Joshua's Blog

Family Time

2009-12-15T18:29:00.000-08:00

My parents came up for a visit this past weekend and we had a fantastic time together. The sun even came out for a little bit! Here's a few photos from our couple days together. it was so great to have them around and see this part of the world. Come back soon!

Mom and Dad at the Comox Wharf. We tried to buy fish that day, but they were only selling shrimp.

My parents and lovely wife at the Wharf.

Sweet Mama on the ocean boardwalk.

Boat and partially obscured Beaufort Range.

Big Papa enjoying his first time to BC.

Mom, Dad & France in Comox.

I caught some bird poop...

And France was captain...

Dad thinking, "This beach looks a little different than California."

My Sweet Family.

Dad and France found this crazy long ocean tuber.

Mom and I at the Courtenay Riverwalk.

3 of my favorite people in the whole world.

Me and Big Papa at the Riverwalk.

France watching the birds in the estuary.

Numero Dos

2009-11-18T16:07:00.000-08:00

Ski day number 2 for the 09-10 season. After Friday's sweet and deep turns the freezing levels rose and it rained cats and dogs. In fact it was flooded it Courtenay after we got 7inches of rain or something. The snowpack essentially got knocked in half, but the bottom half is bomber now. Fortunately rain turned to snow on Monday and it's been snowing ever since. I headed up for a quick run to see how the new snow was bonding with the raincrust. It's now buried about 40cms down with ski pen's around 15-20cms. Fortunately the new snow has bonded well with the crust and it came in right side up, leaving 15-20cms of nice lighter pow on top of a supportive base to ski. I was getting rimed on one side while skinning up.

A look down at where I came from, about a quarter of the way up.

As I said about 35-40cms on top of the raincrust with ascending hardnesses to the crust. Handpits revealed stable snow all the way up.

There was some isolated minor cracking but this was only at the upper elevations where the wind had buffed the surface. The cracks weren't deep.

As I got higher up the wind effect became more apparent. Moderate winds from the S, SE and E.

The snowpit I dug at 1380m continued to confirm that the snow was stable. Total snowpack as of 11:40am today was 112cms and the next storm is already on its way in with an additional 35cms expected to fall.

And for those of you that aren't snow geeks like me...the turns were definitely sweet. Sorry about the flat light.

Only had time for one lap. I promised the snowplow guy that I'd move my car after I dug my pit. Let it snow!

Crazy Trees

2009-11-17T18:47:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, France and I went on a hike out to some waterfalls just outside of town. We got to watch the salmon spawning upstream and try and fight there way up these waterfalls and cliffs. Really an amazing, Planet Earth-esque thing to watch. On the way to the waterfalls we saw some more amazingly erie trees that this very wet climate harbors. Beautiful to see.

These trees are so amazing that they not only provide shelter, but clothing. In this case...Organic Undies.

Opening Day '09-10

2009-11-13T18:12:00.001-08:00

Hallelujah! The wait is over. Summer is exceptionally torturous for me. Today I got my first turns of the 2009-2010 season. Even though I'd gotten a little spoiled the last two seasons getting multiple ski days in October, today was by far the best opening day turns I've had. It had been snowing on and off all week and I knew that there was a good 45-60cm/18-24 inch base. There was a storm forecasted to snow about 6 inches last night with dropping freezing levels and clearing to sun, so I figured that would be a pretty good day to have a look. Well, the storm came and then the sun came and the freezing levels dropped and the wind dried out the snow brilliantly making it positively non-traditional Island snow, which is normally more akin to concrete than the Utah powder I'm used to. And...to top it all of it snowed 30-40cms/12-16 inches of blower snow instead of the 6 inches forecasted. Needless to say today was a good day. Trailbreaking was a bit of work, but that always means the turns are going to be that much better. I went on a solo mission today and skinned up some of the runs at the local hill so no real skiing or touring photos, but enjoy what I got. GOOD DAY!

