Day 5 - Thursday Nov. 23 - I Am Thankful For...

...the Bird. Cole and I made it up for some early morning turns today before we had Thanksgiving "Dinner" (it was actually at noon). After listening to The Flaming Lips - At War With the Mystics on the way up we made it there just before they started loading people on the chairs. On our way up GadZoom we noticed that Gad2 was running so we made our way over there. We just shot the groomers off that for the next couple of hours before we needed to leave in order to get home in time for the food. It is nice to be able to get out and just make a lot of turns in a short amount of time even when the snow is subpar and there is the occasional goober in your way.

Day 4 - Saturday Nov. 18 - Snowbird Opening Day

It was opening day at the Bird today so we decided to head up and catch some turns. I went up with Cole (my brother) and Kai. We left early for a resort day, but what seemed like late for a ski day with as early as we have been going lately. We listened to David Gray - Life in Slow Motion on the way up. I haven't listened to him in a long time. It was a good reminder of how much I like him. We got there early enough so I could try to get my employee pass to ski that day, but Snowbird wouldn't give it to me. They said they were not giving employee passes today or tomorrow. I had to come back some other time to get it. So I bought a half day pass and we went out to the hill. We had a good time. It was fun to get our turns dialed in a little more since we were able to make so many of them. The snowpack totally sucked. The top of Emma was horrible seeing how there were a ton of people on it each time you came down and it was all hard as ice. But we still had fun. This is Cole's first year with a ski pass so he is pretty stoked. He got all his gear for Christmas (a little early) this year - I have tried my best to get him on tele gear, but that just may be another season or two before he figures it out. I ran into a few people I knew up there including my boss from the Aerie (at which I will be working on call over the season). My pass ran out at 1 o'clock. We were tired by then anyway. We listened to Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy as we descended and made our way to Lone Star Taqueria on the way out. It was a fun day, but I can't wait for a little more snow to get back out and do some major touring.

Day 3 - Tuesday Nov. 14 - Dawn Patrol

This was an interesting day. A lot of things went wrong, but a lot of other things went right. We had a bigger group today - CJ, David, Luke, Kai, and me. We tried to meet at the mouth of Little by 5:30, but it was closer to 6:00 by the time we all arrived. Kai drove Cj and I up in his Subaru (while listening to Sufjan Stevens - Illinois) and David and Luke went in the Tahoe. The storm was pretty wicked on the drive up - the only times we knew where we were in the canyon was at the White Pine signs and the Snowbird signs. We arrived to find the Grizzly parking lot covered in snow. We quickly parked the Subaru and began getting our gear together. We were already running a little late (I had class to go to at 9:10) so we wanted to hurry it up, but then we were slowed down again by the fact that the Tahoe had been driven a little too far into the parking spot and gone into the ditch that is at the end of the pavement (which we couldn't see because of all the snow). We spent some time trying to dig it out and drive it out, but to no avail, so we decided to deal with it after skiing. We then began to make the trek up Grizzly to Patsy Marley. We were anticipating some unstable snow conditions so we stayed low angle and in the trees to avoid any possible mishaps. This was Kai's first time ever touring and only his second time freeheeling. Needless to say this was a little new to him. By the time he and I reached the top CJ and David had already skiied down and begun their second lap. We made some turns - on a whole lot of new snow, it was heavy snow, but still fun at the same time - then I started up for a second with Luke as Kai waited behind for us. CJ joined us for his third lap and David stayed down low to catch a few pictures (mostly of all of us falling unable to move in all this heavy snow). When we did make some turns they weren't too bad though. We skiied out and too my surprise didn't hit any rocks. We began again trying to get the Tahoe unstuck but were still not very successful. CJ went and talked to a dude in a Suburban that was just leaving that was nice enough to pull us out - which worked like a dream. Then we began our drive down. It was just me and Kai in the Subaru on the drive down. We listened to a Phish recording of "Theme From the Bottom" from the same show that Slip, Stich, and Pass was pulled. On the way down the weather was much better and visability was high, but the road was covered in snow and ice. A little past the Bird we hit a slick spot on the road and spun to the side. A nice canyon police officer pulled us out (I am sure he is used to that) and we made it the rest of the way. I hurried home and then to school to get to class with about 5 minutes left. This was not such a good thing seeing how it was a test day. My professor was understanding and is going to let me take the test today (Wednesday), but maybe next time I have a test a dawn patrol isn't the best idea, but sometimes it's just a matter of priorities. I have a lack of pictures today because my camera batteries died half-way through. Oh, well. Until next time...

Day 2 - Saturday Nov. 11 - "Don" Patrol

Not the best day as far as snow and weather goes, but we had a good time. I met Don, a dude I work with and a splitboarder, at the mouth of Little at 6:30. I listened Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot on the drive up (and down). Neither of us were expecting much as far as snow goes so when we got there it wasn't much of a surprise. Don moved a little slower on the uphill than others I have toured with, but he was always steady. We headed up Alta ski resort to Catherine's. By the time we got to the top the weather was getting worse and the snow wasn't getting any better. We made our first turns pretty much just following the ridge we had skinned up. The snow was very inconsistent - you would hit a patch of nice snow and have what would seem like a good turn then you would hit snow hard snow pack and that turn would get totally screwed up. It had been a long skin up and it just wasn't worth going back up for more turns like that. We decided we had other things to do that day and we headed down. We hit a few spots that were uncovered (and Alta plans to open on the 16th - I wonder how that's going to work), but we made it out relatively unscathed. It was my first day out with Don, and my first day out with a splitter for that matter. We had a good time. I was glad to get out and get some exercise. Next week we should have a couple of storms that could get some things going around here.