Some Novelty Skiing

The last couple weeks have been rough for me. A couple weeks ago I was in Tucson. The same weekend it was dumping here in SLC. The day I got home I was starting to feel crappy and it got worse and worse. I keep thinking about Andre the Giant saying "he's been mostly dead all day" in the princess bride movie. I've been mostly dead. I didn't want to miss out on the novelty skiing going on in the benches so I went out. And felt pretty terrible. Like get-home-and-come-lay-on-the-bed-without-taking-off-the-ski-boots terrible.

There is a rad little hill at the mouth of Farmington Canyon that we've been skiing. About 500 vertical feet or so, and a 5 minute approach. It's been skiing excellent and has satiated me while my body recovers from being sick.

Twilight skiing.

Ryan diligently was spooning turns to maximize the utility of the ski hill.

Lowest elevation ski tour ever? 4500'.

Kern River built this massive pipeline that goes through Bountiful and Mueller Park. Usually the snow is heavy enough that I avoid it, but  when it is cold, it skis pretty well. 

From the top of Triangle Peak. Sessions Mountain is up the other pipeline scar across the way.

Gas is pretty important. Look how far the pipeline goes.

I love the rime encrusted trees in winter. 

I had fun teaching this sweetie to ski the other day.

Weekend in Tucson

Thursday it was puking snow on the Wasatch Front. I didn't get out to ski because of our trip the next day to visit my kid brother Jeff and his family in Tucson. The weather (for Tucson standards) was cold with highs only in the low 50s, but felt balmy compared to sub zero temps back home. After a fun but dissapointing  Jackson rando race weekend, it was a nice change of pace.

Boarding our small flight. We had to take the nursing baby with us. Travelling with a baby is toughness training.

This 4-year-old shreds it on his bike.

 Tucson sits at 2,600 feet above sea level and the Santa Catalina mountains at the edge of the city rise 5,000+ feet off of the valley floor--similar vertical relief to my home mountain range. There are TONS of excellent trails there in a unique (for me at least) setting. Some are super technical and not real runnable in sections, but fun nevertheless.

I was so captivated by the Saguaro cactus. Really tall and all over the place down there.

Kid brother and nephew out on a ride to the Circle K.

The Santa Catalinas are a pretty rugged little range. Awesome running there.

My vacation smile.

So much to see it was hard not to be a super tourist taking pictures.

GoPro stick mount. Take that Moellmer!

Up up up.

Yes I took a camera AND a GoPro. I'm a tourist.

One of my favorite sections of trail from the weekend. Buffed single track on the way to Kimball Peak up above the desert.

Cam is from San Diego. He kept saying "I can't believe I'm running on snow!" He lives in a different world.

Tucson, peace out. I'll have to come visit again.



We made a little video memory of the Kimball Peak run. Running with a GoPro is, admittedly, kind of dorky, but now we have a fun memory.

Phone Photo Dump

I take pictures with my phone occasionally and never do anything with them. At some point I might make a book out of the stuff I've written on here. There's a lot of memories associated with some of these pictures so I thought that I'd include them here.

Snowbasin in early summer.

Ben Eaton in his own Private Idaho at City of Rocks. Ben led the route so maybe this is someone else??

They grow up so quickly. Thank goodness for pictures.

Opening day with two of my favorite dudes.

The Ogden Raptors. It had been years since I'd been to a baseball game. A great time and I think our seats were $1.

Apres climb with the Txertudis in Fountain Green. Sorry Marian, you're kind of blurry.

T's first rodeo. Mayor Mike got some excellent seats right above the corrals where the bulls  come out.

Bountiful Peak in summer with the kids.

Kind of generic summit. It's fun to see it in the summer--I'm used to seeing everything  covered in snow up there.

Fruit fly trap with an important message for the fruit flies. These actually work pretty well.

So apparently East Canyon reservoir gets pretty low in the fall... Who knew? 

