06:00

I don't really consider myself a great carpenter, so mounting my own ski bindings without a jig is a big deal for me. I have to go pretty slow because there are many potential errors The process reminds me of Tom Hanks building that fire in Castaway--he is so pumped and proud of himself for making fire while watching that bonfire. "I... have made fire!" When I'm done, everything is right and works how it should, I think to myself, "I...have made skis!" Not really a big deal, but it still feels pretty cool to be able to do. Thanks wildsnow.com for your resources. I couldn't have done it without you. That is all.

Kites! (Finally...)

2009-10-23T23:53:00.001-06:00

After I sewed my kite a month ago, I haven't had time to string it up and get it flying. Until today at least. I've got it ready to rock. I'm still working on my homemade kite bar. I'll have it going by winter, so I'll just be flying it on 2 lines for a bit to get the feel of the kite. Should be good times.

Sometimes we get the wrong guy. I, for the record, voted for McCain. He's got some great ideas.

McCain’s Economic Plan For Nation: 'Everyone Marry A Beer Heiress'

Winter stoke

2009-10-18T20:32:00.000-06:00

Got these this weekend.

So these might be for sale. $150. Anyone interested? Naxo NX21. A 13 DIN step in randonee binding.

Targhee Race

2009-10-13T23:49:00.000-06:00

They posted some info about the first ski mountaineering race (for westerners at least) the other day at ussma.org. No teams this year (bummer!) and they have a heavy metal category as well for less serious racers or those that don't have f1's and low tech bindings. I'm in!

Early October? Or late November?

2009-10-04T20:34:00.000-06:00

Post Conference drive up Farmington Canyon in our minivan.

The weather outside was frightful.

Jami descending the stairs after her race. Yes, I said descending.

Marathon & Moe's Valley

2009-10-04T09:47:00.000-06:00

Jami ran the St. George Marathon yesterday. She set a PR with a time of 2:57:48. Nice one Jami!

We woke up at 4:30 so I could drop her off at the race shuttle. With about 4-4.5 hours to kill, I wondered "What to do?" The bouldering guidebook for Moe's Valley says a "4x4 is sometimes necessary & at a minimum, a high clearance 2WD. Don't even attempt this in a passenger car." My corolla thinks it is a truck, so off we went in search of some house sized boulders in the desert. BTW, the road is better than advertised--I made it just fine albeit with a couple of teeth-grinding-i-hope-i-don't-high-center nervous moments.

I had to wait for about an hour for the sky to lighten a little (sun still wasn't up). Even though you can see the city from where I was, it felt nice and tranquil.

The Sentinel.

Power lines add to the ambiance of the area.

I was the only person out and had the place all to myself--hence no pictures of myself. When my weak-sauce hands started opening up, it was time to go, and I still was able to see the Mrs. running the last 6 miles of the race. Bikes at running races are awesome--so fast & easy to get around.

Aloha means goodbye (and hello)

2009-09-30T18:00:00.000-06:00

Saw this today...

This obviously won't stick around for long, but it is a sign of the times. Good times.

Kites!

2009-09-20T22:16:00.001-06:00

I spent a few late nights building this guy this week:

It's about 2.7 square meters. I made some mistakes but learned alot. Notice that I didn't take any closeups, there are some rough spots that didn't quite come out how they were supposed to, but it was my first time building something like this, so I deserve a pass on some of the details, right? I still need to do the bridle & rigging, but the kite itself is pretty much done. I can't wait to try it out with skis or a snowboard this winter.

Yeah, I probably should have spent more time moving into our house, fixing the girls' dresser, or any other number of things, but it was a fun project.

Wild Iris!

2009-08-30T14:42:00.000-06:00

I reconnected with some old friends and went to Wild Iris, WY this weekend. One of my favorite spots on earth for sure. It is just outside of Lander, WY, and if you're not a climber, there isn't really much of a reason to go, but for climbers it's shangri-la. With names like the Lord loves a hangin', the devil wears spurs, and when I was a young girl I had me a cowboy you can get a sense of the wild west feel of the area.

We got a late start on Friday and rolled into our campsite at about 1:30 a.m. The stars were so spectacular and bright that I had to sit and look at them for a while before nodding off. Getting out to places like these make life so good. Next time I'll have to bring the kids.

We had some minor car problems.

Everyone was willing to help.

Anthony trying to throw the hoolihan.

I'm bringing my bike next time.

Dead Snag.

Mueller Park

2009-08-27T23:44:00.000-06:00

This

plus this after the ride

equals a pretty good day.

My brother Steve and I also came across a rather large bull moose with big antlers sauntering nearby in the woods. I'm glad that we still have wild animals like that nearby.

TofU - Nate Page, you are the man.

2009-08-22T21:26:00.000-06:00

Hard race today as evidenced by the 19 who dropped out and 6 who missed the time cut. A total of 112 riders finished the stage today and 159 began the prologue on Monday. Current rate of attrition - 29.5%.

I was hanging out near the Lisa Falls pullout cheering the guys on. It was cool to see Burke hammering in front of Paco & the chase group. Hawes must have made his move right before they got to where we were on the rode because he only had a 15 second or so gap on the chasers. Amazing ride by him to stay away to the top. When I saw Nate, everyone around him was wearing the mask of pain, but Nate was pretty much breathing through his nose looking relaxed the whole time. Next year, I think Nate takes the Utah's best jersey back. Right, Nate? At any rate, awesome job this week and it's been fun watching you mix it up with the group.

From the back end of the race,Osvaldo "Ozzie" Olmos finished 110 of 112 today just inside of the time cut. For the GC, he is an hour and 31 minutes adrift of Mancebo, and 16 minutes behind the second to last racer. Tomorrow should just be a formality, as he is solidly in last place. You have to be good to finish last at the end of a stage race. ESPECIALLY a race that has 30k feet of climbing in basically 3 stages (1,2,4). I saw him come by at the end and was planning on giving him a little push up the hill for a minute, but decided against it. I see the crazies do that in the TdF, but after they busted 11 guys for hanging on cars a couple days ago, I didn't want to get anyone in trouble. Anyways, chapeau Ozzie. Way to grind it out.

