Day 38 - Wednesday Feb. 28 - Insane in the Membrane!

Insane in the brain! I met Jer at his house at 5:30 this morning and we waited for David. We gave him a call a little while later only to wake him up. Needless to say he did not make it up there with us today. We then made our way up to the Spruces parking lot. We listened to The Pixies - Surfer Rosa on the drive up. We crossed the street and made our way up to short swing in Mill D. Because of these 'insane' conditions we both decided it would be to our benefit to both be on 'Insane' skis. I borrowed some demos for next year's ski and Jer was on his from this year. We made the long hike up (much longer than you would think) and began our descent. Can we just talk about these skis? They are so sweet! I put my O1s on them for today. My idea is to ride them with these bindings today then switch to the switchbacks for this weekend so I can really judge the difference. I definitely felt some tip dive with the activity of this binding, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. It will be interesting to see what the story is. The skiing was great today. The snow was a little heavy, but still good. It was even deeper than we were expecting. All in all it was a good day. We wound it all down with Devotchka - How It Ends on the ride down.

Day 37 - Saturday Feb. 24 - Big Dumps at the Bird

My morning ski plans fell through. It dumped like two feet in the past 24 hours. Do you really think I would let that keep me from skiing? Cole and I went up to Snowbird this afternoon (after Stacy's Grandma's birthday party). We listened to some Live Phish on the way up. This was the busiest day I had ever seen. We had to park clear up the bypass road into the town of Alta. The lift lines weren't too bad so I don't know where everyone was - maybe in Mineral Basin. I don't like Mineral Basin. We found some sweet runs all over the resort. Some of our favorites involved some soft stuff on lower Tiger Tail, virtually untracked goods in the Cirque, and some sweet shots off the Baldy traverse. It was nice to get some soft runs in the resort. I just wish it hadn't been on a Saturday where everyone who has ever skied would make their way up the canyon. We made it back to the car around 4:00 thinking we would be able to get out before the majority of the traffic. We were wrong. It took us an hour and 15 minutes to just get out of the canyon. We were able to listen to some good tunes though: Mates of State - Team Boo and JoAnna Newsom - Ys.

Day 36 - Friday Feb. 23 - The Bomb Squad

This afternoon for my snow science class we met Mark from Snowbird Ski Patrol on the tram deck. He took us up to the patrol shack at the top of hidden peak and we entered the bomb room. This was a very small room in a small building. I was surprised that we all fit. He showed us the explosives they use to set off avalanches and how they assemble them. We learned a bit about how they prepare the resort for skiers and such. Then he took us to see an avalauncher in Mineral Basin. He assembled it and shot it off (without ammo) so we could see how it works. It was very cool. The whole thing was pretty cool. We were able to catch a few runs before the resort closed – with visibility at nearly zero. It was to our advantage that I knew my way around the resort well enough to get where we wanted to go.

Day 35 - Friday Feb. 23 - Let Us All Circle Round

Headed out this morning with CJ. The avy danger is high so we went to one of the most protected areas we know…Circle All. I waited for CJ at the mouth of little for some time while he ran into any number of issues (i.e. necessity of gas, a forgotten wallet, actually getting gas, and traffic). CJ drove (finally) and we listened to a mix of a bunch of stuff I had never heard before. It was a nice tour. We witnessed several natural small sluffs on the way up, but nothing major. Within the trees we did not find any instability. We did not have a ton of time due to the late start and lunch plans so we cut the tour a little short. The turns were great, you just really had to stick to your line or you would end up in a tree. Here is a video of CJ shredding. If you listen closely you can hear him at the very end as he gets thrown out of a turn and runs into a tree. Luckily we weren’t moving fast enough for chance of any severe injuries. The snow was great. I just wish this had been here all winter. At least it is coming at all, right? Right.