Happy to be back in winter and breaking trail.

Gorgeous.

I skinned up to the saddle between Mt. Washington peak and a subpeak and then went all the way up to the subpeak on my second lap. Here's looking down at the Ocean from the saddle. Surreal place to be.

My skin track up to the saddle.

Do I have anything in my teeth?

Great views into Strathcona Park looking at Mt. Albert Edward at left and Mt. Reagan on the right.

The contrast on this photo wasn't the best, but some sweet turns were had.

A look at the rocky NW face of Mt. Washington. They use an avalauncher to control parts of that face and the bowl below it.

Glad I got it when I did, because in typical Island fashion it's supposed to rain 80-90mm in the mountains starting Sunday. YUCK! Fortunately more snow on the way next week.

Muchas Gracias Dios

2009-11-09T12:35:00.000-08:00

Dear Lord,

Thank you for the 45cms/18 inches of snow that fell last night upon Mt. Washington's slopes.
Thank you for the blue skies that came out after the storm.
Thank you for the snow that is forecast throughout the coming week.
Thank you for the start of ski season.

Amen.

From the Mt. Washington webcam today.

Island Life

2009-10-27T17:19:00.000-07:00

France and I just recently moved out to Vancouver Island. I got a job working on ski patrol at the local mountain and she's managing the women's fitness center in town. I love the mountains and she loves the water so it seemed like a good place for us to check out. We got out here about 2 1/2 weeks ago and have been pretty busy getting all moved in. The majority of our stuff was still in storage in Nelson, so we made a quick trip through there to rent a uhaul and visit some friends. It was great to be back where we used to live. Nelson will always have a special place in my heart.

Even though we lived there for almost a year, I never went on the classic Nelson hike up to Pulpit Rock. It's a landmark that sits across the lake and overlooks the town. So, since they'd just completed trail improvements we headed up for a quick hike.

France on the way up.

My beautiful wife.

On top of Pulpit Rock looking down on our old home.

Joshua.

After emptying our storage locker we drove to Vancouver and stayed with France's sister for a few days then hopped on the ferry from Vancouver to Vancouver Island, ready to make our new home in Courtenay, BC. Looking back at the gorgeous North Shore mountains that sit above Vancouver.

Keeping warm on the windy ferry ride across the ocean.

Gorgeous Mt. Baker in Washington State was our guardian angel on the ferry ride. I'm going to ski that beast someday soon.

The fishermen are out.

Heading towards the Island.

After a few crazy days of unpacking and getting somewhat organized in the new place, we decided to go for a little hike. There is a great park called Seal Bay park about 5 minutes away. It's a lovely mile long walk through amazing old growth forest down to the ocean. There is a lot of rain on Vancouver Island so things can grow quite large. This maple leaf makes France look like she shrunk! Also of note is that the Ewok forest in Return of the Jedi was filmed on Vancouver Island. Amazing trees everywhere.

Looking across the ocean to the gorgeous Coast Mountains.

Courtenay has a great riverfront park where the Puntledge River runs through town and into the ocean. It's a great place to walk, run, or bike. I snapped some photos of the fall colors the other day, although they were better a week before.

Big Ben

2009-09-30T15:03:00.000-07:00

Well, the first snow flakes of the season have started to fall in North America. Colorado got a dusting last week, Vancouver Island just got a few inches up high, and it's dumping snow at Alta and the rest of the Wasatch, with up to a foot and a half expected. So to honor the new season here's a trip report from a fantastic day last season in Utah.

Towering 5200' over Ogden is 9712' Ben Lomond. It's definitely the monarch of the Ogden area and was instantly on my "to ski" list when I first moved to Ogden. All of the lines off of Ben Lomond are very serious. The most mellow line and generally best snow holding line is the massive NE bowl which falls several thousand feet to Cutler Creek below. The pitch is a consistent 35-40 degrees and was the site of two tragic snowmobiler deaths a few years ago when they triggered a gigantic 1/2 mile wide avalanche. The bowl is pretty exposed and gets massive cross and top loading so I had been biding my time for the right time to ski this beast. Conditions seemed right for a go on Sunday, March 15, 2009.

