March 28, 2017

A New Hope

March 24th was a happy day

After a long, hot stretch of zeros - the snow finally came back... just before I was about to lose my mind...


Thursday March 23

The advantage of daylight savings? After work powder skiing when its been snowing all day. That doesn't happen very often, but when it does, its hard to beat.

We skied 3 laps of Emma Ridge and all of a sudden, everything in life clicked back into place...


Friday March 24

Back up to Emma Ridge for a dawn patrol. We timed daybreak perfectly and since it was finally (somewhat) cold overnight, the snow was even lighter and drier than the evening before. We skied two laps before heading to work... the second lap in the sunshine was especially sublime.






Saturday March 25

Solo outing since Andrea had Bioventures. Started at Alta and did a mini Tour de Days via Flagstaff - skied the Upper Bowl, Main Days, Hideaway Park, Jaws, and then back down via Toledo Bowl. Low visibility so I didn't really take any photos. The snow was really good on the north aspects and in protected trees... everything else was combat turns.


Sunday March 26

The spring break crew arrived - my sister Jenna and cousin Andy. We took them up to Solitude for a sunshine resort day. Nice conditions in the morning and early afternoon.

Skiing is the best!



March 23, 2017

Record Highs


Two weeks with zero snow and to add insult to injury - record high temperatures (valley and mountains). I don't even want to talk about it.


I struggle with the transition from winter to spring. It doesn't make sense because I LOVE SPRING. During the competitive running years of my life I should have embraced the warmer weather, but managed to have mental breakdowns almost every spring. In hindsight I think I thrived in the challenge of training hard through the winter, and would fall apart when that obstacle disappeared. The last few years, as our focus has moved back towards skiing, I've struggled with the transition from cold powder skiing to all-kinds-of-conditions-including-tshirts skiing (even though, as I mentioned above, I really love spring/summer skiing). Anyways - I'm going to try and not have a mental downward spiral in 2018! I've only been saying that since 2012.

We had some nice days out in the mountains last week that kept the mojo from dropping... and its snowing again now (3/23)...

Tuesday March 14

My friend Matt was in Utah for a bike race and his flight back east got cancelled, so Andrea and I got the privilege of taking him up LCC for the first time. The snow conditions were fairly bad (isothermal mush) but it was great weather and always great to take someone out for their Alta vicinity debut...





Thursday March 16

Andrea's parents were in town for the rest of the week. She took them up to Brighton for the day... the first time either of us has skied at Brighton after doing seven thousand Great Western rando laps last winter...




Friday March 17

Snowbird lift day in pretty nice conditions. Following the sun, the snow softened up nicely and it didn't get too slushy.


Fortunately these lines only existed for a few runs in Mineral Basin in the morning.

Scoping the SE face of Superior

Saturday March 18

I was solo this morning and planned on just skiing some mellow S facing laps across from Alta... but the wind kept the slow from completely cooking into slush, so I ended up skiing the SE face of Mt Superior...

March 12, 2017

Opposite ends of the spectrum

A magical minute at Alta on Monday evening

On Monday evening I had to stop and put on an extra down layer while climbing uphill because I was too cold. By Wednesday afternoon it was shorts weather.

The week started off with a foot of fresh snow... nothing unusual for this winter. We skied on Monday after work and then on Tuesday/Wednesday mornings. By Thursday, though, it was just HOT out. It seems like our non-stop winter has finally hit the pause button for a bit - nothing in the long range forecast but you know its coming back at some point. Don't stop believing!



Monday March 6

Dusk Patrol - 4 laps off Emma Ridge. Real nice conditions...




Tuesday March 7

Solo day - didn't have much time so I grabbed the low hanging fruit and skied a few laps in Mill D.


Wednesday March 8

Andrea and I went up to Scottie's Bowl for a couple laps. The snow was wind affected in the open areas, but the sheltered areas closer to the trees were great...







And now for something completely different...

Thursday March 9

It's getting hot in herrrre. Storm tracks are stuck north. Ran in shorts to work. Dreaming of Montana and British Columbia.

Actual conversation on Thursday night while getting ready for bed:

"I don't even remember the last time we went skiing."

"JAKE we skied YESTERDAY morning"

Sunday March 12

Missed skiing yesterday because Andrea had Bioventures and I have an all-day conference. Didn't go out today because the sun didn't come out until 4pm and it was highly unlikely that anything would have softened up. We missed the whole weekend... Andrea - I don't even remember the last time we went skiing! :-)

What is happening?!?!

Alta-Collins Temperature (this is not fake news)...

Salt Lake City forecast...



Ughhhhh...

March 5, 2017

February out, March in



Right on the heels of the best week ever we got another early week storm dropping 2+ feet in the Cottonwoods. Unreal. The latest refresher led to dawn patrols on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. By the weekend the warm temperatures and high winds had done a number on the snow. We went out for a short tour with the intentions of skiing something new on Saturday, then took Sunday off to rest for the next storm. Another 20+ inches in the forecast for tomorrow... we are so spoiled this season.


Tuesday February 28

Solo powder laps in Mill D. Went fast and just skied as much as I could before work. Got in 4 laps of absolute hero snow and took a single photo...


Wednesday March 1

Flagstaff laps with Andrea. Great snow once again but too cold to take many pictures. Cold is good - it keeps the snow soft.




Friday March 3

Solo Scottie's Bowl with soft turns and a rejuvenating sunrise.






Saturday March 4

Finally checked God's Lawnmower off our list. What a name for a ski run / giant avalanche path. Its the obvious one I marked on the first photo below. Snow was alright but the winds were howling and the sun had done damage to anything not facing directly north. A good adventure outing!






Sunday March 5

First day off from skiing on a weekend since Thanksgiving. Super windy and the snowpack needs a fresh coat of white. I actually went running, which has been very uncommon on weekends this season, and that says everything about how relentlessly amazing the skiing has been.