Ski 24 - Saturday Feb 7 - Jackson Hole

Where: Jackson Hole Mountain Resort

With Whom: Jon and Matt

Time: 9:30ish to 4ish

Ski Conditions: Hard.  Fast.  Long.

Did you know that I have never skied outside of Utah in my entire life?  Until now.  I skied Jackson today and it was a good time.  The price tag was hefty ($87), but it was fun to ski new terrain and new lines.  I am glad I did the resort thing this once, but next time I go up I will definitely be hiking - it's just so much cheaper that way.

Matt with the valley below... what, no inversion?

Jon with teton-like rocks above.

Prayer flags - those count as church for tomorrow, right?

A severed deer leg that we came across on a ski run.  Really?  A severed leg?  Cool.

Ski 23 - Wednesday Feb 4 - Y, My Old Friend

Where: The Y Couloir

With Whom: Cody, Julian, and Chris

Time: 5:30 to 9:30

Ski Conditions: After a couple weeks ago when I skied the Y for the first time, I was really hoping fore more ideal conditions the next time I made my way up there.  Today was going to be that day... until I got up there and it was the same.  It was fun, but it was still hard-packed and skied out.  Oh, well.  It was still a way fun adventure.

Lisa Falls and the Twins.

Code-man scopes future lines.

A view up Little Cottonwood.

The obligatory summit shot.

Shredding in black and white.

Step By Step

Where's the powder?

Just another few hundred feet to the road.

Ski 22 - Saturday Jan 31 - Emigration Reform

Do you think when the pioneers came through Emigration Canyon so many years ago that they knew there was good skiing up there?  I didn't know either!

Where: Emigration Canyon

With Whom: Samwise and Bowie

Time: 9ish to 11:30ish

Ski Conditions: I had been told there was skiing to be had up here where I could bring the dogs, but had never made the trip.  I decided to give it a shot today.  It was worth it.  It wasn't the best skiing of my life, but it was a short approach for some nice low angle turns where the dogs could tag along.  There was not much snow up there and I can imagine it gets pretty crappy pretty fast, but I do intend on coming back.

Looking North, you can see I-80 headed up Parley's.

Yeah, I think they had a good time.

Why does Sam seem to be a better ski model?  Is it because Bowie just doesn't stand still when we ski?  Probably.

Ski 21 - Friday Jan 30 - PPDP

Where: Willow Pines

With Whom: Tom, Jason, and Nazz

Time: 5 and at work by 8:45

Ski Conditions: We are still finding great skiing out there.  We skied through the pines in Willow Fork today and got some great turns.  We were able to get two runs in before we had to get to work.  How do we do this?

PPDP - Petzl Pre-Dawn Patrol.  We are able to use the Ultra Headlamp to facilitate skiing in the darkness.  Sure, the light retails for like $500, but if you had seen what it can do you would understand why.

As we first approach the summit, the stars (and the surface hoar) still shine.

Those lights are on the lowest possible setting in this photo.

There is a bit more light the second time we reach the top.

I tried to get an action shot, but there still just wasn't enough light.

Ski 20 - Thursday Jan 29 - Exhaustion

Exhaustion

Ex*haus"tion\, n. [Cf. F. exhaustion.]

1. The act of draining out or draining off; the act of emptying completely of the contents.

2. The state of being exhausted or emptied; the state of being deprived of strength or spirits.

Where: Reynolds - Wilson - Alexander Basin - Gobblers

With Whom: Bob Athey (www.wowasatch.com) and Mark White

Time: 8am to 6pm

Ski Conditions: It seems like we skied just about everything there is to ski in between big cottonwood canyon and millcreek canyon today.  I know there is a lot more to be skied, but we definitely skied a good portion of it.  We skied deep pow, wind blown, and just about everything in between.  

The thing about Bob is that he keeps a steady pace all day long and never stops to rest.  We were basically skinning or skiing for 10 hours straight.  I feel like I am a pretty fit 25 year old, but it was all I could do to just keep pace with this cigarette smoking 56 year-old man.  I had a blast doing it, though.  I skied a bunch of new lines that I have done skied before.  Bob and I chatted about photography and computer geek stuff for the majority of the day.  Check out his blog post for the day here: http://wowasatch.com/Journal%202008-09/January-09/january-29.html  - I am the one wearing the red in the photos.

Bob approaches Fred's Birthday Chute.

Big Water

Does it look to anyone else like that plane is going to crash?

I thought this looked like a Christmas tree with the light the way it was.

The final climb out to Gobblers - this is where I was just absolutely exhausted.

We stand on top of the world at around 5:30.

The Wizard shreds.

Ski 19 - Wednesday Jan 28 - Lost in the Woods

Where: Laurel Pines

With Whom: Tom and Jason

Time: 5 and at work by 8:40

Ski Conditions: We wanted to ski Argenta.  Conditions were supposed to be great.  The problem was that none of had skied the line before and it was too dark in the morning to see if we were starting in the right spot.  We climbed a considerably smaller peak next to Kessler.  We did get a few turns in this morning, but the best part was the rope swing we found while walking around in the woods.

Just like school children.

He's climbing onto the swing... I promise.

The action shot.

Ski 18 - Saturday Jan 24 - Skiing in the Rain

Where: Porter Fork

With Whom: Stacy, Samwise, and Bowie

Time: I dunno... 10ish to 1ish?

Ski Conditions: It was continued to not snow.  The OR show was this week making for not many opportunities to ski, but it wasn't such a bad situation with the lack of new snow.  I did not have to work the show today so we went skiing.  I kept hoping that the rain would turn to snow as we drove higher up Millcreek Canyon.  It didn't.  It rained on us the entire time we were out.  It wasn't raining super hard, though, so we still had a good time.  

Stacy follows the dogs up the treacherous climb.

Doesn't that just look cold?

Porter Fork has some cool water features.

Skin removal is usually the funniest part about skiing.