Has anyone seen this man?

Last seen on the pitch wandering around somewhere in Rhode Island.

Future Backcountry Efficianado

The other day Morgan called and asked "now that it almost summer, when are we going to start doing our morning hikes?" Well, Morg doesn't really like the cold, so he hasn't been coming along on our morning skis. But I know he would love it if he just got a good first experience skiing in the backcountry. So I tricked him. I said "sure thing Morg, lets go to a little hike called Patsey Marley"... hehehe. We got there and it actually took him awhile to figure out that he had been had. We loaded the skis on our backs and headed up Grizzly Gulch. We put the skis and skins on once we passed the cabins and Morg got his first lesson in skinning. The snow was still rock hard from the refreeze so it wasn't the best learning conditions. We nailed the approach without too much trouble and got to the bottom of the run when Morg asked "ok we are not going to climb that are we?" I just laughed and headed up the hill. Morg was a quick learner of the art of the kick-turn. As we switched up the run I was hoping that the sun would soften the snow, to my disappointment there was only about 2 inches of corn snow on top of rock-hard. Again, not the best conditions to be re-learning to down-hill ski (Morg is a boarder and hadn't been on skis in about 20 years.) However, between my excellent coaching (uhem) and Morg's natural ability we enjoyed not only the run down, but made the transition and had a second go. I think I may have done just enough to plant the good seed into another future backcountry efficianado.

Patsy Marley

There are a couple of a stories floating around out there as to how the Patsy Marley Peak got its name. Some say Patsy was a well-known madame amongst the early Alta miners. Others say Patsy was an Irish bare-knuck brawler who owned a pub in Grizzly Gulch. Either way its fun to think about how crazy those old mining days must have been when the town of Alta's population swelled to more than 8,000 mountain hardened souls.

Dalt, Dustin and I met at the LCC p.a.r. around 5:00. We were looking for high elevation, north facing with a short approach. Enter the mistress. The climb was very nice. We had some fun steep skinning at the top near the cornices. We had enough time for two runs. Dalt on his second run.

Then follwed by me. Nice high-speed floaters. Thanks to Dustin for the shots.

Fly on My Zephyr

I once shot a man in Reno just to watch him die. This time I went to play rugby. The rugby was forgettable, with a few splashes of brilliant desperation. We took Corbie's (Lopes' wife) four runner, which included Lopez's camera. On her blog Corbie was surpisingly accurate in her description of the proceedings (and I appreciate your discreation on the post Cobie). So if you are interested there you go. http://corbiecoy.blogspot.com/2009/04/boys-will-be-boysand-so-will-men.html.

Pink Pine Pink Snow

Went up LCC, shooting for Patsey Marley. We got rejected by udot avalanche folks at the upper Alta lot so we went back down canyon to the White Pine parking lot. We (Dalt, Dustin, Jason and myself) skinned up to the ridge that divided White Pine canyon and Red Pine canyon (Pink Pine) It was a pleasant climb.

The snow was deep and surprisingly fluffy. The crazy circular pattern storminess we experienced carried red sand from So. Utah so the snow was pink (Pink Snow). You'd have to see it to believe it. Thanks to Dustin for the photos.

Hello LCC - Scotties Bowl

A huge morning. Most of the morning tours Dalt and I have made this year have been in Big Cottonwood Canyon and were in the 1,200 vertical ft range. The approach usually consists of some mellow angles up a drainage and then a steeper climb to the ridge or peak. This morning we hit Scotties Bowl in LCC. For those of you that have been there you know that you get out of the car and within 2 minutes you are on a 35 degree + slope for about 2500 vertical feet. Add to that, we were with the fast as, super-steep trail-breaking freak Dustin. Rolling into work at 8:30 I was spent.

We we gained the ridge, negotiated some enormous cornices, and hit the peak. The top was very steep. The new snow did not bond well with the base and caused some pretty significant sluffing. I had an equipment malfunction (I'm sticking to that story since once I got my ski back, it had released with out the binding popping. Still a rookie mistake, I admit, but I would rather be a rookie binding adjuster than a rookie skier). I took a little ride down a chute of sorts and completely lost one ski. After about 15 minutes of digging around Dalt honed in and saved the day. The mini-regrowth pines provided and bit of depth perception in the middle of the run for some the best turns of the day. A great morning. Shout out to Dustin for the top photo.

Super-Sledge 2.0

With spring popping up, I decided to get the Super-Sledge 2.0 out for one last run before it returns to its bike trailer origin. Last January we took the 2.0 to Bryce Canyon and toured that country. It also made it up Millcreek Canyon a few times this year.

Super-Sledge 1.0 - 2008 was made out of a three wheeled jogging stroller that I scored from Peme. I basically tied three ski-blades (mini trick skis) to the bottom of the tires. To make the skis-to-tires link more rigid, I connected the ski-blades with an old broom stick by bolting front of the rear two skis to the back of the front ski. I then rigged a hauling device with an old water ski rope and two 6 foot copper pipes that I found in my mom's garage. The design had some limitations. Mainly, the broom stick that connected the skis lacked enough clearance. So when there was loose snow, it would create drag.

This year, with a new vision, I started 2.0 with a bike trailer. I then built a frame and connected it to my '91 K2s. The key to its rigidity was the thread-all reinforcements (just high enough to clear any reasonable amount of snow).

I then bolted the trailer to the frame.

Limitations: Due to the large metal edge skis it took too much force to turn the unit at speed. Coming down Millcreek Canyon when I tried to turn, the copper pipe towing device failed. I ended up flipping the device so that the 2.0 was in front, and I was guiding it down the canyon from behind, like I was driving a stage coach or something.

For 3.0 I plan on using the same bike trailer and ski frame. I am going to buzz the metal edges off the skis on a table saw and find some aluminum tubes or rods for the pulling device.