Day 34 - Monday Feb. 19 - Mill D With Mike S

President's Day could very well be my favorite holiday of the year so far. No offense to Martin Luther King Day or Valentines Day, but President's Day produced a lot better snow than they did. Mike from BD picked me up around 7 this morning and we headed up Big Cottonwood to do some protected tree skiing in the new snow. We parked at the Spruces and walked across the street to begin our ascent up Mill D. I love my new bindings. The Switchback is really performing well. It tours super light and smooth. We skinned up what I believe is called Short Swing or Short Shot or something like that - it is the first skin track to the right after you pass the cabins - but don't let the name fool you. It is not a short shot. It is a lot longer than you would anticipate. I was feeling good and was breaking trail at an alarming rate until we got about half way up there. I had to slow myself down and take a slower pace in order to be able to make it. My first couple turns were different since these were my first real turns in the backcountry on these bindings. I figured it out (they are much more neutral) and the rest of my turns were fairly nice. You really have to navigate your way through those trees, so I was thrown out of sync every now and then, but nothing major. The snow was really nice. It was deep and it was light - just the way I like it. When you drop a knee (like everyone should) snow feels even deeper than it really is. This new snow was hitting my dropped leg at mid-thigh. It was sweet. We passed a few groups of people on our way down - a few of which Mike knew. I was a little late getting to work, but it was worth it.

Day 33 - Saturday Feb. 17 - Bowie and Jorge at Porter

Stacy and I are watching Jorge this weekend while Kristin and Ty are out of town. This meant that Jorge got to go skiing with Bowie and I. Stacy was not feeling well so she was not able to join us, but we had a good time nonetheless. We listened to Sleater Kinney on the drive up in order to get pumped for the climb (note that Porter Fork does not entail too much climbing, but rather just walking at a steady rate of a slight incline for a considerable amount of time). It was a bit much to handle both of them as we arrived at our destination due to the fact that Bowie knew what we were doing as was very excited about it, and Jorge didn't know but was excited for whatever lay ahead. The road was in horrible shape because of countless snowmobilers, sledders, skiers, etc. it was totally covered in ice. This did not terribly excite me for the ski down. I finally got my own pair of Switchback Voile bindings (next year's free pivot) so I was super stoked to give them a shot anyway. They were super smooth for the climb, and performed well - albeit much more neutral than my O1s - for the down. The dogs were all over the place. They were loving it. I too was feeling well so we went a little bit further today. We went beyond the road into Porter Fork trail for some distance. The area is so wooded that you cannot see what is around the next corner. We kept thinking that it was going to open up around the next bend and we were going to get a really beautiful view of the Wasatch backcountry. This never seemed to be the case, although we did get a few glimpses here and there. Eventually we became tired and turned around. This is where it got exciting. The dogs had no problem keeping up at first - nor did they have problems running right in front of me and getting in my way. But after some time they began to lag behind. When we reached the road once again I stopped and waited for them both. Then we began again. I had to stop a few times down the road - and even had to walk a little back up to find Jorge being distracted by those people we were passing by. We all had a good time. I came out relatively unharmed, but Bowie and Jorge both came home with battle wounds. Jorge's is a bit more intense than Bowie's and he gets to have a cool bandage because of it. All in all we had a good time. I am sure it wouldn't be hard to convince Bowie or Jorge to go skiing with me again soon - it's just a matter of getting Kristing to sign off on it since he will be returned to her in his bloody state.

Day 32 - Friday Feb. 16 - An Afternoon in the Trees

I met Matt (the dude I carpool with for our snow science course) at the mouth of Little Cottonwood around 1:15 and we made our way up to Alta. As we got there we were met by Kris, the TA, saying that class was cancelled due to the high avalanche danger. Now, don't let this lead you to believe that I was not safe this morning, because I was. But the study plot we were going to be spending the afternoon in for class just happens to be in a major runout zone of the Flagstaff slide path. With the blessing of our instructor we decided that Mill D up Big Cottonwood canyon would be plenty protected and a nice place to enjoy the afternoon. So Matt, Paige, and I made our way over there and began a short tour. It was nice to tour with a smaller group as opposed to class where we rarely tour with any fewer than 7 or 8. Mill D is filled with aspen trees and you really have to navigate your way through them, but it was definitely protected. We got some good turns in, but still not the greatest because this very dense snow. Paige was loving it because she just bought some K2 Anti-Pistes that are like 110 under foot. She had no problem staying on top of that stuff. We made a couple laps and then began our way back to the car. It was nice to get out with some new people. Skiing is fun.