Tour of Utah Lanterne Rouge

2009-08-21T19:00:00.000-06:00

During the tour this year, I was inspired by Kenny Van Hummel, the dutch rider who was in last place for several days of the tour de france. Then Kenny crashed and was forced to abandon. I decided to highlight this year's last place rider of the T of U. Before I start I should mention that I'm sure I could never hang onto his wheel during a race, so this isn't derogatory in any way, simply showing how good even the last place guy is.

Our man Osvaldo Olmos-currently bringing up the rear.

Osvaldo Olmos from California Giant Berry Farms is currently the last place rider ("Lanterne Rouge") of the Tour of Utah 56 minutes adrift of race leader Paco Mancebo. The next closest competitor is just over 45 minutes behind, so Osvaldo is solidly in last, but a brutal hard stage with alot of climbing awaits on Saturday so alot could happen between now and the end of the stage Saturday. Some info about Osvaldo: He has been racing for 10 years, is from San Luis Obispo (not far from my former home of San Jose) likes to eat strawberries straight up, and would like to visit Italy. Read more about Osvaldo here.

The race began with 159 riders for Monday's prologue and 20 riders have dropped out or have been DQ'd so far, leaving 139 to start the time trial Friday--an attrition rate of 12.5%. Several of the DQ's happened when riders were hanging on team cars up the mountain--but not Osvaldo. To still be standing at this point of the race is commendable. Good luck during the rest of the race.

T of U & Overheard

2009-08-20T22:47:00.000-06:00

Having the Tour of Utah this week has been really cool with guys like this racing this year:

Watching the euro races on TV has totally spoiled me. It's frustrating that the Tour of Utah doesn't have more media coverage. It sounds like it has been a great race so far, but it is hard to tell in the 30 seconds that I've seen of it. Maybe next year that will change.

Overheard:

Q: "Hey, where was Peter the apostle buried?"
A: "Probably somewhere in Germany. (laughter) I thought you were talking about ____'s Blog" (He's supposedly buried in Rome, but he could still be in Jerusalem)

Statement: " I could totally be a nudist. I feel so comfortable with no clothes."

TourofUtah

2009-08-19T19:15:00.000-06:00

I took a long lunch break (without lunch) to see the Tour of Utah roll through my neck of the woods. Jami and the kids met me up there and we found a neat little spot on the road to watch next to some awesome guys who gave our kids drinks and chatted us up. After seeing mountain biker after mountain biker roll up the road giving us false alarms that they were the race, the group came around the bend and were flying up the hill.

They came by so fast it was all a blur, but I could pick out Burke Swindlehurst and Floyd Landis in the group. Neither Jami nor I saw Nate until we looked at the pics that she snapped. Nate was front and center in many of them and pushing the pace. Chapeau Nate.

Nate driving the train at Snowbasin.

More pics to come later.

We Are Almost Certainly Not Alone

2009-08-18T21:17:00.001-06:00

I believe in aliens. I admit it. Is that strange? I dunno.

There are approximately 200 to 400 billion stars in our galaxy. Only in the last few years have scientists been able to see planets "tugging" on their star. This is the only way other planets have been discovered as they typically don't have luminance that someone could see 200 million light years away. Also, the planets that are large enough to tug on their star are planets like Jupiter which have the mass of about 318 earths. In my mind, I'd say that the chances of pretty sky-high that there is another rocky, watery planet like ours somewhere where people hang out at the ocean, and go sightseeing, and eat burgers and fries and maybe even catch a sports game now and again. Or at least their version of all that stuff.

Other interesting factoids about space:

Astronomers estimate that there are 100 billion galaxies in the observable universe. (Could even be more than that!)

The sun is 35,000 light years away from the galactic bulge at the center of our galaxy, the Milky Way.

We are on the Orion arm of our spiral galaxy.

The sun's revolution around the galaxy, or a galactic year is approximately 225 million years. That means our sun has only orbited the galaxy 20-25 times in its lifetime. Humans have been on earth for about 100,000 years or so or about .0004 galactic years. I know I'm a nerd, but this is really cool stuff to me.

जिओं नप

2009-08-11T23:00:00.000-06:00

Last week I went to Zion National Park. I used to always say Zion's. Anyways, the church boys were having a superactivity down there and I was designated as "the guide" since I have experience with ropes, etc.

Ben on the Hoodoo summit of Angel's Landing.

I have never done any canyoneering so I was kind of excited to check it out. Before I go any further let me say that I've always viewed rappelling as a mode of transportation for getting around places while climbing and have never sought out rappels for the sake of rappelling. Sidenote: That place in August is sweaty! Yikes it was hot. We did two canyons: Orderville and Pine Creek. The way the permits worked out everyone in the group did the Subway except for me & my bro-in-law Ben. We did Orderville and it was cool. Orderville isn't a very narrow slot canyon so it was mostly just fast hiking with a few obstacles along the way like short raps, wading through poo errrr stagnant pools. Ben resorted to the adult diaper method of wading so as not get get his shorts wet with stink water.

Ben using the adult diaper technique through the quagmire.

We covered about 10 miles and then Orderville emptied into the Narrows where the virgin river is and ran into about a 1,000 people. I heard every language there except english. Ich liebe Zion.

Orderville Canyon.

Mini falls in Orderville.

The next day we did Pine Creek. The canyon itself is only a mile or two long, but there are alot of obstacles & swims to do along the way. It went pretty uneventfully except for when the rope sunk in an 8 foot deep lake, when I bruised my right butt check falling onto a log, when several kids nearly got hypothermia from being wet in a cold canyon--thank goodness I brought wetsuits for them, and several people tried (unsuccessfully) to remove themselves from the gene pool. Just kidding. It went pretty good but all that stuff did happen. Back to the rope sinking - I was sending some kids down the rap line into the big cathedral lake while Ben went bobbing for ropes in between dry heaves down below us. After 4 or 5 tries he finally got it and there was much rejoicing. I was rejoicing because I wasn't going to have to bob for ropes with Ben. Everyone else was rejoicing because they were happy.

Last rap out of pine creek

We ended up making it through the canyon in pretty good time and had plenty of time to enjoy the swimming holes on the hike back to the road. I love swimming in rivers.