Here's a view of the massive south face of Ben Lomond as seen from Ogden. This photo was taken in mid April about a month after we skied it.

I met up with Doug and his friend GR at the parking lot at 6am and we began skinning up by headlamp.

We watched the sun come up behind James Peak and the rest of Powder Mountain.

And the first few rays of light shone on our objective: The NE face of Ben Lomond.

We worked our way up to the main ridge on the left in the photo above and then switched to booting as the angle increased and the snow became more wind jacked. I liked this one better in black & white.

GR looks over the Ogden Valley after booting to the ridgeline. Mt. Ogden can be seen in the background along with the stunning Banana Chute, a 40 degree, 2500 vertical foot couloir we skied in February down to Ogden.

Me booting the rest of the way to the summit.

And delivering a Sunday morning summit sermon to the masses.

The boys on top. Doug, GR, and Joshua.

The views over to Willard Peak were fantastic. The whole bowl from Ben Lomond to Willard slid when it killed those snowmobilers.

Doug dropping into the upper 40 degree section. We had nice windbuffed powder. All in all, good snow for a line that exposed.

Two variations on the same shot. One without tilt shift...

The other with. This is GR about half way down the face.

And another of GR.

The snow got even better down low below 7500'. Here's Doug finding some nice pow.

4100' of skiing, and just over 4 hours later we were back at the car. Here's another view of Ben Lomonds NE bowl and the whole Cutler Basin as seen from James Peak at Powder Mountain on April 17, 2009. Ben Lomond on the left, Willard Peak on the right.

Indian Creek

2009-09-13T15:29:00.000-07:00

Summer is coming to a close and I didn't get much done in the way of climbing this year, but this past April I had a chance to head out to Indian Creek in southeastern Utah to sample some of the best crack climbing on the planet. Indian Creek is the mecca for crack climbing and its rock is unique. It is Windgate Sandstone which is very strong for sandstone and also splits from the rock in perfect ways. This is the only place that I've ever climbed where you can literally climb the same size crack for a whole pitch. No tapering or fluctuation like in granite or other forms of rock. There is an aesthetic and physical beauty in the rocks consistency. The climbs at Indian Creek are also very physical. They're steep, long, and require a lot of endurance.

My buddy Josh from California flew out to Utah and after picking him up at the airport we made the 5 hour drive to the Creek. A couple of other buddies, Galo & Pachu, Argentineans who live in San Diego, were already out there so we met up with them. It was a beautiful drive in. Here are a few of my first views of the Creek.

The tower on the left is called South Six Shooter and the one on the right is the North Sixth Shooter. On our last day here, Josh and I climbed the North Sixth Shooter via Lightning Bolt Cracks, a burly 5.11 3 pitch climb that we got spanked on. It's a classic desert route with one of the coolest, airiest summits I've ever been on.

Our first day out we warmed up on a gorgeous 5.10 finger crack and then Josh wanted to lead a stiff 5.11 dihedral called Blue Grandma. I almost puked at the top of this climb it was so physical. Here's Josh Pelletier getting into the crux of this sucker.

I toproped it after Josh led it and stayed up top to take photos of Galo leading it. Caught this nice little whipper he took.

But he got back on and sent it.

Josh & Galo talking about route possibilities on day 2.

We were lucky enough to find no one on the uber classic Supercrack of the Desert. THE classic desert splitter. Here's the one and only Josh P leading it in style. This has to be one of the sweetest cracks I've climbed.

After that we were able to get on The Incredible Handcrack, an amazing 5.10b handcrack that is, without a doubt, the best crack I have ever climbed in my life. It's perfect handjams for the whole climb. Here's Josh P top roping it after I led it.

