The Toe-Side Bounce. February 16, 2009

On President's Day I just so lucked out to have a great mother-in-law and got to squeak in a free and clear resort day at Solitude. I felt a little twinge of guilt for not bringing L or T, but it soon melted away. Met at Dalt's house at 8:20, quick stop for snacks, on the mountain by 9:10. About 25 degrees (f). We did some super-speeders on the quad and then moved back to Milk Run and got some good footage of Dalt dropping a cliff-band. We hit Summit and got some pretty cool views of Wolverine. Shredded four or five on that side of the mountain and returned via a nice rip down Honeycomb. Ate some fried chicken and reeled off about 10 runs in about 120 minutes or so. The second to last proved to be one too many. As Dalt was getting some high speed footage, he took a wicked toe-side bounce off the soft pack . Diagnosis on the ribs not good, on the camera... about the same. Huge amount of vert and variable terrain covered, a great day.

V-man Strikes Again! February 14, 2009

Last saturday morning Dalt and I kicked-up (XC) Millcreek Canyon with Macy and Banjo. We met at Dalt's house at 5:20, on the trial by 5:45. About 20 degrees (f). Very soft snow conditions. Snow started to fall quite heavily by about 6:30 (and kept up until about 10:00) . We were following moose tracks the last half mile, so we were a bit cautious. We made it to Alexander Basin by about 7:15. Headed down, nice soft snow. Quick and easy. 850 ft 2.5 miles one way.

Later, in the afternoon, L, T-dog and I went to the Duck park and farmed the pow to be had there. L was making perfect S-turns the whole way down... side-step up the hill, and plow the next row. T was straight and fast.

Argenta Slide Path. February 12, 2009.

Early morning pick-up, 4:35 at Dalt's house. Quick to pick-up Dustin, met Tom at the BCC p.a.r. Up 7.1 from the sign, quick river-cross, (about 7000 ft.) and skinning by 5:30ish. 19 degrees (f). Argenta slide path, truely unbelievable the destruction that slide caused. The first part was tough, super steep with switch-backs. Dustin and Tom, (herein reffered to as our Petzel Guides or PG) were like billy-goats-gruff up the hill. Switch-backs, effortless. Like the elf guy on Lord of the Rings, walking on top of the snow. Breaking trail a good portion of the way to boot. Dalt and myself however, not quite so. Got the heart rate up too fast too early. Up over the ridge and a few less switch-backs. About 7:30 (our cut-off time) we were facing the headwall with about 800-900 of vert. to go to the 10,400 ft. summit. To my great relief, as I came around the corner I saw Dalt and PG taking off their skins and switching to downhill. PG made sure beacons were on. Then dropped in, one by one. Bottomless Wasatch pow. The terrain was perfect, a nice 30-35 degree slope, trees if you want them and very few tracks. Got back to the car just before 8:00. With the flakes increasing, enjoyed the ride down the canyon.

Estimated: 2500 ft vert and 1.8 miles

I am now going to blog.

The time has come, I am now going to blog.

The purpose: A medium to chronicle the many "big adventures" I embark upon. I hope you enjoy perusing.