Day 31 - Friday Feb. 16 - A Morning in the Trees

Jer and I went a little ways up the Patsy Marley ridge this morning to get some exercise and some turns. We listened to an old Jer Mix on the way up to the parking lot. We knew the avalanche danger was high so we needed to stay in very protected areas. This is just what we did. There was a lot of new snow, but most of which was groppel. This did not make for the best skiing. It was very heavy and neither of us had big enough skis to really stay on top, so we were jumping as high as we could each turn (mind you that this is very low angle as well so we were not moving very quickly) in order to keep going. It was nice to get outdoors and see different types of snowpack, but the skiing wasn't what we were hoping for. Perhaps we will see another storm or two this season that will be.

Day 30 - Wednesday Feb. 14 - Valentine's Day Skiing

I love skiing. I was feeling down on the season and wasn't sure if I was going to see any more good days this season. I was wrong. CJ and I met at the mouth of Little this morning at 5:30. Due to the lack of an iPod we once again listened to NPR for the drive up. The snowpack is a bit unstable right now so we wanted to ski something we were both comfortable with. We decided Patsy Marley would be a good fit since I needed to be to class by 9:10. We skinned all the way across the ridge and found some super sweet snow in the bowl headed back into Grizzly. As we approached it we each dug a quick snow pit and decided it was safe to ski. This was a good decision since the skiing was great. I was so happy to get back out on some good snow and remember why I do this kind of stuff. My turns were rusty at the top, but I got into the groove soon thereafter. CJ looked good as always. Here is a video of CJ shredding. We made a quick second lap towards the beginning of the PM ridge just to get a few more turns in. I was able to make it to class on time but this would have been a good one to miss. All we did was watch a video that is on the internet and I could have just as easily watched later. Oh, well. I guess one or two more laps wouldn't have been too great (that's just what I am telling myself).

Day 29 - Saturday Feb. 10 - Yo-Yo at the Bird

Cole and I listened to the Grateful Dead - Europe '72 on our way up to Snowbird today (I know that from the title of the day you may have thought we were listening to some classical cello tunes, but we weren't). Cole was stoked to be sporting his new helmet and I was just stoked to have someone to ski with. It didn't take us long to figure out that the off-piste stuff wasn't worth our time. We found a soft run off Gad 2 and we just yo-yoed it for the rest of the day (hence the title). We both worked on a few things today. Cole has definitely come a long way this season. He is fun to ski with now (just kidding, Cole. You were always fun to ski with). I tried to take some video today. I am not sure how well it worked or anything like that, but I am hoping I can post it here. Feel free to post a comment and let me know if it worked or not. Here is a link to one video of Cole dropping a sweet three foot cliff. Here is me carving some sweet pow. Cole is working on some 180 type stuff and choosing and sticking to a line, while I am working on really using my edges on the hardpack. I really focused on rolling my knees uphill today and noticed a significant difference. Sweet.

Day 28 - Friday Feb. 9 - "Ski" Tour?

I had my avalanche course today. I carpool with a couple people from class. Today I drove and we were blessed to hear the sweet sounds of Radiohead - OK Computer. We split up into two groups. My group went out and just skinned around the cardiac / pole-line pass area. Our goal was to just look at the snow on different aspects and see if we could interpolate what might happen after the storm to come this weekend (it's about time). On a SW aspect of about 35 degrees we had a fairly easy shear from a quick pit about a foot to two feet below the surface. This broke on a layer of very large facets. This could prove to be a good propogation layer for slides to come. On a SE aspect of about 30 degrees we found a collapsible crust in the trees along with a harder crust in the sun. We once again had easy shears, but this time it was closer to the surface. Our interpolations for this next storm is to watch out for trouble. Because of the water amount that is supposed to come (thus providing excess weight) we can expect to see a number of slides on a number of different aspects. This will be a good time to stick to the trees or at the resort.
The pit data attached is from the other group. They also took some shear frame data which I don't totally know what to do with just yet, but I am sure I will find out soon.
Shear Pulls # height density size
1.7 40cm 340kg/m3 .10m
2.2 45 340 .10
2.1 27 320 .10
1.1 27 320 .10
1.5 27 320 .10
The skiing was poor today, but it was nice to have a reason to get out.

