Saturday I had the day off, and the forecast for the South Side looked decent. Having not flown since November, I decided it was a good day to get some rust off.
As I drove down the frontage road to the South Side, I noticed right in front of me was a familiar white van with a hang glider on the roof... John L and I drove up top and immediately started setting up. Winds were a bit light, but we were hopeful things would pick up.
Just as it started to get really good John Glime pulled in, and frantically started setting up too. John L and I supervised from above :-) Later into the morning, a bunch more hang pilots showed up. Most set up, but it died off before they got to fly. Some chose to fly down, some to break down.
Here is a video from today (thanks Liz for filming!):
Hang Gliding at South Side, Point of the Mountain
(click on the link to watch the video in HD at vimeo.com)
After flying a bunch of us went out for pizza and beverages, putting a nice finishing touch on the day. Then John Glime and I bumped into Heather and Adrian, and they invited us over for dinner... Adrian made a delectable dinner, and we just hung out and talked flying, life, and everything in between. Adrian also showed John and I his workshop, where he makes custom 'zagi' wings. He actually has a computer driven, automated hotwire machine- he just plugs in the dimensions and airfoil, and the machine automatically cuts the wing cores. VERY cool!
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Fun Day on Sunday
I woke up with two texts from Des in my phone, one said "Did you want to go do a run?", and the other (referring to the avalanche forecast) "It's green... green means go!".
I was tempted to stay home and rest my feet, but unable to resist a good time in the great outdoors I sprung to life and got ready. She had to be back by early afternoon, so we were just going to do one quick run and head home.
Since it's so easily accessible, we decided to ski the southerly face of Cardiff Ridge, which is basically right next to Alta, overlooking the parking lot. The tour up was pretty painless, and there were lots of other 'backcountry enthusiasts' out today despite being overcast, flat light, and a bit snowy.
The run down was surprisingly stellar! We weaved back and forth a little until we found a good looking line down, then we laid our tracks on the hill. The snow was a little wetter than the infamous Utah pow, but still very nice. There was also a bit of sun crust maybe a foot or two below the surface snow, but that's to be expected on a south facing slope.
A little lower down I saw a nice line through some trees and asked Des to take my picture as I came down. I openly admit I'm vain like that, and love seeing myself do cool things like aerobatics or powder skiing... lucky for me Des was happy to oblige and set up below. I linked a few turns, which resulted in the below sequence :-)
There's something cool about ripping down a mountain
and leaving a cloud in your wake...
It was a great day to be on skis, and I'm really glad I went. As much as I enjoy resort skiing, there's something about the backcountry that hits deep in my soul. Probably has something to do with the feeling of exploration and the unknown... and the untracked pow :-)
I was tempted to stay home and rest my feet, but unable to resist a good time in the great outdoors I sprung to life and got ready. She had to be back by early afternoon, so we were just going to do one quick run and head home.
Since it's so easily accessible, we decided to ski the southerly face of Cardiff Ridge, which is basically right next to Alta, overlooking the parking lot. The tour up was pretty painless, and there were lots of other 'backcountry enthusiasts' out today despite being overcast, flat light, and a bit snowy.
The run down was surprisingly stellar! We weaved back and forth a little until we found a good looking line down, then we laid our tracks on the hill. The snow was a little wetter than the infamous Utah pow, but still very nice. There was also a bit of sun crust maybe a foot or two below the surface snow, but that's to be expected on a south facing slope.
A little lower down I saw a nice line through some trees and asked Des to take my picture as I came down. I openly admit I'm vain like that, and love seeing myself do cool things like aerobatics or powder skiing... lucky for me Des was happy to oblige and set up below. I linked a few turns, which resulted in the below sequence :-)
There's something cool about ripping down a mountainand leaving a cloud in your wake...
It was a great day to be on skis, and I'm really glad I went. As much as I enjoy resort skiing, there's something about the backcountry that hits deep in my soul. Probably has something to do with the feeling of exploration and the unknown... and the untracked pow :-)
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Tuesday Touring
I had the day off, and originally planned a backcountry day with some of my Deer Valley buddies... but last night things kind of fell apart :-/ One didn't have a ride from Park City, and another got called in to work. I decided I'd just have to sleep in instead...
I got up around 9 and checked the Utah Avalanche Center website (part of my daily morning routine at this point). The forecast was green/low danger, and in the current conditions it said "riding conditions are still excellent", even though it hasn't snowed in over a week. The last line of the forecast really got me, "Get out and bag that long-sought-after super-tour, summit, or line."
I gathered up my stuff, and my avy-rescue dog (in training) and headed up to American Fork Canyon. From Salt Lake, or the Point, or Orem, or anywhere you can see the Wasatch Front really, you can see this one, pointy peak sitting next to the long ridge of Mt. Timpanogos. That pointy peak just North of Timp is Box Elder Peak, and I'm absolutely fascinated by it. I want to summit it, and stand on the pointy peak. Then I want to take my skis and rip that mountain to pieces.
