I fly, I fly!

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!

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 :-)

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.

Capturing the beauty of Utah

Those that know me, know that I'm never far from my camera. And for good reason... you never know when you're going to see something photo-worthy, so if you want epic shots you need to always be prepared!

I try to find something photo-worthy at least once a week... sometimes the shots come out, some times not so much. Here are a few I've had sitting around, 3 of the 4 are recent...

Late-day Sun-Ray

This one is from the summer, taken from the top of the North Side bench. As the sun set, a low level fog set in, and the 'layers' of mountains made for some neat 'sun-rays' through the fog.

Red sky in morning, sailor take warning.
But to a skier in Utah, this can mean... POWDER DAY!

This one was taken coming up Rt. 80 through Parley's Canyon, coming from Salt Lake to Park City. It took a few tries before I captured someone's tail lights streaking by, and by that time the vivid colors had already started to dissipate. Live and learn I guess...

Mount Olympus in the starlight

This one was taken on a sub-zero roadside on my way home from Deer Valley. I had to put stand the tripod on the roof of the car in order to get a good angle over those trees. Since it was dark the auto focus wouldn't work, so I had to manually ballpark it. My lens has distances written on it, but those are more-or-less guidelines, because in hot or cold temperatures things expand/contract and the distances can be off. It looked in focus on the little LCD, so I didn't take another... but when I got home it was clearly out of focus. DOH. Still, I think it captured the beauty of the mountains with Orion's Belt overhead...

Lonely sunrise

The crown jewell of my scenic collection, I took this one from the hang glider launch on the North Side one moring leaving for work. This photo is pretty stunning, but to see it in real life what breath-taking. I couldn't tell you why, but as the sun came up over Lone Peak, there was just so much color, it was incredible! This was another tripod and slow-shutter-speed shots, I wanted a low ISO and a 'smooth' look. Since the mountains and houses didn't move, they're nice and sharp, but because the clouds were moving I got that smoothed look I was going for...

Adventure Thursday is BACK

Had a GREAT day skiing at Brighton today!!! I, and a few of my Deer Valley buddies, had the day off today, so we made a plan to ski Brighton together. Besides myself, Brooks and Chris came out, and we got an early start (we were in the lift line before the lifts were open). Sandy met us there only a run or two later. After a few more runs we bumped into Ben and one of his buddies that's here visiting, so we were a group of 6 most of the day.

I wanted to go to Brighton because I recently signed up for a 'big mountain skiing' clinic at Alta/Snowbird... and skiing in a wedge on the flats of Deer Valley doesn't really prepare me for that type of skiing. Those that know me know I have a bit of pride, so I wanted to get some 'big mountain' practice in before the clinic.

Brighton is great for that type of skiing- they get tons of snow, it's steep, all the lifts are high speed quads... and my absolute favorite thing about Brighton is the anything goes attitude there. You want to duck a rope and ski out of bounds? Ok, but you're on your own. You want to ski in the double-diamond, experts only areas? Go for it... but know that a wrong turn might lead you off a 40 ft cliff. Seriously.

I don't recall mentioning that I wanted to practice big mountain skiing, but since I've been to Brighton more than the other guys I became the unofficial leader... which meant those suckers had to follow me down whatever gnar I could find. And we found some gnar! Cliffs, rocks, steeps, pow, tracked out crud snow, sun crusted snow, thaw-freeze snow... there was a caucophany of textures underneat our feet.

While not skiing scary lines, Chris and I peer-pressured Brooks into jumping off what I would call a medium to large sized cliff (considering how hard the snow for landing). He stuck it beautifully.

We're taught as instructors to be careful what we allow our kids to do, because "monkey see, monkey do" can be a real problem. Apparently Chris wasn't listening, because a run or two later Chris wanted to try his first cliff jump ever. The snow wasn't real deep or soft today, but we were able to find him a nice little drop to try out. He said he was nervous, but didn't seem to hesitate much before commiting and popping right off it. The landing was a non-event, and with a big smile he said he wanted to do more!