Day 27 - Saturday Feb. 3 - David Bowie. UB40.

I was supposed to go up to Snowbird with Cole this morning. At the time that I reached exit #8 I got a phone call from my mom saying he was sick and was unable to join me. So I turned around, but remained determined to get some turns in today. I first thought of Crazy. He has shown some interest in making it out into the backcountry, and the snow and weather is nice right now, so why not?! He gave me some story about how he stayed out super late last night and wasn't even going to go up to Alta today. Jer's phone went directly to his voicemail. Stacy was sick. *Kai - if you are reading this, I am sorry I didn't call you* So I decided I would do a short tour with my best friend - man's best friend - at one point Iggy Pop's best friend - my dog - the wonderful - the special - David Bowie Butcher. We went up and did Porter Fork road. He has been there so many times now that he knows where we are going during the ride up. We enjoyed the sounds of my new favorite radio station, Movin' 100.7, on the way up. We were out there today more for exercise than anything else. We skinned all the way to the end of the road - all the while Bowie is running around in the snow enjoying life - then decided to turn back and help get some things done at the house. Now normally when we go out Stacy is with us. This enables us to stop on occasion during the downhill and Bowie has no problem keeping up. Today it was just he and I. I had no reason to stop so I just kept going. Soon enough, though, I did have reason. Bowie just could not keep up. He had tired himself out during the uphill that he was struggling during the down (I tried to tell him that "It's all about the down"). We ran into Dwight from Wasatch Touring on the way down. He is almost getting to a point where he can recognize me with as much as we run into each other, but not quite yet. Bowie and I had a great time. It was nice to get the exercise and to spend quality time with my dog. We must do this again.

Day 26 - Friday Feb. 2 - Snow Science

Another day of snow science up at Alta. I can't tell you how much I am enjoying this class. We skinned a little ways up Grizzly toward the Patsy Marley ridge today and took some data (see attached). The snowpack is so bomber right now that it is almost boring to study it. My turns this afternoon were much better than my turns this morning (let alone last week). I just needed to get back into the swing of things. I wanted to make another lap, but everyone else wanted to go to the bar and "exchange data." I put that in quotes because exchanging data is only a small part of what goes on there. There are some good skiers in this class with me. I hope to get to know a few of them enough that I will have more and more people to tour with in the future.

Day 25 - Friday Feb. 2 - Silverfork

It has been a while since I had been out and I was jonesin' for it. I talked CJ into going out with me and we headed up to Silverfork (we listened to NPR on the way up). I was quickly awakened that one day a week for the past couple weeks is not enough to keep me in shape. I need to get out more or take a jog or something around the neighborhood. We made our way up around 7:10 or so (I was running a little behind our 7:00 schedule). It was surprisingly cold out today. Even when the sun was shining I still had my heavier coat on (I am in need of a new down coat - I saw some super sweet ones at the OR show). The skiing was pretty nice, nothing to write home about, but nice nonetheless. We found some good snow, but I was looking forward to getting back down the canyon in time enough to relax at my parents' house for lunch before I needed to head back up for my avy course. We didn't hit much on the North aspect, but on the South aspect there was maybe 6"-7" of soft stuff on top of a thick ice crust. Skiing it wasn't all that bad, though, since we knew what we were getting ourselves into. It was actually a considerable amount better than I expected. It was a nice way to spend my morning, but it was also a rude awakening of how out of shape I can get so quickly and how much more training I need in order to do the Powderkeg again this year. PS. Check out how the snow didn't stick on my Phish sticker. I think this is a sign that they should get back together. What do you think?