USA Bowl

Nate and i had nothing to do so we decided to go skin USA Bowl and make turns around 1PM. 1 hour later and we are skinning up from Forest Glen. Well here is 2 pics.


Sorry had to post another!

Seagull Chute

Yes!

S4+.... Slopes just under 45° that are continuously steep, have serious fall consequences and multiple terrain obstacles.

An eventful Thursday at SMR.

An early start up the canyon. Brown Bear and I had intentions of ripping big lines and get some quality video. So it started off normal with a warm up run in the cirque. Our friend Vince from rental tagged along and was dropping cliffs anywhere he saw one. I came across one of my fav pillow drops and let him go for it. He dropped and sec's later he tore something in his knee. Ski Patrol rescue with a belayed toboggan ride down Vince went. Later on after a Bomb's Away and Double Barrels run we decided to head to Little Fin. Well I bailed out cause my ankle still hurts and came across an indivdual stuck in cliffband. Another rope came out and this person had to be rescued by patrol with a harness. Just another day at Solitude.

Once again LCC closed and people decided to ski Solitude

Awesome Wasatch powder day. Lots of cliffs from 5-20 footers. Pillow lines and demanding terrain and good people at Solitude.
And yeah next time please keep your "Alta"-tude away from our Solitude

Solo on PH


Myself and Brigdonkey shared a PBR on PH to start the day off right! 9:30AM

Steph and Foxkat celebrating good snow while Will and Dana discuss their next run one chair back!


After a slope cut under the "Ghoul" I was able to trigger a soft slab avalanche. The photo below shows the crown of 6-12" deep, appx 40 feet wide and ran about 150 feet. Earlier in the day i was caught in my own soft snow slide in Milk Run where it knocked me to my feet and carried me appx 15-20 feet. ~~~~~inbounds and beeping~~~~~

Saturday, January 24th | A-Basin

Snoworries and I sat in traffic traffic traffic to get some freshies (2hr drive that normally takes a little over an hour). Here's the Legend:

Montezuma Bowl | Eureka Area

Front Side | Falcon

Front Side | Below East Wall

Who Cares If You Ski at Vail

Friday, January 23rd | Berthoud Pass
Snowboy, Snoworries & Buddy | Logged 2100 vertical, 3 hrs, 2.5mi covered (3-6pm)


4:45pm, gearing up for lap 3, blackberry inside the hat while taking a work conference call. Call lasted 20mins while skinning the first 200' vert gain, all while mother nature is puking. I love work.

Triple Rock from second stage

Cali style snow in Utah

The snow was wet, spongy and heavy. Reminds me of the California snow. Still a great time to get foolish out there with all the killer powder. Here are a few pictures of String and I today at Brighton. 01/24/09.

Kessler Peak/ East Couloir

East Couloir is rated an S3+
S3+ ... Slopes at or near 35° with terrain features that require maneuvering around!



After a 4125 vert foot skin up we reached our summit of kessler peak. 10400' peak.



With a sketchy entrance formed from a cornice i used a snow saw to cut the cornice to check for stability and make the entrance more friendly.


Using a small rope i helped Tiph get into the couloir.



A super fun day with a well deserved beer at the car! Just another chute under my belt!

Nobody cares that you ski at Alta!

The pic above shows our tracks. Also the next day i went back and left another set on the looker's left

BTW yesterday was Day #41

Since my ski wreck last week i still have managed to get out of the valley smog and into the fresh air of the mountains.
Here's a list of what i've done in one week of high temps

~2X bootpack Fantasy Ridge to shot 27
~Several east face Honeycomb laps
~2 guild line runs into Silver Fork drainage
~Solo day tour yesterday out the Highway gate, into Twin Lakes and skinned up the backside of Honeycomb Cliffs. Then i pulled off the skins and skied Flanagans which is in Silver Fork.
~Hghway to Heaven lap with the super hot boot up to Corner Chute
~Mach speed groomers
~Jameson shots at the Squirrel.
~Party at Doug's
~24oz PBR's at the Roundhouse watching people starfish down Sunshine bowl

C-C-C-C-C-Chicago

I'm sitting in seat 1A on a regional jet headed to Columbus from the Windy City (yes, this is now the second flight of the day). We were delayed an hour before boarding, then we boarded.

The reason I mention my seat number is that it's right across from the door, the door that is wide open. It's now been over an hour and a half since we boarded, with the door wide open, and no idea of when we're pushing back.

It's -10 (or colder) and most, if not all the fuel trucks have frozen fuel. As you can imagine, frozen fuel doesn't transfer to the plane well. So the door's open, I'm freezing, there's one fuel truck in operation, and American Airlines still wants to charge me $7 for a blanket. But they'll give me a free sip of water for a dollar.

Fuckers. Oh wait, an update. We're allowed to use the bathroom!! And free booze, but we have to wait until we're in the air...

Cheers!


Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

Quality Fantasy

According to Powder Magazine: Inside Line: Solitude’s Fantasy Ridge is perhaps the scariest inbounds hike in North America. But if you can brace the fixed cable, icy steps, and the precarious knife ridge, the terrain is world-class.

Brown Bear, Brigdonkey and myself decided last night on hiking Fantasy Ridge. Brigdonkey only has 17 days EVER skiing in his whole life, myself with a torn ligament in my ankle and Brown Bear's first hike up Fantasy of the season. FKNA what the hell, let's go rip some turns. We ventured to shot 27: nothng super diffcult but a mandatory rocky entrance wth well rewarded turns.

Me claiming shot 27, Guinea pigging with a torn ATFL and still hiking Fantasy Ridge and laying first tracks down!Brigdonkey's first ascent up Fantasy. Unreal how good he skied shot 27. Nice work!!!
Brown Bear! You don't get much better than this pic!
Side view of the ridge with Brown Bear making his way down to the drop in
Shot 27 is the chute that's in the sun and funnels out between the 2 rows of pine trees. This pic is viewed from the top of Powderhorn lift about 30min after we dropped in

Only at Solitude

From a friend of mine and all at Solitude
Well done Doug!

http://thejamesdouglasstudio.blogspot.com/2009/01/livin-your-dream.html

BE SAFE!

Hey everyone! Just dropping in to aware everyone that the snowpack throughout the states has been really sketchy this season. Today at Brighton(off Pio peak) 2 individuals were buried by another avalanche. Lucky they survived and in good condition. Please use caution and wear your gear inbounds and backcountry. All of us here in the Wasatch have been "beeping" for weeks now. I wear my transceiver everyday whether riding chairs or passing through the gates. Safe travels!

One word

BLOWER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's good to be back in the Wasatch!

A short video of new years week!


An intense filled first week back in Utah. Friends, snow, booze, hot tubbin. What a great way to ring in the new year!