Here's some random stuff from the past few weeks:

Mac or PC? An upgraded computer lab.

Cool view from a few weeks ago.

This bathroom was almost mine. Awesome!

Thursday Haiku - Tour Edition

2009-07-28T17:50:00.000-06:00

I just won le tour
by shooting my stupid gun
el pistolero

2009-07-23T22:41:00.000-06:00

What do you get when you combine fat guys on mopeds, fast sprinters, & euros? A fun night out. I've never seen this type of racing before. Crazy!

Lanterne Rouge

2009-07-22T20:46:00.000-06:00

One thing I wish versus would do is give more attention to the Lanterne Rouge--the last placed person in the peleton. Kenny Van Hummel, the now former last placed guy in the peleton(he DNF'd today's stage after a crash)was hanging on for dear life riding hundreds of kilometers solo and taking risks on the descents to make the time cut-off each day in the mountains. He is quite a good sprinter with several top 10 finishes in the tour this year. I've been the red lantern on several group rides in SJ with my superstar friend Chuck, so I was impressed by his drive to keep going.

I don't speak Dutch, but you don't have to to understand that the man had given his all each day. I'm sure I couldn't hang onto his wheel for 1 minute in the Alps.

Anyways, chapeau Kenny. You nearly made it to Paris and the end of the TdF. There's always next year.

Fashion Police

2009-07-21T18:29:00.002-06:00

Bad crash today. Sounds like jens is okay though. Too bad we won't see him on this year's tour anymore. Also saw the Dr. with his shirt tucked in his undies. Oops!

I always cringe when I see those types of crashes. Ouch. The tour should finish with a bang and I can't wait to see it unfold this week.

We need some change...Seriously.

2009-07-12T15:40:00.000-06:00

Last night I went on a quick MTB ride on the shoreline trail. It is a quick little section that is perfect for a 1 hour burn. Anyways, I came across this:

.

I have two thoughts on this--First, horses can eat alot. Second, it shouldn't be sitting right in the middle of the trail. I'm all for people going for runs, rides & hikes with animals (Aside: We had a rad dog growing up named Bandit that we loved to take hiking & running.) but if nature is calling him in the middle of the trail, take measures. It doesn't seem fair to everyone else that has to hike/ride/run by a steamer left by someone's animal.

IPeople with horses need to be held to the same standard as other pet owners and they should start using mutt mitts. Who agrees with me? I think Davis County needs to make an ordinance against horse poop all over the trails. Cowboys always talk about how they're tough. This would be good toughness training for them.

Thursday Haiku

2009-07-09T01:01:00.000-06:00

This week's haiku was a combo of me and Jami as we were trying to fall asleep one night. I won't mention who the victim was and who the perpetrator was.

trying to fall asleep
hey, he who smelt it dealt it
need somewhere to hide

One of these days I'll do a regular post. In the meantime, if any of you feel inclined to be creative with haiku (remember the 5-7-5 rule) I'd love to see some in the comments or elsewhere.

Food for thought

2009-06-27T23:18:00.000-06:00

I'm not really the type to have irrational fears. Jami is claustrophobic, others are scared of spiders, my mom is PETRIFIED of heights, (Sidenote: My Mom refused to walk up the Ben Franklin Bridge in Philly several years ago because she was afraid that she'd just run and jump off--It is hard to jump when you won't even get within 20 feet of the chest high railing though) and some people are scared of having names published on websites. Is this irrational? i dont know. ive just noticed some people protect their identity alot and speak in code while others post full names of people & places. i am with the latter group. should i be worried? by the way i posted this on my phone so i am aware the punctuation is terrible.

Thursday Haiku #2

2009-06-25T23:41:00.000-06:00

Awesome vanity plates
Who needs them? Narcissists.
LGND2NV

Thursday Night Haiku

2009-06-25T21:30:00.000-06:00

Went for a trail ride
I had to walk up some hills
Not too good at this.

I feel a little bit like Nacho when he says in prayer, "Lord, why have you given me this desire to fight and made me such a stinky warrior?" Even though I was the caboose when the CPT went riding in Lake Tahoe, at least I beat two of them in the Ironman last summer. Scoreboard fellas, scoreboard. :)

Tahoe TR (Trip Report)

2009-06-22T21:29:00.000-06:00

The trip was my first time back to Cali since I quit my job out there. Lover's Leap was an awesome climbing area and I was psyched to do a couple of the area classics there. The Line is supposed to be the best 5.9 there and I think it would probably be the best 5.9 at any crag. It was super good and made me want to climb more cracks.

Looking up at The Line.

Jami walking down the sidewalk finish on the last pitch of Bear's Reach.

It was a good day.

The Lake Tahoe Basin is a pretty amazing place. I really started to gain a testimony of how great mountain biking is. They had some incredible singletrack there through the hills. Some of it was right at the maximum of my technical ability, so I had some crashes trying things that were kind of hard for me. I'm pretty green when it comes to mountain biking apparently.

The two docs soaking up the views from the Tahoe Rim Trail.

Boog laughed at me when I got this falling off of a bridge.

Boog carving up the streets.

Our break from driving was a short 4 mile run in the foothills of the Ruby Mountains in Nevada. It was a beautiful day and we had some great views of a spectacular mountain range. I can't wait to ski there some day! The kids had no choice, they were forced to come with us. Notice T's excitement.

Mmm. The San Francisco original.

Postscript: My Kodak is broken so I've been compensating with my camera phone. The quality is not as good, but I still like the pictures.

Families are Forever

2009-06-17T13:58:00.000-06:00

Family reunion in Tahoe this week. Good times. I rode the flume trail with the bros yesterday. (Pics coming) Beautiful ride! I was feeling too good about life, so I decided to bonk on the way back. Nothing like a good bonk to make you appreciate chips, cookies, sandwiches, hummus, pita bread, and root beer. Mmmm. In those moments food dominates my thoughts.

Lake Tahoe is amazingly beautiful and weird at the same time. It has a really cool alpine setting with a rich yuppy flavor. I don't think any homes here are less than $1M. Kind of an exclusive place. But a rad exclusive place.

