Ski 5 - Tuesday Dec 9 - So Begins the Real Ski Season

Where: Patsy Marley Ridge

With Whom: Jer, Dave, Has, and Matt

Time: 5ish and to work by 10

Snow Conditions: A foot of new snow on top of crusts and rocks.  But don't be fooled folks, it was great!

I have been hearing people question the validity of this winter.  C'mon, people!  It is only December 9th.  Winter has not begun.  We cannot begin to write it off just yet.  I feel like this happens every year.  We get one or two early storms and people get all excited (myself included) and then it melts away and nothing happens for a while.  This is the point when people start freaking out and thinking it is not going to be a good winter.  Let me point you to what was probably the best winter of my adult life - last year.  Just look back at what was happening at this same time period in 2007... the same thing!  Don't fret, people.  Just be patient and the snow will come.  Oh yes, the snow will come.  

Lucky for me, the snow came yesterday.  I informed my boss that I was feeling something coming on and was not going to be able to make it to work in the morning.  But instead, I would be in around 10.  He agreed.  I met Jer at the LCC park n ride at 5am.  20 minutes later, Dave, Has, and Matt showed up.  I drove the new Suzuki SX4 for its very first ski day and it did great.  They had not been super on top of things with plowing the road and it was nice to have the AWD.  Upon arriving at the upper parking lot, I got a phone call from Has saying his transmission had blown.  I turned around and picked them up.  Then Dave realized he had forgotten his poles.  Needless to say, we got started a little later than I would have liked.  No problem.  We made good time.  We skinned to the top of Patsy Marley peak and arrived just as light was sufficient for some skiing.  We made some turns.  They were great.  As long as you weren't terribly worried about hitting some rocks with your skis, it was really great.  If you found yourself trying to tiptoe around them, then it was too much hassle.  That is why everyone should have a dedicated rock ski.  Now, if you plan it right, you can get several runs down Grizzly Gulch without having to put your skins back on.  You just ski the top bowl, traverse west, ski the center line, traverse west, and ski the opening bowl.  Jer and I did this while the others went to deal with the car issues.  We had some great turns and decided we had time to skin up for another in the lower bowl.  These last two runs were the best I have had so far this season.  I know this may not be saying much, but they were great runs.  My turns felt really good and things seemed to go quite smoothly.  We drove down the canyon with the soothing sounds of Kanye West and called it a quality ski day.  On Ski.

Ski 4 - Friday Nov 28 - Black Friday...For Him

Where: North of Alta

With Whom: CJ

Time: 6:30 - 9:30

Snow Conditions: The snow in the Wasatch is below poor out there.  It came down to whether we wanted to ski two new inches on top of groomers or two new inches on top of wicked crusts.  Neither of these are ideal situations, but we chose the former.  We skinned up the summer road at Alta and skied down the groomers.  It was actually pretty fun.  It is never a bad idea to get out and get some exercise.  It was nice to chat and catch up with CJ (he moved to Sacramento in the spring).  We did two laps and it was fun to be out skiing.

How Cool Are The Japanese?

Looking through my YouTube videos the other day, I found that my tandem telemark video was being linked from a site I did not recognize.  I clicked to find out where it was coming from and found this:

http://kimocap.blog60.fc2.com/blog-entry-49.html

Yes, Jer and I have achieved international fame.  We are just like Spinal Tap - Big in Japan - I just hope this fame does not end with either of us exploding.  Dan Dansie was kind enough to translate the site for us.  Here it is:

Caption: 

"Maybe a team from somewhere else was first . . ." 

Comments:

"This tandem team has the same racing one piece [i.e. one piece suit]."

"I love it. This is a top rate movie. The rear skier has a superb alignment method. [I guess that means you have good form.] The amazing way he is able to work the timing with the front skier is wonderful."

"There's nothing more to say than that this is a great movie. Laugh. Let's start training! I'm talking about success. We've got to hang in there so that we don't lose. Laugh."

Here is the video for those of you who have forgotten:

Ski 3 - Friday Nov 14 - Why Would Anyone Wake Up This Early?

