Photography Fun

As most of you know, Des and I are really into photography. Today we decided to have a little just-for-fun photo contest between us. Des and I have very different shooting styles, so there's a lot we can learn from each other.

"Berries of Death"

We decided on an unbiased way to score our photos, giving points for creativity, composition, and use of color/contrast. We decided to select our three best photos for evaluation, and at the end we would crown an overall winner.

"Bug Butt"

We wanted to pick a location that would be fair to both of us, and also force us to be creative and find interesting things in an environment we would ordinarily take for granted. After some debate we agreed to take a ride over to Draper Park and see what we could find.

"Grass Explosion"

We both found some interesting things, and got some pretty good photos. As always, our different shooting styles were evident... Today I focused on a cacophony of vibrant colors, where Des's best shot was a black and white photo.

It's amazing the way two people (especially two people so like-minded) can see the same exact things in very different ways...

Existentialism, Powder, and Profanity

The weather's looking warm (50's) all week, so I figured I'd better get up to the Alta backcountry before the existing snow melts away. I checked the avy forecast, and things were looking really stable, so I planned to head up over the ridge adjacent to Alta and drop in on the back, North facing, side, where the snow should be best.

I was hiking/skiing alone again, and I have to admit I was digging the tranquility of being in the great outdoors alone. As I got towards the top of the ridge the view was incredible... equally incredible was how out-of-shape I am. As I was gasping for oxygen, my mind was free to wonder. I was really savoring how lucky I am. I'm lucky to live in Utah and have this playground in my backyard. I'm lucky to live a life less ordinary, to not work a 9-5 desk job in a cubicle.

As I summited the ridge, the 360 degree view was amazing. Photos, or words, simply can't do it justice. I can't describe how small and insignificant being in a place like that makes you feel. Concerns about trivial things like money and bills seem to float away, and it's just you- a tiny person- surrounded by very NOT-tiny mountains, deep blue sky, and snow.

Getting ready to drop over the back

The thought of snow brought be back to the here-and-now, and I remembered the real reason I just worked so hard to get up there... to go back down. I found a steep chute that looked like it had great, untouched snow, and got ready to drop...

A side view of my chute

The run down was epic. The snow was great, and surprisingly deep for this early in the season. This was my first run of the season on what I would consider 'no-fall' terrain, and the exposure was exhilarating. I doubt I would have died had I fallen, but it was steep enough I probably would have had a long ride down, with some unwelcome tree-trunk visits along the way. My dad taught me to always acknowledge and respect the consequences of what could happen if things go wrong... and that was definitely in the back of my head the whole way down. I lived. Thanks Dad :-)

Do I really want to do this? Hell yea I do.

The hike back out is where the profanity starts in. When I got to the bottom I saw a nice skin track back up and out, through relatively safe avy terrain, so I decided to follow the track. Well whatever jackbag made that track must have had ridiculously fat skis, with the best skins known to man, because I simply could NOT follow the pitch of the skin track. So I made my own skin track, cutting back and forth across the slope... until I got about 200 ft from the top, at which point it got narrow and steep, and I would have had to cut back and forth a million times before I was even half way up. At this point my options are to ski back down, and tour up somewhere more appropriate, or pop my skis and boot the last 200 ft (in waste-deep, light and fluffy powder). I opted to boot. Booting in deep snow is a miserable combination between learning to crawl, learning to swim, learning to rock climb, and realizing that in 10 steps you've moved 3 feet. I expored my healthy repertoire of 'frech' as I clawed my way to the top.

You think that's the end of the story? naaaah. It was warm and sunny enough that a lot of the snow on the Southerly facing ridge had now melted, and I'm about 1,200 ft above my car, with said Southerly facing ridge standing between us. I figured I'd follow Mr. Expert Touring Dude's tracks for a safe way down. Or into a thin-cover boulder field... that was my next guess. I found the least rocky spot I could, and tried to keep my speed up and float on the thin cover. Every now and then I would feel a ski stop suddenly on a rock, and I'd have to shift me weight to the other, or risk taking a header down the (rocky) slope. I was literally between a rock and hard place, and had no choice but to make the best of it and get my ass to the car. As I boulder hopped I created some good profanity out of my subconscious. We're talking multi-syllable, compound words... the ones that usually live within us, in a locked box buried in our psyche. The monster was loose...

The immortal words of Randall Jones bounced around in my head:
"My ski had fun too... on a ROCK!"

In the end I made it to the car without falling and smashing my skull on the rocks, and I have to admit the exercise, the experience, and most of all the steep chute I skied down the back side made the whole trip worth it...

Bad Snow No Go

Checked the Alta webcam this AM and saw a light dusting in the parking lot, so I decided another ski day was in order. The forecast for the valley was rain showers all day, so I figured rain here = snow there...

Mountains in the clouds

By the time I motivated and got up there it was a little after 11. It was 33 degrees in the upper lot, and the snow was very wet and heavy. On the drive up the canyon I noticed lots of little wet slides, and bells went off in my head that today wasn't a good day to ski anything remotely steep enough to slide.

It was warm and humid up there (in a cloud), and visibility basically SUCKED, so I couldn't even salvage the trip by taking scenic shots... I left camera in the car.

Has anyone seen my mountain, I can't find it anywhere!