Today Keith & I did The Line, a 5.9 at Lover's Leap. I not much of a trad, and this was my first 5.9 lead on gear in a long while. It felt good to test the comfort zone limits with something well within my range. The route was spectacular and basically goes straight up the wall wandering less than 10 feet side to side during the entire 3 pitches. The leap has crazy horizontal dikes of rock that haven't eroded as fast as the rest of the cliff, so there were plenty of face holds on the route and good foot jugs for placing gear. A good way to spend the morning. Hopefully I'll have another day at the leap before the family reunion is over.

I took the below pics a couple weeks ago. My younger brother Jeff took a break from Med School studies to come climbing on a Saturday. He's a strong bugger for only climbing 2x every 3 years!

The Boog leading Right Pile.

Clipping the chains after an onsight or redpoint. I don't remember which.

LCC Panorama

2009-06-13T23:43:00.000-06:00

I'd like to make it up one last time before the snow is really gone, but who knows. I kinda told myself I was done skiing until next winter, but maybe not?

Panorama of LCC in Mid-May 2009 as seen from Mt. Baldy.

360 view.

Campusing the summer away

2009-06-08T22:04:00.000-06:00

The city of rocks is only 2 hours or so away, so we made a day trip last Saturday. And then it rained. I did one 5.8 slab in the rain that felt a little dicey. And it was chilly. I pumped gas in Snowville and it was COLD! Then I asked Jami's bros who came with us if they had jackets. After some "Ums" it was clear that it was going to be really cold for some (Ben & Joe) and less cold for others (everyone else). B & J ended up buying cheap blankets from Flying J and wearing them serape style. Excellent. After some wandering with the kids, we tried to find this boulder (Not for that problem, but some others FYI)and were unsuccessful--turned away by rain and lateness of the day. There's always next time I guess.

City of Rocks. We got sorta rained out, sorta kidded out.

Jami & the kids at Castle Rocks State Park, ID.

Craggin' at the pile a few weeks ago.

Sunset over Farmington.

I've been climbing a few times so far this summer. I'm getting a bit stronger than I was, but still a shadow of my pre TRS days (Trenton-Raegy-Sadie). That's okay, because I'm a dad and being a dad is pretty cool. Anyways, I've felt motivated to try and do some strength training and get a bit stronger, so I built a campus board. I have large and small metolius rungs. The smalls feel brutal right now, but when the strength comes in a few weeks (it will) I'll be able to start incorporating them into some of my workouts.

My campus board. The construction is pretty rough, but it'll get the job done.

You’re so Busted

2009-05-28T19:31:00.000-06:00

Whatever your name is, just turn yourself in. The Feds already know that it was you that robbed that post office. If anyone sees a guy around town with a hat, glasses, and a hankerchief covering the rest of his face, take no action to apprehend this person yourself and call the authorities!

I mean, are you kidding me? They think they are going to catch someone with that picture? Really? I bet that guy who robbed that post office has to be pretty pumped up right about now because he knows there’s NO WAY he’s going to get caught. That is more non-descript than the famous Unabomber sketch. (Unabomber had a sweet ‘stache by the way—I’ve always admired his mustache.)

Can you imagine our thief’s reaction if he saw this sketch of himself? “Sweet! I thought that the postman might have seen the color of my hair, but looking at that sketch, I don't think he did. I think I’m going to get away with it! Which one should I rob next?” This might be my favorite pencil sketch ever.

I came across this the other day and wanted to share with the world. In my case, that means 5 people. Wow, I'm popular. Should I challenge Ashton to a Twitter race? I bet I could blow him out of the water.

Goodbye Old Man Winter

2009-05-21T10:05:00.001-06:00

(DISCLAIMER: All of these photos were taken with my low-pixel phone.)

Today's high temperature was near 80, so what a good morning for a ski, no? I haven't skied Alta more than a handful of times in my life, so I don't know/remember the mountain very well, but one thing I do remember is the Main Baldy Chute. It comes of the top of Mt. Baldy and is a very striking and classic line viewed from the chairlifts. Anyways, to finish off my maiden ski touring season, I decided to wake up early and go ski Main Baldy. I was amazed at the snow cover still at Alta. There must still be 5 feet of snow! I guess we had a really good snow year. I was able to skin a bit, and then booted the rest of the way to the top. It was great just to be out.

No action shots today as I was solo, but the views were nice. On the drive to LCC, there was a great view of the crescent Moon and Venus right above the mountains. Venus is the brightest object in the night sky other than the Moon, so the see them both next to each other was pretty cool. (I'm a nerd)Once the sun started coming out, the star show was over and it was time to keep hiking.

SLC from my perch this morning.

What all the work was for - Main Baldy entrance.

I had to work today, so I needed an early start and the snow was just starting to corn up by the time I made the summit at 8 am. The snow wasn't great. In fact, it was probably the crappiest snow I've ever skied. The snow in the chute was best-it had been baking for a couple of hours by the time I skied down and was buttery smooth in some sections and chattery ice in others. The rest of the run was pretty much the worst skiing ever over refrozen snowmobile tracks, debris, and uneven, impossible-to-turn-in ice. Goodbye ski season. Until next year...

Bottom looking up.

Stats for today:

Vertical: 2,700 up and down
People on mountain - 0
Sweet Biffs - 0
Blisters - 1
# of lost poles I saw under the lifts: 4

Some leftovers from our summer-even-though-it's-not-summer vacation:

We saw some wierd stuff on our way home from KY.

T with Ice Cream from Ott's General Store.

The twins had some too.

I'm glad this isn't one of my hobbies. Saw this guy at the kiddie playground. What do you think he found, binkies?

Ogden Half

2009-05-19T22:22:00.001-06:00

My semi-famous brother Mike, who can tell you lots of awesome stuff about Ogden and why Ogden is awesome, used his authority and let me get a late entry into the Ogden half-marathon. I'm not marathon material. Only half of it actually. Anyways, for training I did a few 8 mile runs, one 14 mile trail run, some random miles in between and that's about it. I was undertrained for certain. I wanted to run under 1:40 which is a 7:30/mile pace. Luckily, I spotted one of my neighbors from my younger years and we ran the first 10 miles together. Then, I said "adios" as my side-stitch and lack of training finally caught up to me and my neighbor kept going. My last 5k took about 28 minutes. As Phil Liggett would say, I was "wearing the mask of pain."

