Daylight Savings Came Too Early

Day light savings came very early this year. This morning it caught me off guard. Our tour started in the dark and ended in the dark. Weird, I might as well have just done the trip from midnight to 3Am. It was cold, around 9 degrees (f) when we got to our premium parking location. We exited Dalt's truck in full stealth and were skinning by 5:20. By most measurements the storm dumped about 24 inches. We took turns breaking trail straight up the guts of USA. Once we were out of the trees the wind was about 30-50 constant pound. It turned the snow into real heavy type powder. It had to be sub-zero at that point. About 300 ft from the summit, I started having trouble with one of my skins so we transitioned in behind a lone little pine. There was no light of day yet. Skiing with head-lights, in a head-wind, on thick deep snow, down an open face with no trees makes depth perception tricky. It was hard to gauge my speed. With the first signs of dawn setting in, we reached the car and cranked the heat.

(Since we didn't get any light, I didn't take any pictures. So I will include shots from the week earlier. btw we met the strangest two South Africans who had been lost for like 28 hours straight)

The Adventures of Cobus and Jaq-Lui

Hello, we are stuuudents traveling through the states. We are fruoom New Doornfontein, Gauteng, SA. As we were touring thru Moawb we ran across nice fellows that told us abouuut The Wasatch. So we drove up and have been touring around The Wasatch for days. We were told that wearing helmets at dawn was a good sign in the Wasatch. We love German food, so where ever we tour we must have Schnitzel. (Cobus is so opinionated about certain things). We are huge Lions fans are are hooping to meet Todd Clever's mother. The snow surface today was quite like the windward side of Kilimanjaro. However our tour was fruitful as we meet two fine blokes from the valley that showed us the way in the deep wiles of The Wasatch.

Full Speed Ahead

Another packed Saturday Ski-day for my crew. I met Dalt at barbecoa at 4:40, we were to Fletch's gate by 4:58, at 5:00 we decided to call. Alarm failure was the claim. Good thing Dalt had distributed the unwritten rules of dawn patrol, (http://straightchuter.com/2009/02/the-unwritten-rules-of-dawn-patrolling/) so upon waking from our call at 5:00, Fletch was only minutes from being ready. Nice recovery. Warm morning, about 25 degrees (f). We got to our undisclosed premium parking location and were skinning by about 5:25. We decided to ascend the east face of USA bowl. The snow condition was about 5 inches of dust on crust. We made good time through the trees and traversed around the mountain under the radio towers. The dust was scoured from the crust on the upper south facing slopes, so we had a little lesson in edge purchase. In the areas were the wind-blown snow was deposited into 1-2 ft drifts was quite challenging as well. We made our transition, snapped and few photos and dropped in. We made some super turns at mach speeds through the untracked open bowl. Felt like flying. About 14oo ft. vert and 1.6 miles one way.

I was home by 8:30, I made some quick breakfast for the sleepy eyes and loaded up the kids and off to rugby practice by 9:15. The kids played on the jungle gym and the Haggis and I had a good run. We were home by 11:15, quick lunch, load up the car and back up Big Cottonwood Canyon to ski at Solitude by 1:00.

The 2 pictures below are taken with the other in the background. Notice the mountain peak on the top center of the photo with my Crew, that is where the other picture was taken from. Vise versa, notice the slopes of Solitude on the middle left of the top photo.

Mindy, Elle, Talin, Ava and I had a great afternoon skiing. For the most part, I had Ava strapped to my front, Mindy sorted out "I go super-fast" Talin, Elle just floated down the mountain like a princess. Both Elle and Talin are skiing increasingly varied terrain and are both testing the limits. I told them "if you are not wrecking (every once in a while) you are not pushing hard enough." They improved a lot this week. To finish off the day we played some tunes and took in some sun on the deck of the Argenta Pub.

We were home by 4:30, quick bath-time, and made it to a fun dinner at Jess, Monica, Jaden, and Haper Jensen's house in Jeremy by 6:15. We ate, the kids played, I conquered the world of Catan, and we were out by 10:00. Needless to say, we were all wiped out after a day of full-speed-ahead. A man couldn't ask for a more fulfilling day of skiing. This is what it is all about.

Days are Getting Longer.

Had a hard time getting DPs this week. Nevertheless, it was a good week for trekking. I managed five for five days in the foothills above Centerville. Some days with Dalt and some days with Babs and some with both. We usually get a pretty good climb (1000 ft) and get the heart rate up with jog and lunge combo. At the top we get a good stretch, then we descend through grass and scrub slopes around 20-25 percent grade. At that slope its fun to get a good "fast-feet" work-out, good for the coordination and mental stimulation. We usually get down the mountain in about 1/3 the time it takes us to get up. This week we took in some good views of the Bald Eagles that have been feeding out in Farmington Bay. At one point we saw 14 at once, all circling in a vortex type fashion. We also came across a little coyote lair with some deer bones. We explored a little cave where we had seen some cougar tracks earlier this winter, nothing found. On the final fifty yards of the last slope of the day on Friday, I rolled my right ankle. I got down to the river straight-away to get the deep freeze on early. Four advils, elevation, and a compression bandage did the trick. A great week of fitness. Three rugby practices, and in the foothills, about 4500 ft. vert and 12 miles.

Rugby practice has moved outside, so the transition to spring has begun. First game next week in St. George. Makes me feel like I need to get as many DPs in as possible whilst the snow lasts.

