Hikes and Bikes

Ski Colorado!

This weekend I visited Copper Mountain for my first ski trip to Summit County.  It was pretty good conditions for spring skiing, but I'm not used to spring conditions in mid-March.  They had a bunch of terrain that would have been a lot of fun with full coverage and powder, but we mostly just took moderate-angle corn and cruiser runs.  Their Copper Bowl area was a bunch of fun; it's a little odd being up so high that many of the ridgelines have been blown clear of snow. 

Also a bit odd skiing with snowboarders after a couple years at Alta.  While my buddies are at least pretty good snowboarders, I still felt okay making my share of derogatory comments.

Belle on high alert

Belle and I took advantage of a warm, sunny day to go exploring in the Uinta mountains.  I was in no danger of being surprised by anything that smelled like a stick as she was on high alert.

Just another day in Paradise

Pics from skiing Wolverine with Billy on Jan 23.

Billy, looking out over Alta.  That's Mount Superior center-right and the SLC valley inversion in the distance.

The cirque looking pretty bony.

Another pic of Little Cottonwood and Superior. 

Just a mundane slog out over that ridgelet.

Wolverine Cirque

I skied Wolverine yesterday. 

That is all.

Head Monster 103's

I was recently convinced that I should go with shorter and fatter skis, so I traded up to 183 Head Monster 103's.  Wow.  These skis are incredibly stiff, fairly fat underfoot, and have a pretty straight sidecut.  The natural turning radius is 37 meters, but the short length means that they're pretty easy to whip around (they're almost passable in moguls).  The stiffness means that they bust through any sort of crud.  The fat waist means that they float in powder. 

The downside of a ski this stiff is that it takes a ton of power to ski and that they're not very forgiving.  A lighter skier would have a hard time putting enough force into them; luckily I'm not a lighter skier.

They're definitely harder to ski than my beloved Big Stix, but as long as I ski hard they'll offer much better performance.

Deep Days

Big Cottonwood Canyon got hit decently hard this weekend by a storm with unusual wind patterns.  Alta didn't get nearly as much, so I went up to Solitude with RossH.  Best day of the year - calf-deep everywhere, knee-thigh deep where the wind had collected the snow.  We did the standard Solitude rotation - a couple run on the quad, then laps on the PowderHorn face, then up to Honeycomb.  Face shots galore- it was a good day. 

Coverage is still thin, though.  We didn't venture into the Solitude Cirque for fear of beating up our bases. 

I went to Park City on Friday, where we didn't venture off of groomers.  PCMR is a different place than the Cottonwoods.  Crowded groomers, skinny skis, novice skiers.  It's pretty alien after two seasons at Alta.

Why I don't take action shots

Marty, riding backseat to make sure his tips go over the partially buried logs.

I like the idea of getting a good camera and taking super-cool pictures, but that's a lot of cash for something I wouldn't know how to use.  So I'll stick to photographing things that are still.

First backcountry day of the season

Martle and I went up to Guardsman's Pass for a quickie Thursday morning.  The sugar was good for turning, but a bit worrisome.  I've never seens crystals so large; some were 3/4" across.  Also, the base is really thin to be skiing that area.  There were a ton of barely buried downed trees.  Martle had one spill when a tip dove under one; we generally spent the whole time riding backseat to avoid that.  However, it's a nice low-angle area for mellow days, similar to Bear Trap.  We'll be back once it snows more.

Alta, baby, Alta

Alta is open for the season.

The weather has been gorgeous.

While cover was sparse, we found some turns.  Here's the roommie making her way down Punch Bowl.

A few of this season's ski pictures are on flickr.

let it snow, let it snow

Yesterday I set a new personal record for first ski day of the season.  We're in the middle of a cold snap, and a fall storm rolled through this weekend, combining to spit 6 inches of snow onto the higher mountains.  So, I took the dogs cross-country skiing up near Guardsman's Pass.  The snow was too warm and sticky to be fast, but I can't complain too much amout mid-September snow conditions.  I had great weather as long as I was in the ridgeline's snow shadow, but the other side of the pass had blizzard conditions.

Here's a couple pics; you can see Guardsman's Pass behind the truck and one of my preferred backcountry ski slopes to the left of the pass.