I really faded towards the end of the race and got passed by grips of people in the last couple of miles. It was similar to losing touch on a hill climb when riding. You see them ahead of you, but you know there's nothing you can do to catch up because your already at your top speed. With a 1/2-3/4 mile left, I was at 1:35 or so, so I thought 1:40 was a cinch. The finishing straight is so long, you can see the finish line for about 7 blocks. All the while, the clock is ticking. As 1:40 was approaching, I realized my goal was in jeopardy. The PA announcer had me hustling to the line with his "You have 30 more seconds to finish under 1:40!" motivation speech. I hustled, crossed the line at 1:39:57, and had to bend over because I thought I was going to puke! I think that was about the best I could do on Saturday. Maybe I need to find some hobbies that I can be good at.

Jami did the ogden marathon this last Saturday and PR'd. She did awesome and ran a great race. I'm sure she'll post about it on the family blog.

Should I take up cyclocross?

Maybe some ironing while track cycling.

Or running with bulls in pamplona?

I'll probably just stick with my usual hobbies and be mediocre at all of them.

Kentucky Roundup

2009-05-13T06:48:00.001-06:00

Our trip is over. Sigh. It was so much fun. I never would have thought that KY could be so awesome. From the awesome climbing to the cool speaking locals, we had a good time. And I was amazed at how cool the RRG was. I can't imagine a cooler climbing area, and I've climbed all over the west. It's that good.

I grew this baby to fit in with the locals while I was there.

Impressive, no? I realize how bad it looks. We Caldwell men are mostly hairless beasts. We can grow just enough to know that we shouldn't grow any.

Jami and I diving in

I've had some fleeting thoughts of this(Lotus Flower Tower) over the years. Maybe when I'm 35. It looks awesome, but the adventure to get there would be even better. Don't sue me George for using your pic I found on Google images. :)

Kentucky #3, #4, & #5 (The RRG)

2009-05-08T15:31:00.000-06:00

The Red River Gorge is such an amazing place. KY has thick trees everywhere, so the crags are generally not visible from the road or only the tops of the cliffs are visible from the road. Don't be fooled though, there are some amazing cliffs in the woods and the stone is high quality sandstone.

The beautiful Torrent Falls. That's us in the picture for perspective.

We stayed at a little cabin that is basically right in the Torrent Falls area near Slade, KY. It was awesome. A short 5 minute walk up the stairs led to a beautiful overhanging wall of heavily featured Corbin Sandstone full of 5.11's & 5.12's that seemed specifically designed for the purpose of sport climbing. I am a believer in intelligent design.

Rain update:I think it rained for a few hours all 3 days we were there, but there were still many dry routes for climbing. The drip line on the cliffs we were at were 40 feet back from the wall in many sections. There were wet lines, but most were pretty dry. Unless the rain were blowing fully sideways, most of the cliffs stay dry. That's a pretty nice feature when planning a climbing trip in the spring.

As we were outnumbered by kids, (5 kids that were 3& under, 4 adults) I was pretty glad that we were basically the only ones at Torrent Falls so we could pretty much let the kids run wild without bumming out other climbers with our crew of kids.

Keith on kid duty. Kid duty was the crux of every route!

Keith during less stressful times.

The routes were pretty pumpy and I didn't onsight anything harder than 5.10, but I'm pretty out of shape anyways and it was good just to get out on the rocks for a few days. We actually had a discussion on what was "better" style- being hoisted through the crux on TR, resting at nearly every bolt on lead, or taking short hangs on a TR. I think I'd have to get out more than twice a year to be able to send any of those routes. 2009 is the return of the climber for me. I'm going to focus more on climbing this year and hopefully have some kind of return to form.

Me on Bare Metal Teen.

BMT #2.

Of course, we visited Miguel's the climbing shop that also sells pizza. When you walk in there are ropes, rock gear, shoes, prAna clothes, and other climbing paraphernalia all over the place and a pizza menu on the back wall. The pie was delicious and atmosphere was unique. If you go to the Red, visit Miguel's. It is a one-of-a-kind eatery.

I can't wait to come back. I think the kids had a riot and Keith's giant swing was a hit with the boys.

Trenton watching his papa climb with snack in hand.

Trenton on a giant swing.

Andrea checking in on the kids from up high.

Kentucky #2: Climbing! (And Rain!)

2009-05-05T21:03:00.000-06:00

Today was my first climbing day in KY. And it rained again. Alot. I was beginning to worry that we were going to get rained out again. Since climbing was looking like a non-option we decided to go hike around and look at some of the crags that haven't been developed yet. It seems every little canyon or drainage here has some cliffs with potential for climbing.

When we got to one of the developed areas, it was raining but the cliffs were so steep that the routes stayed dry. So we climbed a couple of them. Both were really good. K&A have a really cool home area for climbing. We later got on a recently bolted 11d/12aish that was stellar. I've forgotten how fun this sport is and it felt really nice to get out and try something hard. Maybe that isn't hard for many folks, but it is good for me right now in my life. Of course we finished off the day with a brisk swim in the lake (no wetsuit this time) to cool down and relax.

Tomorrow we're going to the Red River Gorge to the Torrent Falls area. It should be really good. Come rain or shine, I'm getting my pump on.

Kentucky #1: Flooding!

2009-05-04T20:22:00.000-06:00

Cumberland Falls was above flood level today. We saw so much stuff floating down the river. Too many trees to count, tires, tons of garbage and Keith saw a refrigerator last time he was there. Ah, the great outdoors. Very impressive falls nonetheless.

Untitled from Tom Guernessy on Vimeo.

Kentucky #1: Rain!

2009-05-04T18:29:00.000-06:00

We finished our 25 hour drive with this on the table ready for us to eat. This was homemade by Andrea and it was as good as it looks.

We've kept a pretty close eye on the weather forecast and weather guessers say there is going to be some rain for most of the trip. Some heavy rain fell last night and more this morning. Over 4" of rain since 5/1. Yikes! Good thing the rock is so steep here that climbing in the rain is no problem.