Then we headed to another area of the Creek called Way Rambo wall. We toproped a burly 5.12- and I led this beautiful splitter 10a.

Looking out over the valley.

Galo tried this crazy 5.12 corner. I just took photos and watched. That guy is strong.

Another shot of the South and North Six Shooters.

On our way out of town Josh and I drove into Arches National Park since I'd never been. This place was amazingly beautiful. They shot the beginning of Indian Jones and the Last Crusade here. Spectacular country.

Balancing Rock.

The beautiful La Sal Mountains form the backdrop of this park. Although the snow is hit or miss on them, there is supposed to be some great backcountry skiing in good snow years.

Another crazy arch.

Maine

2009-09-06T12:39:00.000-07:00

Since we were in Quebec City, France and I decided to spend our honeymoon in Maine since neither one of us had been and it wasn't too far of a drive away. Maine is a gorgeous state and definitely worth a visit if you've never been. It has a beautiful rugged coast line, green mountains, delicious lobster, and some of the densest forests I've had the privilege of wandering in. Most people in the States would say it's sparsely populated, but after having lived in the bush in Northern Alberta, it seems plenty well populated to me.

From Quebec City we headed to Bar Harbor which is located on Mt. Desert Island just off the coast of Maine. It's where Maine's famous Acadia National Park is located and we decided to spend a few days exploring the area. Bar Harbor is a cute, fun little tourist town that reminded me a bit of Estes Park in Colorado but smaller. It rained pretty heavy the first night we arrived, and the next morning we went for a run along side the ocean with gorgeous mist that surrounded the nearby islands. The weather cleared around 11am or so and we decided to grab some lobster before heading into Acadia National Park for the day.

I bless this holy lobster.

We went for a quick hike up to an area called Eagle's Cap that overlooked part of Acadia and then went for another hike around Sand Beach, the only beach on Mt. Desert Island. The rest of the coast line is rock.

Looking back at the beach.

France and the beautiful Maine coastline.

Cadillac Mountain is the tallest peak in the Park. From there we could look down on to Bar Harbor where we were staying. Gorgeous!

The two of us on top of Cadillac.

The next day we headed for Sergeant Mountain which is the second highest peak on Mt. Desert Island. None of these guys are big, but you get beautiful views. Along the way we had to hike up 2 other peaks to get to Sergeant. Here we are on peak numero 1, which I can't remember the name of. I know, when have I ever forgotten the name of a mountain?!

On peak numero dos. Guardsman Peak.

On top of Sergeant Mountain...

With beautiful views out to the Atlantic.

France at sunset in Bar Harbor.

The next day we went kayaking on a gorgeous lake called Long Pond. I let France do all the work, like a good husband, while I took pictures. She looks strong enough to handle it.

That afternoon, we left Bar Harbor and headed to northern Maine to Baxter State Park so we could climb Mt. Katahdin, the tallest mountain in Maine at 5268ft/1606m on my birthday. We climbed Katahdin via the Abol trail which is a Class 4 scramble that gains about 4000' vertical feet and is around 7.5 miles round trip. It felt so good to be back on a real mountain. Here France emerges from the dense Maine forest.

About half way up it started to get pretty foggy and then started to drizzle/mist on us a little.

But that didn't stop the smiles!

Although it had been socked in for most of the climb, the clouds cleared and the sun came out for us for about 10-15 minutes while we were on the summit. France on top of Maine.

Joshua on top of Katahdin.

On the descent overlooking the Maine highlands.

Royal Slacker...

2009-09-03T13:13:00.000-07:00

My apologies. I've been slacking with the blogging big time for the last few months. Needless to say, LOTS has been going on, not least of which are that France and I got married and we are now uncle and aunt to the cutest little nephew! There's too much to blog about, but I'll start with the most important event and try not to slack so much in the future. So, first up...the Hitchin'!