Going at it alone (well, with Jackson, but no other humans that could use a beacon/probe/shovel to dig me out), I knew I wouldn't be skiing any steep and deep today. But that doesn't mean I can't loooooook! So Jackson and I drove as far as we could into American Fork Canyon, and then started to trek.
Avy Jackson, to the rescue! Oh, wait, he's just chasing snowballs again...
I fear the 'green means go' avalanche forecast won't last until my next day off- we have snow in the upcoming forecast, and this nasty surface hoar (AKA frost) was EVERYWHERE today. This stuff is known to be a persistent weak layer responsible for avalanches... the only hope is the new snow starts out wet enough to wipe out the hoar, or it snows a ton and the weight of all the new snow immediately collapses the weak layer. If not, better tread lightly for a while...
Surface hoar, AKA frost. Persistant weak layer. But it makes the snow nice and sparkly :-)
Having not done this journey before, I wasn't sure how far it was, or which way to go. I've studied quite a few topo maps, and Google Earthed it dozens of times, but sure enough there were a few tricky spots where I got lost. Below is a guesstimate of how far I went, and the route I took (minus all the detours).
This is ROUGHLY where I went and how I got there
The trip in looks long, but it was pretty easy. Probably 80-90% of my time west spent on hardpack snow roads, through the many campgrounds up there. Now that I know where to go and how to get there, I think I could get a group to the base of Box Elder in under 2 hours... maybe 3 depending how big the group is and how fast we move.
That's Box Elder Peak on the right, above treeline. The 'hill' to the left is barely visible on topo maps, eclipsed by Box Elder's additional 1,000 ft (Box Elder Peak is over 11,000 ft msl).
Getting to the top looks like... work... to say the least. On the other hand, the skiing looks phenomenal. I saw some fairly easy looking descents, but also some great looking 'big mountain' lines. There are also some steep and narrow chutes that beg exploration. It's one mountain that has it all... and that's just on the North-Easterly aspect that I could see...
I think I've found my new favorite backcountry stomping ground. When the snow is right, and some other people are up for it, I'm heading back... I need to ski that mountain.
I got up around 9 and checked the Utah Avalanche Center website (part of my daily morning routine at this point). The forecast was green/low danger, and in the current conditions it said "riding conditions are still excellent", even though it hasn't snowed in over a week. The last line of the forecast really got me, "Get out and bag that long-sought-after super-tour, summit, or line."
I gathered up my stuff, and my avy-rescue dog (in training) and headed up to American Fork Canyon. From Salt Lake, or the Point, or Orem, or anywhere you can see the Wasatch Front really, you can see this one, pointy peak sitting next to the long ridge of Mt. Timpanogos. That pointy peak just North of Timp is Box Elder Peak, and I'm absolutely fascinated by it. I want to summit it, and stand on the pointy peak. Then I want to take my skis and rip that mountain to pieces.
Going at it alone (well, with Jackson, but no other humans that could use a beacon/probe/shovel to dig me out), I knew I wouldn't be skiing any steep and deep today. But that doesn't mean I can't loooooook! So Jackson and I drove as far as we could into American Fork Canyon, and then started to trek.
Avy Jackson, to the rescue! Oh, wait, he's just chasing snowballs again...I fear the 'green means go' avalanche forecast won't last until my next day off- we have snow in the upcoming forecast, and this nasty surface hoar (AKA frost) was EVERYWHERE today. This stuff is known to be a persistent weak layer responsible for avalanches... the only hope is the new snow starts out wet enough to wipe out the hoar, or it snows a ton and the weight of all the new snow immediately collapses the weak layer. If not, better tread lightly for a while...
Surface hoar, AKA frost. Persistant weak layer. But it makes the snow nice and sparkly :-)Having not done this journey before, I wasn't sure how far it was, or which way to go. I've studied quite a few topo maps, and Google Earthed it dozens of times, but sure enough there were a few tricky spots where I got lost. Below is a guesstimate of how far I went, and the route I took (minus all the detours).
This is ROUGHLY where I went and how I got there The trip in looks long, but it was pretty easy. Probably 80-90% of my time west spent on hardpack snow roads, through the many campgrounds up there. Now that I know where to go and how to get there, I think I could get a group to the base of Box Elder in under 2 hours... maybe 3 depending how big the group is and how fast we move.
That's Box Elder Peak on the right, above treeline. The 'hill' to the left is barely visible on topo maps, eclipsed by Box Elder's additional 1,000 ft (Box Elder Peak is over 11,000 ft msl).Getting to the top looks like... work... to say the least. On the other hand, the skiing looks phenomenal. I saw some fairly easy looking descents, but also some great looking 'big mountain' lines. There are also some steep and narrow chutes that beg exploration. It's one mountain that has it all... and that's just on the North-Easterly aspect that I could see...
I think I've found my new favorite backcountry stomping ground. When the snow is right, and some other people are up for it, I'm heading back... I need to ski that mountain.
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