Since hucking cliffs is sometimes involved in big mountain skiing, and since it's quite possibly what I need to work on the MOST, we took some time jumping off things. We were like little kids... find a rock, jump in the snow. Find a bigger rock, jump in the snow. Chris' first one was pretty mellow, but his second was of decent size...

Chris' second-ever cliff jump. Brooks acts as air-traffic-control from below.

The biggest air of the day award goes to Brooks, who launched himself long distance off a boulder a little later in the day. The landing was soft and he nailed it. He came to a stop, then fell over :-) DOH! It was pretty sick though...

Brooks LAUNCHES off this rock, sails throught he air, and sticks it!

I think I need to award myself the wipeout of the day award, even though only Sandy and Brooks saw it. I got myself in a position where I needed to turn around in order to jump a small cliff and land in soft snow. By the time I managed turning around, I was pretty close to the drop. I think I commited fully, but I was so close that I didn't get any real speed and instead of launching out and away I just droped and sunk to my nipples. I followed this with an epic faceplant/cartwheel in the snow, and wound up on my feet 20 ft below the cliff (and my perfectly parallel-parked skis). It was painless, and hillarious, bruising only my ego. I seem to have this chronic problem where I do these drops going too slow and faceplant. Guess I need more practice... we'll have to hit Brighton again, ASAP!

All in all we had a blast. Found some new favorite spots on the mountain (and some spots I will never return to)... got some great skiing (with some great skiers).... and I nearly made it the whole day without falling, not bad considering the terrain we were on most of the day. Possibly one of my favorite ski days ever...

A hike is a hike

As it seems to be the case for most of the adventures I set out on, I never made it to my intended destination (the Lone Peak cirque). I did, however, very much enjoy getting out. I got some exercise, saw some neat things along the way, and got to spend some time in the mountains. I like the mountains because they always serve a healthy portion of reality... this time I was reminded how little I am, in a very big world.

I thought this picture summed up how little I feel in the mountains...

Having never hiked up Lone Peak before, I wasn't sure which trail was the best/fastest way to the top. I wound up following a trail that cut across the hill for a ways before going straight up. The trail had snow on it, but it was hard wind-scoured snow, which was then packed down by other people... pretty easy going.

Following in others footsteps

Most of Lone Peak still bares the scars from the big fire here this past summer... a lot of the mountain is defoliated, with nothing but the stalks of torched brush sticking up from the snow.

It's sad to see all the burned trees and brush

Overlooking the burned brush, the view out into the valley was great. Having not flown the North Side in a while, it was nice to see the "bench" from above again... it's pretty with snow on it. It was a clear blue-bird day, and I could see all the way to the Opher mountains on the other side of the valley (where the flying site 'Commodore' is).

Looking into the valley you can see Draper, the North Side, and the Ophirs in the distance

Being alone and all, I lacked the motivation to move quickly up the mountain. As it got later in the day, I had to face the realization that I could EITHER make it to the summit before dark, OR make it back to my car before dark... but NOT both. Even though I have Monday off too, I decided sleeping unsheltered on a mountain top was more fun than I signed on for this time, so I started my walk of shame back down, having never made the cirque. After studying some maps later, I wasn't even half-way there. There's GOT to be an easier/faster route to the top?

Look at these deer tracks... was this deer sliding and even doing slalom turns?!

All in all it was a fun time, and I'm definitely glad I did it... next time I'm starting earlier and not stopping until I reach the top, even if that means camping overnight!!!

I'll end this entry with one artsy photo, of a leaf that survived the fires, survived fall, and now is just sitting there surviving the snow. Pretty inspiring if you take the time to think about it.

Lofty Aspirations

Finally another day off, and again I'm just not masochistic enough to force my feet into ski boots today. My feet appreciate the favor. I'm off tomorrow, so depending on how they feel, I might ski a bit tomorrow...