Today I accompanied Jami on a 4-mile run. I was armed with military grade pepper spray, courtesy of Andrea. You never know what it is like running in a new place. Nothing happened, but having the same pepper spray that is used in the Kentucky prisons certainly instills some confidence. Dogs and appalachia-dudes: beware.

After that, I was sweaty, so I needed a swim in the backyard. Not everyone has a backyard pool like Andrea & Keith, so I plan to take full advantage of it everyday that we're here. Their swimming hole ranks right up there with the cenotes in Mexico. Life is pretty stinkin' good for the Cards.

Tomorrow we're going to check out the local rocks and see what they have here in the South. I can't wait. I'm sure I'll have a delirious pump by 10 am.

Isn't this a cool lookin' swimming hole? Complete with its own 10 foot diving board.

#1. Cool swim hole. I had the wetsuit for the swim after the jump - not just for the jump. Need to clear that up.

#2. I have no professional training.

#3. I know I'm good.

#4. Bad form = big splash.

Halfway There

2009-05-02T21:37:00.000-06:00

We're more than halfway to our summer (sorta) vacation destination, even though we still have 3 more states to drive through. Today we drove through most of Colorado, all of Kansas (holy crap it kept going on forever!) and maybe half of Missouri. Tomorrow we have the other half of Missouri, Illinois, part of Indiana, and a good part of Kentucky. I can't believe we decided to drive, but we're on a budget this year, and driving is quite a bit cheaper than flying.

Pics will be forthcoming.

Some stats so far:

Miles driven - about 1,200
Sandwiches eaten - Among all of us? Lots.
Vanilla cokes consumed - One.
Meltdowns - Zero. Seriously. I hope I'm not jinxing us for tomorrow but the kids have been champs so far.
XXX Adult shops seen from the highway - 6 or 7. There must be a lot of lonely truckers out there because it seemed they were all over I-70.
# of flappers - Zero. So far so good!

Welcome to ol' Kentuck

2009-04-30T13:32:00.000-06:00

See you in a couple days Miguel!

Summer (Sorta) Vacation!

2009-04-28T23:00:00.000-06:00

I took my last final yesterday, so I'm loading up the family and heading east for our summer-even-though-its-not-technically-summer vacation. For months, Keith & Andrea have been sending me pics of them out at the crags that are 10 minutes from their house. They’ve made me insanely jealous of all of the awesome, uncrowded, barely developed sandstone out there in KY. It looks SOOOO good. We must really want to go, because we are willing to drive 27 hours to get there. I plan on reading several books on the drive.

Some of the persuasive pictures that I’ve gotten from Keith’s iphone over the past few months:

After getting these for nearly a year, it's time to go check it out.

Rubbin' it in.

Bennett getting ready to pull down.

I can't take it anymore!

We are finally going out there. Tomorrow we are loading up the van and heading east for a couple of weeks to check out their new digs (They moved from Philly a year ago) and do some climbing. I know I’m just a shadow of my old climbing self (which isn’t really saying much anyways), but nevertheless, I’m really looking forward to this trip. Here's hoping I don't get a flapper or a broken ankle on my first day out there.

Reunion & Hallway Couloir

2009-04-17T23:17:00.001-06:00

I love rock climbing and I first started really climbing alot with Tyler, my friend from high school. With college, the move to Cali, then school again, we've lost touch. I knew he was a great skier, so I tried to track him down to go on a tour and today we finally were able to make schedules work.

My hippie friend. Notice the frost. It was cold!

7 of 13 ski resorts are closed for the season even though several Utah resorts received 3+ feet of snow in the past 5 days. I don't get it. Tyler and his friend Ed were going to do the Hallway Couloir in Cardiff Fork, and I was happy to tag along. Just as an aside, I have caught two different colds in the past 3 weeks (Hooray for me) so I was armed with both a barking cough and lots of Ricola cough drops. As we were hiking up Flagstaff mountain across from Alta, there was this light red dust-dirt covering all of the snow. I guess they had a good dust storm up there recently. Snirt (snow + dirt) looks kinda gross, but the snow was still pretty good.

Cool snag on the skintrack up.

The reason for waking up at 4 something or other.

Dropping in to the Couloir.

It did not disappoint. This morning was very likely my last powder day of the year, and it was a good ending. Really soft good snow up high, and then kind of firmish powder cement down low but super fun. It was a beautiful day to be out and all in all a good day and well worth the calories and sweat.

Splitboards do have a decided disadvantage on the not-flat-enough-to-snowboard exits. Click on this picture-it is much better in large view. :)

Some people are such morons and other stuff

2009-04-11T23:40:00.000-06:00

Tax season is over and I have some random thoughts to share.

I think rule #1 that you learn in school (even before not running with scissors) is don't climb the fence at the zoo and jump in the polar bear cage. Heard about this in the news and I had to check it out.

I'm surprised that that lady was able to hang on to the rope what with her being gravity challenged and all. Do you think she was self-conscious about showing her muffin top?

One of my dreams in life is to be on a Japanese game show. I think I'd be awesome in one.

Lastly, when I was 18, after I graduated HS but before I started the next phase of my life (mission) I decided I wanted to go to Yosemite. I didn't have anyone to go with so I decided I would go alone. The problem was is that I didn't have my own wheels at the time, so driving was not an option. And my Mom would NOT be an accessory to me participating in dangerous endeavors. Enter the Am-Trak. I bought a ticket and decided to go for 2 weeks in October. How long did it take to get there on the train & bus? 20 hours Plus an overnight stay in Modesto. Yawn. But it was worth it. I was there for 2 weeks and met some people to climb with out there. It was super cool. I met some Welsh chaps, Miles & Neil who stayed in my campsite. They had this wicked cool tent that was probably 30 years old and I remember them drinking earl gray tea alot. There was a whole group of Welsh dudes there, but I got to know Neil the best.