France and I got married in Quebec City in eastern Canada. France was born just south of the city and she has lots of wonderful family that still live there. So, with little to no French in my vocabulary, we headed east to meet the French speaking family and tie the knot. Tres Bien!

Quebec City is an absolutely gorgeous place, and a truly bilingual city. The few photos I have hardly do it justice. If you want a taste of Europe without flying across an ocean, then this is the ticket. Even if you've been to Europe, Quebec City is a place you should visit. I'm just happy we have family there to crash at when we go back!

My beautiful lady in Quebec City a few days before the wedding.

France and her Grandma Jeanne D'Arc. Jeanne D'Arc was one of the biggest reasons we chose to have the wedding in Quebec City. She is an amazing woman.

My lovely sisters Cory and Aspen at the Wedding Rehearsal. Aspen and her husband Jyrki had their baby boy, Octavio, two weeks after the wedding!

Lovebirds at the rehearsal.

Some of the views around Quebec City, which overlooks the St. Lawrence River.

Booyah. That's my wife and her sweet guns.

France on the wedding day.

First Dance.

Newlyweds at the dinner.

The Kiss.

Woodson

2009-05-18T09:50:00.000-07:00

I headed out to Mt. Woodson to do some climbing with some old friends in San Diego this past weekend. We had a fantastic time, repeating some of the classics that we'd done before and trying a few other new ones. A few photos of Galo leading the uber-classic Robbins Crack. A few years ago when I started leading 5.10 trad this was one of the first 5.10s I lead. Always fun. Beautiful, splitter thin hands. Too bad it's not longer.

Zack and Galo goofing around at the bottom of Lie Detector, a burly 5.12b crack, that Galo was working on.

DeMoisy Peak

2009-05-12T18:14:00.000-07:00

A couple of days later, on April 21st, I met up with my friends Kevin and Chris to see if we could catch some early morning skiing in up at SnowBasin Resort which had closed for the season. I picked up Kevin at 5:45am and we met up with Chris at the parking lot at 6:15am and were skinning moments later. It had been a very warm night with temps not reaching below freezing at all. However, the snow was still very hard as we skinned up, due to the strong radiation cooling from the clear night. I didn't think we'd find corn snow, but as we got up higher, it became apparent that we'd hit it just right if we skied a SE aspect. DeMoisy Peak, at 9369', has a nice SE slope that comes off of it, and it seemed like a good spot to get the goods. Kevin and Chris near the top of DeMoisy.

An hour and a half and 3000 vertical feet of skinning later, we were on top. We had great views of Strawberry Peak to the south.

And Mt. Ogden to the north.

Chris and Kevin on top.

We had lovely 1/2" corn snow on the decent, but you had to get there early for it today. We dropped in at 7:55am! Kevin enjoying the early morning corn.

And Chris's turn.

A look back at DeMoisy Peak and the SE facing ramp that we skied off of it.

Back at the car by 8:30am, back in Ogden by 9am. And I still had the whole day left to get stuff done. Gotta love the spring!

Last couple ski adventures of the season

2009-05-12T17:21:00.000-07:00

I had a few fun backcountry ski days before I packed up the bags from Utah. On April 18th, Doug and I had a fantastic day checking out a great spot in the Ogden Mountains that he wishes I not name. It was a beautiful spring day. Tons of sun, totally bluebird. Snow ended up being better than we expected with a mix of quasi-corn, creamy wet snow, and we even found a little bit of powder. We knew it was spring because we had to do a stream crossing.

Once we were safely across the river, we worked our way up higher, enjoying a fantastic ridgewalk on a lovely spring day.

With the warm temps from the previous day and the strong spring sun, the naturals were running on the steep slopes.

While skinning up the ridge we came across some nice quasi-corn that we figured we ought to get on before it turned to mash potatoes. Not a bad choice. Doug and Saringa with Ben Lomond in the background. I haven't put up a post about it yet, but we skied that NE face of Ben Lomond, just behind Saringa, back in March. It was rad.