Mayor Mike in Blue at the Tour of Utah.

 My most memorable days (as a kid) experiencing the trauma at Nordic Valley were
because of my ski patroler dad. Patrolling well into his sixties. 

Tuesday night date night with  Sadie. We'd go to the climbing gym, then
out to Farr's Ice Cream in Ogden.

Neighbors getting ready for the fourth of July. It took over an hour to light them all off.

This guy joined us this year. Kinda fun to have a squishy baby around the house.

Please don't ever grow up okay?

Anytime we're going somewhere they have to jump in the snow first. Kids...

My upbringing in rando racing

I sat at a small desk in a small apartment in a big city in California. I was looking at blogs. I read blogs of randosteve adventuring in the Tetons. Of the Samurai adventuring in the Wasatch. Of KDay racing. It was 2008. Seeds were planted in my brain of what I wanted to do--A quarter-life crisis? Yes, I think it was. A couple of directional career changes and I was back in Utah. I knew I wanted to ski more. I bought a few pieces of touring gear. I had know idea what I was doing so I bought heavy stuffs. Hip flexor-straining stuff. 

The Xterra winter skimo race in March 2009 was $35 and close to home so I thought I'd sign up and go check it out. Lycra-clad racers, tiny skis, green boots and big cardio were aplenty at the start line. Despite my heavy gear I soldiered on and was convinced that this was the hardest physical activity I had ever participated in. Ironman notwithstanding.  I did the shorter 8k course and got lapped by some of the 12k racers like the Samurai and others. I got a medal for being the second female finisher in the heavy metal category. How very appropriate. Despite feeling absolutely crushed, I was hooked. This new secret world of rando racing was discovered that day. I've looked back at that first race experience and laughed alot at what a punter* I was and some of the stuff I did during the race. Ah the memories.

In 2010 I raced heavy metal at Grand Targhee and the Powderkeg. Painfully slow, but wanting to get faster & lighter.

In 2011 I raced Jackson Hole & Targhee back to back (brutal), and the Powderkeg with bronchitis--I don't recommend ever doing that.

In 2012, I raced the Jackson weekend again (faster this time), all of the Wasatch citizen series races and the powderkeg this time with a cold or maybe even bronchitis again. I've had terrible luck with the powderkeg. 3 races, One with a limp, 2 while sick. That 2012 powderkeg was literally one of the worst days of my life. I wanted to DNF so badly but kept going for some reason. I was a broken man at the finish.

So here I am at the beginning of 2013. I'm optimistic that this could be a good year for me. I'm a proud owner of race skis, race boots, a skin suit--a bona fide race setup for the first time ever. I'm hoping to be fitter and faster in 2013. At least compared to the me in prior years. So goodbye past and hello future! Happy new year!

(What is with the hyperlinks?? They magically appear and I can't figure out how to get rid of them. Help?)

*From Urban Dictionary's definition of punter:

"(In the world of professional skiing, ski racing, selected freestyle skiers, upper-level alpine skiing, those skiers 'in the know') A lower-class skier. A skier that cannot ski a blue or black ski run. A certain breed of skier frowned upon by other skiers that know what they are doing. Often wears the 'punter uniform' consisting of a jacket from the 60's, jeans tucked into ski boots, a baseball cap and sunglasses or a neckwarmer worn as a hat. If this describes you, go away. Also, all snowboarders." Finishing my first race--the now dead winter xterra. Sadie in first touring boots. My heels may still have the scars from the blisters. Little shredder.

Wasatch Citizen Series Race #3

I've had so much fun racing the citizen series the last couple of years. There are alot of races that I'd like to do, but when you figure in the cost of the entry fee and travel, etc. on top of all of the gear you need (running,  triathlon, skiing) there are a lot of of "someday" races. Last night as we were all bottle necked going up some switchbacks doing kickturns by headlamp, someone behind me said "Who put in this track? No double track?" I laughed and said "Do you want a refund?" The beautiful thing about the citizen series races is that they are FREE. And they are basically in my back yard here in Utah.