Anyways, Neil is hardcore. After I had to come home, we made plans to meet up for more climbing in Utah a few weeks later, and had a good time climbing some of Utah's excellent/choss limestone. He came and stayed at our house a few years later with another friend (I forget his name) but I've lost touch with him. Why am I telling you this you wonder? Well, thanks to youtube, I can see he's still a strong bugger. Me? Well...Since we last saw each other I've gotten married and had three kids, so well, um, I'm not doing problems like "Silk Cut" anytime soon. But it's nice to see Neil still pulling down.

Neil doing his thing.

Waste of Time

2009-04-10T21:40:00.001-06:00

I'm breaking format with my usual type of posts for some life commentary.

I've become convinced that Facebook is popular because people are so IMPOSSIBLY bored these days. Seriously. Before I go any further, I should make it clear that I have a facebook account. And I look at it about once a week or maybe a couple times a month. And it is way boring to me, but I've looked at it because I don't have anything better to do--Actually, I probably do have stuff to do, just stuff I don't want to do. This really bugs me. Blogging may be in that same vein (it can be a timewaster, etc.) but you don't get the retarded updates all the time. Who cares is "Tim is taking it easy" or "Jim is loving the office" or whatever else.

Some may say blogging is the same kind of thing, but I disagree. For instance, because of blogs, I can see what people are up to(not superficially), get ideas for places to ski, and reading opinions on life and people's experiences and commentaries. In short stuff that is way more meaningful than "Eric hates doing the dishes." By the way, what is up with all of the Karl-Malone-third-person speak on Facebook? Annoying.

KDay posted an awesome video about flutter, the second generation twitter. Check it out here.

I've kept my blog so I can document some of the things that I've been able to do and remind myself that sometimes life can be really good. That, and to let the single digit followers of my weak-sauce blog know how awesome I am. O.k. I'm think I'm done ranting. Bloggers, keep blogging so I have some productive ways to waste my time. :)

While I was writing this, Jami gave me a tattoo to remind me who's number one. I didn't realize I was so freckly, but whatever.

DP with the Best Utah Rider

2009-04-03T21:32:00.000-06:00

Nate likes to ride his bike alot. In fact, this is Nate's first ski day of the year because he's been training so much. Nothing to get you psyched like waking up at 4:30 for skiing, eh Nate? Some of my best ski days ever have been with Nate at the Canyons, so I was pumped to hook up for a rare ski day together.

I've done a few of the pre-work ski days this year and every one has been awesome. Today was no exception. Farmington Canyon has been the choice for the mid-week ski days because of its proximity to where we're currently living and how easy accessible some of the hills are from the parking area.

With this low pressure system over the last couple of weeks, we've gotten so much snow here in the Wasatch. There was a good foot of snow on the road the whole way up the canyon (The plow doesn't come until about 9 am) so just making it to the parking area at the Bountiful Peak turnoff was iffy today, but we got there in time to make three runs before I had to head into the office. With me fighting off a man-cold, I'm glad Nate only had snowshoes and I had my skis/skins to keep us on a level playing field. I don't think I could keep up with him otherwise.

Every time I look at the Wizard's Blog I wish I really knew how to take photos--mine pale in comparison. All well. Perhaps with more practice. On to the photos:

Utah's Best Rider prepping for the down.

Run #1. A poor action shot.

Run #2.

One more time up on flip-flops.

Run #3.

Dawn Patrol w/Nate from Tom Guernessy on Vimeo.

Just like last time, one car in the lot when we were ready to leave. Beautiful.

Ben Lomond Periphery

2009-03-29T12:15:00.000-06:00

Yesterday my doctor-in-training brother Boog and I went to ski Ben Lomond. I had a man-cold and Jeff ran 13 miles on Friday, so our energy levels were pretty low right from the get go. I've wanted to ski BL for a long time, and it was fun to finally get out on that mountain.

Skin track up. It was really warm.

Willard Peak looks pretty impressive.

I'm afraid I've made a dedicated resort-skier out of Jeff after yesterday. I'm sure there were several times when he was thinking "What are we doing?! Can't we just ride in the gondola and chill on the way up?" Alpine touring is not for sissies. It is alot of work! We were both suffering a little bit and it didn't help that my route finding added an extra 1.5 miles onto the approach, or that I'm using Nordica Beasts as my touring ski boots. One of these days hopefully I can upgrade.

We went up the red path on the map, should've gone up on the orange path, and skied down the green. We opted not to go all the way to the summit as it was pretty wind loaded and exposed so it didn't seem particularly safe to ski it. So, we decided to ski off the shoulder. With a ski cut I released a small slab about 1' deep and 30 feet wide. That confirmed to me that the summit would've been a bad idea yesterday.

We were not dissapointed on the ski down and the hike was worth it. I had the best powder turns of the winter down 35 degree slopes for 2000 feet on cold, soft snow. Below 7,000' the snow was really wet and there were several pinwheels. Skiing the last bit through that wet cement was kind of a bummer, but a wise man once said "It doesn't always have to be fun for it to be fun." Overall, a fun day even though I felt like poo and I was glad to have Jeff along.

Prepping for the down.

Jeff dropping in.

Jeff 5 seconds after dropping in.

Sorry, no action shots. I'm really bad at taking those.

My hand

2009-03-25T20:33:00.000-06:00

So I went skiing with Kday a couple months ago and hurt my thumb pretty good skiing down the Mt. Ogden chute. I had an awkward fall and my thumb got all bruised and swollen. The gamekeeper's thumb. Ouch. Good thing I'm a lefty because I couldn't use it for anything. It still actually hurts doing certain things like opening doors. Should I be concerned?

It got pretty discolored.

And swollen.

I had to pick up my Sis at the airport a few weeks ago and I realized one way in which Utah is way di5fferent than Cali. The airport scene. The moms of those guys were right on their shoulders the whole time at the baggage claim. Ah, the memories.

I felt underdressed being around the Scruggs.

Just in case Brad forgot English, they made the sign in Spanish.

Patrolling & Other Stuff

2009-03-25T19:09:00.000-06:00

I convinced Wes to do a dawn patrol with me on Tuesday morning. DP's are great in that you get to go skiing on a workday/weekday. The only bummer is the early start.

Waking up is the crux.

The view was worth it though.

