Epic Day at Work (Why I Love My Job)

Today was one of those days where all is so right in the world. After yesterdays marginal skiing, I was pleasantly surprised to get to work and find that the skiing had transformed into nothing less than amazing. 15" of new, light density, classic Wasatch powder, and few people on the mountain. Not only that, but I was assigned to the best lift on the mountain on a day like today. Paradise lift, which services only Black and Double Black Diamond terrain.

Started the day with a bit of avalanche control, which is always a good way to start the day. After ski cutting a few wind and soft slabs with good result, it was time for the feast. The rest of the day involved pillaging endless amounts of deep Utah powder with too many powder face shots to count. Yeah, perfect, basically. On top of that, the skies parted around 10:30-11am and it was a cold, bluebird pow day. I'll let the pictures tell the story.

Here's a few of me in the pow.







And a few of Morgan, a fellow patroller who had the day off.




Morgan's Ski Pole. He's in there deep somewhere.





Good day to catch some air.





This is Morgan after a deep turn. No, he did not fall over. It was that deep and good.



Fellow patroller Charlie in good style.



Um, yeah. So, it was a good day. And another 17" is forecast for tomorrow, and then another storm on Thursday/Friday. I think it's going to be a great week. Just a guess.

Wind...

Headed out for a short tour on Sunday with my friend Craig. A storm system started moving in early in the morning and the winds were positively nuking. I almost got frostbite on my nose. Fun. It wasn't one of those tours to write home about, but it was, as always, lovely to take a walk in the mountains, even if my digits were frozen and the wind was near hurricane speed. Okay, that's an exaggeration, but that's what it felt like yesterday.

No winds and excellent visibility...Not!



It snowed hard on and off throughout the day, and even a few suckerholes of blue sky made an appearance. The brunt of the storm came Sunday night/Monday morning.



Me and Craig near one of our drop in points on our 4th lap.



Craig enjoying himself in spite of the wind.



My turn.



All in all, the skiing was decent. About 6-7 inches of new snow on top of a breakable crust that took some work to push through. But it was still turnable. Whenever I go out on a day like today where it's butt ass cold and the winds are nuking, I can begin, slightly, to imagine why someone would not be interested in backcountry skiing. It can't be sunshine all the time.

A Good Week

This week has been fully of excellent skiing. It's snowed everyday since Sunday with some bluebird spaced in between storms. Light coldsmoke powder w/ bursts of sun. Does it get much better? I'll let the photos do the talking.







My friend Craig's ten year old son, Jack, ripping it up.




Craig getting his share.







Yesterday and today skied like this. Only today it was bluebird.



Not a bad work week.

Search and Rescue Training

Yesterday was spent doing some training with the Weber County Search and Rescue, which I'm part of. They wanted us to get to know an area where people sometimes get lost just outside of the PowMow boundary. What this translated to was skiing several powderlicious lines and then getting towed back up via snowmobile instead of skinning up. This was an odd experience for me as I'm quite a staunch believer in human powered transportation in the backcountry. However, I also understand the necessity of it in regards to Search and Rescue. So, the skiers got to know the terrain a bit better and ski some fun lines and the snowmobilers got to figure out the best ways to transport people in and out of the area in the event of a rescue. Not that it was the point of the day, but I found it funny that, due to some mechanical complications, I could have actually gotten more skiing in by skinning up myself than I did with the snowmobiles. Anyway, my diatribe ends. A few photos.

Shug, our guide for the day, and her friend Jimmy.



Fellow patroller and SAR member Morgan dropping into a fun little steep pitch we skied.



And a little lower down.



A look back at Morgan and my tracks.



By now you should have figured out that the skiing did not suck.



Ditto.



The money shot. Morgan a nanosecond away from a faceshot.

Powderlicious

The last two days at work have not sucked. 14 inches of new snow on Monday cleared to bluebird today. Enjoy.

Fellow patroller Craig up skiing for fun and gettin' some.



Yeah. It was deep.



Craig dropping in.



Fellow patroller Dave skiing off of Lightning Ridge.





Dave. Clouds. Sun. Utah Powder.



Joshua skiing in Baldy Bowl.

Weekend Touring

Headed out to some new terrain in the Bear River Range with my friend Cory this past Saturday. A 4-6 inches of snow fell on top of a stout crust last Wednesday/Thursday, which provided fast, dust-on-crust skiing. The sun was out and the temps were cool. It was a great day to explore some new terrain and a full day of touring. We ran 5 laps for about 7000 feet of descent. Another great day exploring Utah's mountains.

Not an ugly day.



Cory getting ready to drop in.



Cory rocking his snowboard ninja pole technique.






El Diablo Rojo.