Slushy

Since it was 33F and sleeting in Provo Canyon, Rick and I opted to head up to the Baghdad Cave and do some drytooling. Unfortunately, the road was totally snowed in and there was no parking, so we went to plan B. We drove back to a very thin and wet Bridalveil Falls and got soaked to the bone. Either way, it was nice to get out and swing tools for the first time this season.

Free Refills

While today's snow wasn't nearly as amazing as yesterday's, there was plenty of it. Jamon and I just headed to the same place again and busted out another quick pre-work lap. Nothing to write home about, but definitely worth waking up early.

And We're Back!

After Sunday's slop-fest, Mother Nature decided to stop screwing around and dumped 20 inches of 4% blower powder on us over the last 24 hours. Not to mention the 12+ inches that fell Sunday night. So, Jamon and I headed to our standard high-danger area and busted out a lap of the season's best snow. This morning's awesomeness cannot be overstated.

Spoiled

If I still lived in Washington, where snow with 25% water content was considered "powder," then today would have been amazing. However, I'm a little spoiled, and now think that you can't actually make a snowball out of powder snow. So, today was kind of a drag. When Jamon and I left the car below USA Bowl, it was 35-degrees and "snowing." We ran up 2000ft in a touch over an hour (well, I ran while Jamon sweated pure alcohol), changed over quickly since we were now wet and cold, and skied back to the car. Bitch, moan, complain... hey, it's still nice to live here.

Low Expectations

Though we got a touch of snow last night, today was warm. Like, destroy the snowpack warm. Jamon, Dan, and myself didn't meet up until 1:00 in the afternoon, and we only went out because we felt like we should do something with our day, no matter how small. We drove up into BCC and chose a roadside spot that we had seen before but didn't want to waste a good day exploring. Amazingly, we did find some good snow, but not a lot of it.

Fire in the Sky

Today was much warmer than yesterday, and when Jen and I started skinning a touch after 6:00am, we expected to pretty much stretch our legs and then ski some really crappy snow back to the car. Everything on the way up was garbage, but it seems that I'm finally starting to get a handle on the Wasatch, because we were able to tuck over the ridge to a slightly better aspect and get excellent fluffy awesomeness for all but the last couple hundred feet. The sunrise was pretty bad-ass too.

Meadow Ripping

This morning, Jamon and I were joined by Dan for the first time this season. What this really means is that instead of having one rabbit to chase around the backcountry, I now had two. On the other hand, Dan has been doing the dad thing, so he wasn't as hard to run down as usual. Well, until it came to actually going down. We got a early, cold start on a Meadow Chutes lap and were awarded with an absolutely beautiful sunrise and light to match. It was definitely worth the morning chill.

PC Hockey Tournament: Day 3

Yesterday, the Diamonds tied Jackson Hole (because the ref missed a goal) and then won their second game. That put them in the championship game against Jackson again. Unfortunately, Jackson won, but the Diamond's still got second place in the tournament. I was experimenting with some different camera stuff, which basically led to me not getting any good photos. Sorry ladies.

Hallway

Blower, overhead powder is nice and all, but truth be told, my very favorite type of snow is when you have about 18-inches of powder with gradually denser snow underneath. You still get face shots, but you can actually ski hard and hit steep stuff without the worry. Well, that's exactly what we had today, on every aspect. Jamon, Tyler, Allison, Jim and myself dropped a car a the base of BCC, drove to Alta, and then proceeded to ski a lap in Silver Fork, a shot in Day's Fork, the Hallway Couloir, and another shot in Mineral before skiing back to the other canyon. It was definitely the best day of the season so far. Big thanks to Jim for showing up the entrance to the Hallway. Jamon and I never would have found it without someone to point the way. And big thanks to Tyler, who I just met this morning, for wearing a bright yellow jacket and charging hard.