Today, though, I feel the need for adventure. I want to get out, enjoy the outdoors and sunshine... even if it is only 12 degrees today. I'm heading for a little hike/mountaineering excursion up Lone Peak. I've always wanted to go up to the cirque, and the closest I came this summer is flying over it... I never made the time to actually get up there. That's the plan today, we'll see how it goes...

Anyone staying indoors where it's warm and reading this can track my progress at www.instamapper.com, username 'flyhigh013' and password 'whereisryan'. You should check it out, it's pretty cool. Be sure to look at the map in satelite view (there's a drop down menu in the top right corner of the map).

More to come if I make it back alive :-)

Appreciative Feet

Today was my first day off since our Snowbird day on the 18th, and I decided to make it my first day out of ski boots since I don't even know when, Dec. 8th (Des's birthday was my first day of work).

For Christmas Santa brought the Wasatch Range 4+ ft of the greatest snow on earth, so I have to assume I missed a pretty epic powder day... But my feet sure are happy. Besides, today was a blackout day at Deer Valley, and I really can't afford to be buying lift tickets... so that leaves the backcountry. The avalanche forecast for today (view it here) was very high, and the forecasters stated that natural and human triggered avalanches were a certainty today. They said "backcountry travelers should stay off of and out from underneath any slope steeper than about 30 degrees"... I don't know if you've tried to ski a less-than-30 degree slope with 4+ ft of powder, but it's not much fun... it becomes a very straight run (not worth hiking and risking my life for).

Natural avalanche in our backyard

I used the morning to relax and clean the house a bit, and then ran some errands in the afternoon. When I got home to took Jackson out to the flight park for a run in the snow, and we had so much fun we played until dark. Then we came home, and I decided to take some pictures of Jackson and Bonnie playing in the backyard.

Jackson walked up the hill, and then jumped into the deep pow...
it was hilarious!

Bonnie plowing through the fluff (chasing a snowball)

Bird Doggin'

A group of Deer Valley instructors had the day off, so we decided to head up to "The Bird". The weather forecast read "possible AM snow flurries", but in Little Cottonwood Canyon that can equate to a powder day...

Billy gets a face shot

We boarded the tram for the first ride up (my first time at Snowbird, and my first time on the tram), and I here this familiar voice: "RYAN!" I look around, and see a pair of eyes looking at me over the sea of hats and helmets... it's "Dude" (Kevin Koonce, Kitty Hawk Kites instructor turned Point Rat).

"Dude" floatin' the gnar

When we got to the top I introduced the group to Dude, who proceeded to take us around to all his favorite powder stashes. Needless to say, we were much appreciative!!! Later in the day Dude had to split and go to work, so then Erin became our tour guide.

Erinski ripping. 'Nuff said.

Later in the afternoon, the snow stopped, the clouds broke, and it turned into a bluebird day. A stellar afternoon was capped with Melanie accidentally shooting off a cliff, cheating death, but losing a ski in the snow... After an exhausting search, it was not recovered... Snowbird Patrol said they will continue to look, but it might not turn up until spring!

Good snow. Good friends. Good day! What more could one ask for?!

Deer Valley 2009

All this week I'll be doing instructor training up at Deer Valley. I have to admit it's nice to get some skiing in WITHOUT having to hike up the mountain for it... although everything is groomed instead of freshies.

Winter is taking it's sweet time, and we're all anxiously awaiting the 'lake effect' storms Salt Lake is known for. Deer Valley tends to get less snow than the other (Cottonwood) resorts, with only 300 annual inches of snow. The upside is that, as long as it's cold enough to make snow, Deer Valley's snow making ability is absurd. I'm told they are fully equipped to blow enough snow to cover every major run, all winter long. They haven't had the opportunity to cover everything yet, though... so those thinking of visiting, wait 'till Jan.

Today we did get a bit of snow, with a short whiteout period where we were happy to be bombarded by tons of big fat flakes. It was nice to get back to my car at the end of the day and see that the parking lot, which was bare pavement when I got there, was blanketed by a bit of white.

A bit of white in the parking lot, but a decent amount on the mountain