It was sort of painful to wake up at 4:40 but well worth it. Quality ski days this time of year are numbered, and I was glad to have the opportunity to get out. Farmington canyon isn’t known for its skiing as it is a sled-neck haven, but they do have some fun terrain without the SLC crowds. And some of it is really close to the parking area. The morning after a storm ours was the only car in the parking lot and we didn’t see another car in the canyon with the exception of one Air Force guy going up to the towers. That is unheard of in LCC or BCC on a new snow day. Wes was on flip-flops, so we skied one of the lower ridges to save time. I forget what the ridge is called. It is a short run to the bottom, but it is super easily accessible from the road, and is a fairly easy skin back up for multiple laps so it made for a good DP choice. I REALLY wish I had ski crampons though, because the new snow was sluffing fairly easy on the older super-firm stuff. It made going up an exercise in patience.

We made a couple quick runs and I was at the office at 9 am. I wish we had time for more, but it was a pretty good morning. No action shots today, but here are a few that I took with my phone.

Looking North towards Ogden Valley.

The first light of the day & a view of our run.

My pirate dude.

Viva la Red Rocks

2009-03-23T17:54:00.000-06:00

For spring break we were able to persuade Jami's mom to watch T & the twins and we went to red rocks with Keith & Andrea. It was awesome. We camped at the campground for the first two nights and had a greasy hairdo contest. I think I beat Andrea by a nose with Keith in third and Jami coming in a distant fourth place. It is sad to say that I hadn't tied into a rope since October. Two climbing trips in 13 months is okay though, right? I didn't think so either.

Day 1 we wanted to climb Inti Watana-For those of you that don't speak Quechua, it is the "hitching post of the sun." That sounded like a great route for the ides of March. It can still get really cold in March in the rocks and snow isn't out of the question, so we were thinking of routes that would have good sun exposure for the trip to work on our farmer tans. So we hiked up the white rot gully and then proceeded to kick a few steps in firm snow to put boot rubber to rock. Then midway through the first pitch my digits had the sensitivity of 10 little Jimmy Dean sausages. Luckily, the climbing was easy. 10a or so, but sorta slabby. Pitch 2 got a little more spicy, but Keith led that and I lugged up the pack. It was clear after those two pitches it was too cold for us to climb quickly enough to do all 12 pitches that day because it took several minutes after each pitch for the fingers to warm up again and I was so out of practice. (It was my 5th route in 2 years!) So, we did 4 more pitches (6 total of 12) and headed to Baja Fresh for some burritos.

Day 2 we climbed with the ladies. After shivering up the route the previous day, Solar Slab was the call. They call it “sizzle slab” during the summer because of its orientation towards the sun. 8(?) pitches of 5.6 or easier climbing. Nothing real hard, but it was fun to be out and at the top pitches you could start to see the LV Strip in the distance. I led the pitches and Keith being the stud that he is belayed me, seconded the pitch, and then belayed the girls up. He was doing the monkey all afternoon. The girls probably should have bought him a steak dinner that night for his efforts, but we went to Baja Fresh again instead. We did witness some guys headed for an epic later that night as we were repelling down the SS gully. David and guy #2 were so stoked to be there from Chicago. I wonder if they’ve made it down yet. I hope so. Sometimes epics happen, but these guys were out asking for one. It was kind of fun to see. I wish I could’ve kept tabs on their progress with some GPS tracker or something.

It wasn't your typical dirt-bagging climbing trip because we stayed 2 nights at the red rock casino. We checked into our place and it was sweet! They had a really nice shower (which officially ended the greasy hairdo contest) spa, and gambling I guess, but we didn’t even go down to that area. How Mormon of us not to even walk through the casino. 

Day 3 we climbed Olive Oil. As we had to be back early that day for spa time with the ladies, that was the only route we did that day. It was an awesome route with 3 60 meter pitches and one short one. In hindsight, I wish we would’ve done another route that day, but my skin was starting to wear out, so it is probably good we ended when we did. We ended our Las Vegas-climbing-days-eating-at-Baja-Fresh streak at 6 dating back to last year and went to some Italian place for dinner.

That was the end of our climbing portion of the trip and marked the beginning of the “spa” portion of the trip. As Keith was walking around in his robe and slippers, he pretty much summed it up when he said “What a weird end to a climbing trip.” I can’t wait until next year. Thanks for making it happen Annie & Keith!

Some Stats:

Pitches climbed: 18
Desert bighorns seen: 8
Burros seen: 0
Burritos consumed: several
Miles run by Jami: 20

An awesome tree on the approach.

It was cold!

Keith on pitch 3 of Inti.

View on Inti Watana

The "Euro Death Knot"

My feet hurt after the white rot gully approach in my Evel Knievel shoes.

Andrea the Trad.

Jami hangin' with some hot british dude.

Jami got a nice bum shot of me.

Solar Slab.

As a bonus, a pic of T's Hitler Smoothie Mustache

Jami has some other photos of the trip on the family blog.

Island Park Skinny Ski Festival

2009-03-09T22:54:00.000-06:00

My friend Jon's family has an awesome cabin in Island Park, ID. Island Park is mostly a snowmobile (argh!) area, but there are tons of awesome areas for nordic skiing. To get to the cabin, we skied in about 3 miles with our gear for the weekend packed on plastic sleds that we were pulling. Basically, the trip is about xc skiing, and then eating a bunch of good food. Jon made chili verde, and I made fajitas the next night. It was a fun weekend.

A few days before we were there it rained. Usually that makes the snow really suck, but the night before we drove up there it snowed about 5" or so. The rain crust wasn't easily breakable, so it made for easy traveling on the skinny skis. We found a couple of hills to ski down. I've never had so much fun going so slow downhill. XC skis can be kinda sketch on the downhill what with those soft boots with no support.

There were alot of trees on the hills we were skiing, so forget about the turns. The fun part was picking a line that was straight-lineable and hoping that you didn't crash into a tree.

One of the huge hills we skied down. Doesn't it look so scary and intimidating?

I crashed into a small tree.

Boog showing off his years of ski experience.
Jeff #1 watches Jeff #2 roll down the windows on a heinous descent.

Jeff #1 dressed like it is 20 below.

Looking for varmits while we were out and about as it were.

Dinnertime.

Me and the Mrs.

Island Park is awesome.