On that note the Haggis Traveling squad for the St. George trip was named today:

Adam Ullrich

Nate Herrshcer

Brad Anderson

Ryan Babinksi

Dave Shelledy

Andrew Jewkes

Ryan Dunyon

Jon Dalton

Mou

Manu

Mike Griffee

Garreth Long

Robert Lopez

Jason Pye

Ryan Fletcher

Pablo Oleiro

Joe Lomu

Richard "MOOSE-MOLE-QUICK THUMBS MAGGIE" White

Chet Blasucci

Preston Miller

Alex Moore

Trevor Williams/ Pete Levave

Johnny Sione

Nate Hardman

Iose Tafaoiali

Well done. Its good to have the pre-season done with, now down to business.

From Rookie to Sophomore

Saturday Skiday. I knew that we needed to start this one early if everybody was going to get theirs in. I met Dalt at bbcoa at 4:40, Butlers by 5:02. Forgot to check the temp, but not too anything. Our goals were to be on top of Circleawl before dawn, take one or two runs in the trees, and be home by 8:30. Skinning up the gully was a little hairball, steep icy sections and narrow river crossing, but very nice. Where the canyon opens, we went left up to the saddle (the whole time eyeing the soft pow tree runs for the decent). From the saddle we skinned up the ridge to Circleawl Peak. When we got there, I noticed the slope headed south. It was baked, wind-blown concrete. I took one ski off, stripped the skin and put the ski back on the ground. (some may not have noticed, but I just made a rookie mistake). Before I knew it, I nudged the ski (which was still in uphill mode, so the break doesn't engage) and down it went. To our horror, we watched it go on down, make a few turns, pickup some speed and disappear over the ridge. Once it was gone from sight we could still hear it skipping over the ice 500-600 ft below. We stood there in shock as the sun came up over 10,420.

I booted down to the ridge it had gone over, but did not see where the ski had gone. I went back up, got my other ski, and we descended to the south in search mode. About 500 ft down, there it was intact.

So I snagged it, we traversed around the mountain to the north side, saw how nice the trees were going to be, checked our time, switched to uphill, skinned up to take every bit of vert we could, and had some great tree skiing.

We were buzzing as we got down to the home-run. So as we came down across the 18 inch wide river crossing I was no worries, full jedi (Dalt as well) . But as we came to the second crossing I snagged a tip and went head on into the river. I was hanging by my skis. I looked up to see the urgency in Dalt's demeanor, which then caused me great alarm. After a long 10 seconds or so, I was able to get my skis off and Dalt hauled me out of the river (no photos provided) . Full-soak, the truck wasn't far. We were home by 8:30. Mission accomplished.


The kiddos had cousin night at in Ogden, so we were off to pick them up and go for a day at Snowbasin by 9:30. Blue-bird full parking lot type of day. Got a great table with Jed, O-Dog, Mr. Miles, (see video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qrCZ7XH71o) Gary, and Reilly. We chatted with the usual Ogden/Basin suspects, and got some unbelievable runs from Elle and Talin. Notice the princess pose.


We were able to get Ava on with us for a few runs as well. The first time we took her on the lift, as we gained elevation Ava took a deep breath and held on like a spider monkey. But once we started to ski she was all about it. Mindy looks like a James Bond girl.



At the start of the day I was still harnessing Talin and we were sporting the edgy-wedgy. (see video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qrCZ7XH71o) By the end of the day he was definatly a Sophomore. I however remain a Rookie.

Listen for the Whoa-hoo at 39 secs.

USA (Filet) Mignon. February 19, 2009

An early and somewhat miraculous pick-up of Giles at 5:15, then Fletch at 5:40. We were to our undisclosed and very appreciated parking spot by 5:55. About 19 degree (f) and clear skies. The moon was a slight fingernail. Our goal was to skin to the radio towers in USA bowl and partake of the good turns on the way down. As you can see from my drawering (sic) there, we started off too far east and then corrected back too far west. By the time we came out of the trees we were no longer on an uphill skin track, but following up someones descent path. No worries, only about 500 ft. of vert. to go. We assessed our path options and bee-lined southwest to the ridge. It was at this time we enjoyed the most beautiful view of the dawn sun reflecting off the Honey Comb cliffs and Wolverine Cirque. "Stay golden Jonny." (I would have taken a picture but... see Toe-Side Bounce post below) As we appraoched to the ridge, the established skin-track was a nice sight. We skirted up the USA/Little Willow ridge to the BCC/Park City ridge, carefully avoiding the heavy wind-blown cornices on the north. We finally summited the 9930 ft. peak just to the west of Scotts Hill, ate some cinnamon buttery biscuits, (that I got a killer deal on at Alby's) made the transition, and dropped in. Fletch, on his inaugural split-board tour, set his board up goofy (or what ever the snowboard term is) so he was having a bit of a time keeping his tip up in the deep virgin snow. We floated down the settled, but very deep powder to the tree-line. Once in the trees, the grade mellowed a bit which made for some nice turns. Overall, a great morning. Despite the early rise, you couldn't pry the grin off Giles face. To work by 9:45.

Vert. 16oo ft. and 1.9 miles one way.

12-Point Skin Track. February 18, 2009

With all the new snow (about 12 inches at around 4,700 ft) Mount Parrish (or 12-Point as I call it) was ready for the taking. I left the office around 12:30 pm (35 degrees (f)). Hit the switch-backs and never looked back. With the goal of increasing efficiency on my kick-turns, I looked for the steepest deepest lines. On top, around 6,200 ft., the snow was deep (24 inches) and soft. I made my transition as quick as possible (sub 1 minute), took a deep breath and started my descent. Snow conditions were as good as they have been all year for that location. I was back to the car, changed and at the office by 2:10. Nothing like bagging foothill pow half a mile from your office chair.

Vert. 1,500 ft., 1.7 miles one way.