LCC Panorama at Dawn

Where: Grizzly Gulch, Patsy Marley Ridge, LCC (again)

With Whom: Tom and Jason

Time: 5:15am - at work by 9

Snow Conditions: About the same as yesterday.  We were still ab

le to find some good turns in the trees, but the exit was gnarly.  We went a little further up the ridge than yesterday.  The snow was slightly heavier, but mostly the same.  Up to 6" for just one lap.  Even more tracks than yesterday as it did not snow overnight.  It is not supposed to snow now for some time and the weather will get warm.  It may be

 a little

 while before Day #4 is posted.

Skinning by moonlight

Summit by dawn (not to be confused with "Dead by Dawn" - the subtitle of Evil Dead 2)

Alta wants to take all this away?

Ski 2 - Thursday Nov 13 - Jer Wakes Up Early

Moonlit panorama of LCC (yes that is moonlight)

Where: Grizzly Gulch, Patsy Marley Ridge, LCC

With Whom: Jer

Time: 5am to the 8:55 train

Snow conditions: Nice, new snow in the protected trees, but a little more difficult to navigate as more trees and brush are exposed than normal.  Up to 6" for two laps.  Some tracks as this is one of the few places dawn patrollable.  The exit was a bit tough with a breakable crust making for difficult turns.

Jer coming off the top at dawn (lap #2)

Jer pushes through the good stuff with Black Bess watching

Early season isn't all that bad

A New Approach

Due to the fact that at times I just don't have time to fully document each tour, or I just throw some words together that don't even really make sense, I have decided to do small entries for each day with the occasional longer write-up... when I feel like it.

Dig it.

Ski 1 - Friday Nov 7 - It All Begins With A Dawn Patrol

It may have happened a little later than the past two years, but the beginning of this season follows suit and begins with a dawn patrol up the hills of Little Cottonwood.  In 2006, it was October 27.  In 2007, it came early on October 8.  This year is not far behind, but comes packing a punch.  Getting ready for your first dawn patrol of the season is always a bit nerve-racking but very exciting.  I prepared all my gear last night making sure I had every last piece of gear ready to go.  I retired around 9 o'clock (after 30 Rock was over) and slept surprisingly well.  The first tour of the season to me is a lot like Christmas morning was when I was a kid.  I spend the whole night dreaming of how great it is going to be.  I go to sleep early thinking this will bring the morning quicker.  And I always wake up earlier than I had planned.  My alarm was set to go off at 4:15am.  I awoke at 4:00 ready for my day.  I got up without issue and finished my preparation (this is something that will soon change for dawn patrols - when I begin completely regretting my decision at 4:15 when the alarm goes off and I don't want anything more than to stay in my warm bed).  I met my co-workers - Nazz, Jason, and Daniel - at the ShopKo parking lot at 4:45.  We traveled together up to Alta ski resort.  After a small injury in the parking lot (Daniel slipped on the ice and cut his face), we were on our way up the hill.  I felt really good.  Maybe it has something to do with my short daily bike rides to and from the train.  Whatever the source for my fitness is, I was happy to have it.  I tried to take a few photos of the skin up but only got one that turned out.  We skinned up to the top of the Wildcat lift and skied the Northeast face.  This proved to be the best snow on the mountain.  And it was better than any other first day of the season I have previously experienced.  There was about 4 feet of new snow.  We were skiing about 2 feet of fresh stuff on top of the base.  There was not a rock in sight.  I was a little off balance in my first turn, but quickly got back in the groove and had good turns for both my first and second runs.  Again, I tried but failed with the photos of the skiing.  The light was just too low and I am not yet back into the swing of things where I can get everything ready super fast and take the right shots.  We will see how that goes next time.  I stayed to the more Easterly facing stuff all the way down finding good, but tracked snow.  We were able to get to work by 8 o'clock just fine.  I showered there and was ready for my day.  Really, it was a quality morning.  I look forward to many more of these as the season progresses.  On Ski.