I took a short tour up to Albion Basin, hoping it would get me high enough the snow wouldn't be so wet and prone to sliding, but it was the same as below. I skied back down to the car, taking a few shortcuts through some untracked snow in the trees. I'm glad I didn't keep hiking, because the snow was heavy and not that much fun... the run I had a few days ago already got me spoiled for the famous Utah powder.

Lower LCC is in desperate need of some white...

Oh well, I got out and got some exersise, and made a few nice turns on the way down. Hard to complain about that. Now where's our lake-effect snow damnit?!

No Place Like Alta

Woke up to a gloomy, rainy day, and elected to do productive things around the house. At some point this AM I checked the webcams up at Alta, and noticed that the RAIN here was falling as SNOW up there. I suddenly found my incentive to finish the chores :-)

I followed the same route we did yesterday, but pressed on to the top of Collins Lift this time. I was beat by the time I got to the top, and I could feel some blisters starting to develop from the new boots. I guess I haven't exactly eased into ski season...

As I got closer to the top, the snow really started to fall. For a while, I was completely whited out, and could barely see 10 ft in front of me.

Whited out and loving it in front of Ballroom (not that you can see it)

The run down was epic. I didn't do anything too extreme, since Alta's not open yet, and they're not doing avalanche control work yet... and I was skiing alone (no one to dig me out if I got burried, even though I did have my avy gear). I came down through some open trees, and was rewarded for my 'safe' choice with two feet of fresh all the way down. The snow was buttery-smooth, and I felt completely in-tune with my gear... with the mountain. I think that run made me fall in love with skiing all over again.

FYI: Alta is closed tomorrow (even to hiking in) due to avy control work...

Long Time No Ski

Desiree, Heather (new addition to the local HG community) and I went up to Alta today for some pre-season skiing. Snowbird is open, but Alta doesn't open until next week.

Des and Heather posing in front of Mount Superior

We didn't want to be too over-zealous and not be able to walk tomorrow, so we eased into the season by going up under the Collins lift, and stopping at the mid-station. (View Alta trailmap here).

We only scratched the surface of what Alta has to offer, but we were careful NOT to scratch the surface of our skis :-) We all made it up and down without hitting any rocks, which was my main goal this early in the season.

I was LOVING the new boots (Black Diamond Factor), even if they did win me the ugliest boot on the hill award. While touring up they were so much better than my old (race) boots... but they felt just as stiff and supportive on the way down. If anything, I felt like I had a better connection with the skis... which was needed for navigating some of the thaw-freeze popcorn.

It was a pretty short run, but it was a lot of fun to get out, get some exercise, and get some turns as early as Nov. 9th.

This is an early start to the season for ex-East coasters like Des and I

South Side Stellar-ness

Saturday was another above-average South Side day, with many hang pilots coming out to play. There must have been 10 hangs out there, and it was nice to have all the company and camaraderie.

Since there were lots of people to fly with I decided to mount the camera up again... I got in close with a few people that trust me enough to know I won't hit them...

Getting up close and personal with John Glime

At one point most of the pilots had landed to take a break, so I did some low fly throughs. It was hard to build any speed up on that big Falcon, and the pitch pressure really made me miss my U2 (which is sold and gone).

On one of the fly-throughs I noticed Jackson the dog was chasing me, and I thought it might make for a good photo-op. I landed and turned the camera long ways so I'd have a better chance of seeing the dog below me...

I think I'm going to have to make him a doggie-harness, he always wants to come with...

After flying Des and I took a drive up to Alta to see how much snow there was, and if skiing on Sunday was a viable option. It looked good up there! Most of the visible runs and bowls at Alta were already tracked out, and it looked like pretty good cover on all North facing aspects.

Alta. 'Nuff said.

Happy to see plenty of snow, we headed home. Sunday (tomorrow) we're going back up there to hike for some turns. I'm thinking a mellow warm-up somewhere around the lower left of this shot, and if the snow seems good and we haven't completely forgotton how to ski, maybe head up higher into the bowl in the top-center of the shot, or possibly the chute just to the left... depends what the crowd wants to do. I'll just be happy to get to use my new boots :-)

Happy Utahans

The Camera Curse

So I have this superstition, based on past experiences... any day I decide to fly with a camera, it will be great right up until the point that I am DONE mounting the camera on the glider. It never fails!

Even on short flights, there's something very special about stepping away from the Earth.

Ignoring the 'camera curse', I decided to take an extra 10 mins to mount my D80 out at the tip of my tandem falcon. This would be the first time I fly with the camera other than a short t-hill test flight.

Smile for the birdie...

The good news is that my new wired remote worked beautifully... the bad news is the 'camera curse' is still alive and well. Luckily flying solo on that tandem glider gives me a killer sink rate, so I was still able to do a few passes before coming and landing on the lip of one of the fingers, rather than going to the bottom (another advantage of that glider, lands easy, anywhere!).

Cold feet, the price of having to land.

I'll be flying with the camera more often now that I'm a super-cool blogger like Jeff ;-)

Snow Day

Woke up to at least half a foot of snow this morning! I guess winter's here.

View out the back door

I helped Des brush off the car so she could go to work, and we played with Jackson the dog for a bit. This was his first REAL snow storm... turns out he's a real powder hound


Greatest dog on Earth, meet greatest snow on Earth

I really wanted to head up to the ski resorts and hike for some turns, but A) I couldn't get anyone to come with me, and B) I don't think there's quite enough snow for that yet...

As the sun is setting I went out and took a walk through the neighborhood. I still can't believe I'm lucky enough to live in such a beautiful place.

North Side at sunset