Tuesday, October 28, 2008

We're Engaged!

Well, it's been a little hectic lately, but just wanted to let everyone know that France and I are engaged!!! It actually happened on October 15th, but things have been really busy, as you can imagine, so I haven't gotten around to updating the blog until now. France came down to visit for about 12 days or so and we had a great time. She arrived on the night of the 14th. Here she is feeling sleepy after flying all day from Quebec, but I'm super glad that she made it!



October 15th I took France for a fun hike up Malan's peak. The 15th was also our two year anniversary so it was just fantastic to spend that together. Here she is ready to go, but doesn't know what's going to happen once we get up top!



The two of us on the way up.



France in Taylor Canyon with some snow on the trail.



A nice view up the canyon.



A nice look out point we stopped at.



Getting snowier the higher we go!



Up on top of Malan's Peak with Mt. Ogden in the background.



Some cool rocks in Strong's Canyon.



France on of Malan's with Ben Lomond beyond. She doesn't know that she's about to get asked a big question.



Well, fortunately for me she said yes! Here's us happily together after I asked her. So there you have it. We're engaged!

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Day Two '08-09

Crazy weather being had around these parts this weekend. It's not abnormal to get snow up in the mountains in October, but it is definitely unique to get snow down in Ogden in October, down in the valley. I woke up this morning to 4 inches of snow outside and it was still coming down steady. In fact, it didn't let up all day until about 3:30 in the afternoon. Little Marjorie with her first coat of snow for the season.



So, I headed up to Snowbasin to take a look and hopefully get a quick morning ski before some afternoon engagements. Skinning up.



Looking down on the upper portion of my ski line. Another 800 vertical feet to go after this pitch.



Me about to drop in.



My tracks.



All in all a nice little adventure. The pow was blower, which would've been more enjoyable with a base, but instead I just hit a lot of rocks and got snagged on a lot of grass. Oh well, I was still skiing velvety smooth pow.

A view out my backyard when the clouds cleared a little bit this afternoon.



And a little on mountain video.


Sunday, October 5, 2008

Opening Day '08-09

Believe it or not, the wait is over. As of October 5th the ski season has officially begun. No, there won't be constant skiing until about the end of November/early December, but the sporadic storms have begun their march.

Yesterdays forecast was a little, um, optimistic. 18-24 inches? No, not so much. At the parking lot at Alta at 9300 feet it looked like this.



Still gorgeous though. But boy was I happy to get snowed on. My roommate and I headed up to Alta because we knew it would be the best bet for getting some turns in because it's at a higher elevation than most other Utah resorts. We met this nice guy in the parking lot named Porter who toured with us for a little bit as we headed uphill in search of grassy slopes and the hope that the snow would be enough for some turns. I figured if nothing else, it would be a great little training hike. Who doesn't love hiking in the snow? Well, a lot of people, but I'm not one of them.

We weaved our way through quite a few treed and rocky areas with just barely enough snow to skin up, but certainly not enough to ski down. Here's Chris, my roommate, skinning up.



Chris and I.



After seeing nothing too promising we decided we'd head back down. We saw what looked to be a road that might just have enough snow to eak out a few turns on the way down. Yet, to our great surprise, on our way over to the road we came across a wonderfully open, grassy slope with about 8-10 inches of snow on it. As we'd already begun descending we decided to just boot up the hill for a bit instead of skinning. The higher we got the more promising it looked. I knew at this point, that we were going to get some bonafide turns. October 5th baby! That's one day earlier than last years opening day of October 6th. Here's Chris booting up the last little bit before we strap skis on for some turns.



My trusty rock skis.



Chris starting to head on down.



Me part way down.



Looking back at our tracks. Mine are the ones at center taking the fall line. I had my rock skis, so I didn't mind banging them up a bit. Chris chose to zigzag to save his skis a bit. I definitely hit a lot of rocks. But hey, that's why they're called rock skis!



Me with beautiful Devil's Castle behind.



A look at upper Little Cottonwood Canyon from Alta.



One of my favorite things about this time of year is the contrast between fall colors and winter snows. It was highlighted today by blue skies that came out as we were descending. All in all, a fantastic day. I'm officially stoked for winter.





Saturday, October 4, 2008

My favorite things...

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens,
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens,
Snowflakes in October and weather forecasts like this,
Oh, these are a few of my favorite things...

From the NOAA website, today, October 4th.

"A WINTER STORM WARNING FOR HEAVY SNOW REMAINS IN EFFECT ACROSS
THE HIGHER TERRAIN OF UTAH ABOVE 8500 FEET FROM 10 AM THIS
MORNING TO 6 PM MDT SUNDAY.

NEW SNOW AMOUNTS OF UP TO 12 INCHES ARE EXPECTED BY LATE SUNDAY
ABOVE THE 8500 FOOT LEVEL WITH LOCALIZED AMOUNTS OF 18 TO 24
INCHES POSSIBLE ABOVE ABOUT 9500 FEET. SEVERAL INCHES OF NEW SNOW
ARE POSSIBLE DOWN TO 7000 FEET ON SUNDAY."

Bring it on. Here's Timmy in deep last winter.