The 12/18 race was possibly the funnest of the citizen series races that I've been to. There were 50+ people, it was cold, snowing, and everyone is so friendly, to the guy that laps people, to the being lapped. Really, a great atmosphere. Skiing by headlamp is really fun too.

The race included 4 laps on a course that included a single skintrack, booter, kickturns, and even a little kick & glide. The skiing was fantastic with 12" of new snow. Powder turns turned into mogul turns as the night wore on--the conditions kept it interesting. I couldn't wear my goggles on the last run because of snow in them and by the end my eyelashes were freezing together.

The skinsuit mafia is getting faster--it seems every race there is someone that has new race skis. Even though no results are kept, the races are very competitive. At least with me and the guys in front and behind me. I always spend time in the pain cave and counting steps to the transition area when I'm really blown.

A big shout out to my main man Andy for being the scoutmaster of this operation. He shows up early, flags the route, puts in a skintrack/booter, does the race, cleans up the flags, and hands out free stuff afterwards (including pies that he buys with his own hard-earned money). Seriously, a real dude. We owe him alot--he has done a lot to promote skimo racing here in Utah.

Ski Trab has been awesome and gave out a pair of $80 race poles last night and has given Andy a demo fleet for the FREE races. Seriously, you can't get better support for a non-entry fee event.

12/6 Ski Tour 10K

Mountains that face south would have you believe that winter hasn't started yet. View down Cardiff Fork , BCC.

Yesterday I felt like a 10k. 10,000 feet of elevation gain that is-despite the loss of hearing and congestion from the cold that I've had.  I headed up LCC and made a lap up hidden peak. As I was about to rip skins at the top of the Peruvian lift, sitting there coughing--I looked down and saw someone skinning upwards. I decided to wait and see who it was. It was Teague. He easily talked me into the the last couple hundred feet of vert up to the tramdock. We ripped skins and skied down. I tried to follow Teague down, but he outskied me pretty easily. I hopped in the car and drove up to Grizzly gulch where I met up with the Asian Sensations: Andy, Jason, and Jared. Josh was there too. More getting outskied was about to happen.

If I have any chance in keeping up with the Sensations I have to be on full race gear. The pace was pretty fast until Jared and Jason left us at noon. We continued skiing, continuing west along the LCC/BCC ridgeline until we were too pooped or time ran out.

Under bluebird skies, we headed up Grizzly to the honeycomb cliffs, skied some rocks and powder into Silver, climbed up Davenport(?) & out Silver (Jared and Jason leave), skied down Jaws (really aesthetic line) into Days Fork, then up and out Days, over to Holy Toledo (best run of the day!)  into Cardiff, around the subridge, up to the top of Cardiac Ridge (super cool line--I wouldn't have done this without Andy breaking trail for a long ways to the top) including booting the last couple hundred feet stepping lightly on a rock slab covered with snow. (Steepest, coolest looking run of the day)

Booter to the top of Cardiac Ridge. Stolen from Andy's Blog. So sue me, I steal.

Then finally making my way over to pole line to exit Cardiff & did a little Hellen Keller skiing back down to the highway and walking back to the Grizzly Gulch parking lot.

In my dreams I think of runs like the ones I skied. The snow was better on some than others, but all runs were excellent, high-quality, giggling-inducing fun skiing. May this winter have much more of the same.

Clouds moved in later on in the day. Looking back towards Cardiac Ridge.

10k and feeling great!

Stats: Garmin showed 9,539 but doesn't include about 20 minutes of skinning from me forgetting to push start. I think I can comfortably call it at 10,000.

Skin failures: 4. Thankfully I had two pairs of skins. Need to fix the glue again though.

Calories: Not enough. The last couple hours I was thinking about sandwiches. Big tasty sandwiches.