After that quick lap we headed back up to explore the next drainage over.

We found a fun little coulior type thing to ski that actually held some bonafied powder in it.

Then worked our way over to a fun gladed area with this nice little rollover. Doug purposefully cut a few push-a-lanches. Fortunately his dog didn't chase them.

Then things opened up nicely into a wide open bowl with somewhat heavy but still decent snow.

Doug.

Joshua.

Doug and Saringa with some cool snow runnels beyond.

A closer look at the snow.

Then we broke trail up another ridge to get a view back at what we'd just skied and look over into some of the other adjacent canyons.

Needless to say, there is a lot of great skiing to be had around this area, it just requires a little bit more effort. A fantastic spring day to be out in the mountains.

The Way to End the Season

2009-05-03T23:08:00.000-07:00

April showers may bring May flowers, but around Utah they just brought some deep snowy goodness for the last week at work. The last few days, April 15-17th, were filled with lots of powder turns and avalanche control. Who needs sun and corn snow? This is my kind of spring skiing.

Morgan doing some Avi Control.

And "stability testing."

Joshua catching some air and enjoying the late season pow.

Skinned up to the top of James Peak for Avi Control on our last work day, April 17th. The views were superb.

And the skiing wasn't bad either.

Mission accomplished.

Videos from March 30th, 2009

2009-04-22T20:35:00.000-07:00

But before we get on to the amazing last week of skiing at work, here's a few videos from an epic 15" day on March 30th.

Joshua getting some of the goods.

And playing on an awkward shaped pillow that throws you kind of sideways.

And then getting some more pow later in the day w/ fellow patroller Brandy on her snowboard.

April 6-14

2009-04-22T19:48:00.000-07:00

I know. It's been a while since I've updated the blog. So, here you go Steve. Life has been busy (isn't that always the excuse?) and the skiing has just been really good. The snow gods decided that since they held out on us for January, that they'd just give us the goodness in March and April. Well, I'm okay with that. Better late than never and less people on the hill since everyone else had spring on their minds. The nice part about this time of year too is that it's periods of nice sunny weather interspersed with good storms. Case in point. We practiced Self-Evacuation from the lifts at work on April 6th in the warmth...

Then we watched another storm approach us...

...and we're skiing 10" of coldsmoke...

...and doing avalanche control.

Then it's back to spring while France visits for a few days.

We had beautiful weather, great views and fun clouds for a couple great hikes.

But lets not get too comfortable with this nice 60 degree weather, because another 25" of snow dropped in the mountains over the next couple days...

Spring Pow

2009-04-03T19:58:00.000-07:00

More non-suckage. It's snowed everyday this week. Gotta love spring powder!

Craig getting in the white stuff today.

Epic Day at Work (Why I Love My Job)

2009-03-30T19:15:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-03-30T19:05:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-27T19:05:00.001-07:00

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

2009-03-15T17:00:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-10T19:46:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-10T19:35:00.000-07:00

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.

Some Work Photos

2009-03-08T17:08:00.000-07:00

Just a few photos I snapped from work.

Cornice that's sitting on top of the lodge. Hope it doesn't break.

Pretty morning.

Coworker Ray skiing the aspens.

Coworker Ron gettin' some pow.

Winter Fun

2009-02-26T19:55:00.001-08:00

France was in town for a few days recently and we had a great time getting out and enjoying the mostly sunny, yet still snowy winter weather. Here's a few photos from her visit.

Since my sister is pregnant, we decided to make a special snowwoman in honor of her. Here's France holding the snow fetus.

Finished Product: SnowPrego

Brother and Sister.

We went cross country skiing around Ben Lomond and Willard Peak. Beautiful day to be on the skinny skis.

The one and only France Morissette. She always looks better in my beanies, I mean toques, than I do.

Joshua and France.

Joshua skiing on.

We also went sledding and it was fun!