Zion Splitters

Lately the weather in Salt Lake has been smoggy with a chance of unhappiness. In light of this, it was time we headed south in search of better weather or least more lung friendly air. The forecast for Zion National Park read "Sunny with a high of 60", much better than SLC! 

We could only make a day trip out of it, but it was well worth the 9 hours of driving, especially with the price of gas these past couple of weeks.

My beautiful girlfriend with a beautiful background

Leading my first 10..it's not the size that matters it's how you use it

Chesy on TR

Wigged OUT

Splitter 5.9 "Cherry Crack"

 

City Living...City Skiing

When I used to live at Foothill Place Apartments I always had this lingering question as to how far I’d have to walk to ski reasonable powder. Originally, my assumption was Granduer, which I skied in fat powder conditions from summit to parking lot on Presidents Day 2011 and in springy conditions back in April of 2010 when I first came to Salt Lake.  Well, now that I’ve moved to Midvale I guess it would be a direct line to Broads Fork Twin Peaks but that’s beyond the point. I’ve always been curious if any of the foothills directly north of I-80 skied well…

Well after school was cancelled on Friday, (well normal school…graduate school [slavery] was not cancelled but to avoid getting stuck I assumed one shortened day wouldn’t hurt) I was more concerned with getting home safely than the conditions of the foothills. Besides they never skied, at least as far as I know.  So Chesy and I woke up on Saturday, skinned to the ridge on Flagstaff, and descended in reasonable conditions (8-12 inches of Powder on top of a stout crust). Well a short trip to work on Saturday revealed a plethora of already skied lines; ones which I thought never existed.

Chesy skinning up Flagstaff 

On the untracked descent 

So I hustled through my reactions and sped home with excitement and the intent to go as early as possible on Sunday but I couldn’t resist testing the water that day so Nak and I skied directly above the ridge by H-rock.

H-rock 

The other girl I bring along 

Tracked out

On Sunday as I was driving to the Mt. Wire Red Butte Gardens areas I spotted a line right at the Junction of I-80 and 215. I couldn’t resist…how cool would it be to lay down tracks that everyone on the highways could see? Not to mention ski something that rarely, if ever, has been skied. 

Putting in the skin track right next to I-80 

My morning accompaniment  notice the pointy eared coyote? in the middle right

Nice skinner guys 

Tracks 

My afternoon accompaniment 

Who say's dogs can't smile? 

Chesy giving it her best shot to not hit any rocks 

 The exit both for the skin track and the highway

Mush!

Pictures of Late

A hectic holidays has led me to neglect posting any tangible backcountry photos so here are some for your weary Monday viewing pleasure.

Toledo bowl w/Chesy 

Everybody loves Raymond despite the windjack and poor skinning 

Jason loses his manhood

As I sit here aimlessly in Baltimore listening to screaming children incessantly get placed in timeout while I watch the snowfall in Salt Lake I've begun to wonder why anyone in the world would ever have children or for that matter get married. But...after meeting Jason's wife Amanda 6 months ago I guess I can make a few exceptions.

This being the case on Thursday a bachelor party was arranged for Jason Dorais courtesy of his brother Andy (whom arranged a very nice get together). We skied, drank beer, consumed a fair amount of brats and sausages  and we even were graced by the presence of strippers albeit they were of the wrong gender and with our party, and for some reason everyone still took pictures (which if you'd like to see visit another one of my fellow bloggers websites...I'm sure they'll turn up).

All and all a great time on all accounts...some say mine's next. We'll see about that.

The festivities begin

A great spot for a party

Tracks

The man with the boobcake in the foreground

BBQ

The bachelor...that motorboatin son of a bitch

Good food, good friends, good times

 Who say's you can't have fun on little skis...me dropping courtesy of Adam O'Keefe

This guy is actually a doctor can you believe that

A Fresh Coat of Paint

I'll spare the "pleasant surprise, it rained on Tuesday, only expected 6 inches" rant and get right down to buisness. It snowed (I even had to shovel my driveway) more than was expected and enough to get some serious skiing in. Judging by the amount of people out yesterday I would assume much of Salt Lake knew this as well, nonetheless it was a good day.

Travel first took me into silver fork for a few laps then over to Toledo bowl for a few more. I'd say probably 5 or 6,000 vert. for a short day outing.

Packed skin track

Turns

I must admit at first my setup: Dynafit Broad Peaks, Scarpa Aliens, and Dynafit Tech Binding did not appease someone who skies K2 Hellbents (with a 130 underfoot). But persistence using my lightweight skis/boots/binding has led me to believe this is the ultimate ski in one's quiver; just enough ski/boot to actually enjoy the down but light enough (under 10 lbs but I'm no gear junkie) to really cover some serious ground even for a fat kid like me. 

Skiing 

 Chesy couldn't make it up; some business about forgetting snowpants or bad roads so here she is repelling.

Oh yeah and some cam art + beer