Thanks Jen

Jen is way too sick to go ice climbing and way too psyched to stay at home, so we went ice climbing.

It's amazing how many accidents happen as a result of a belayer lowering a climber off the end of a rope. It can happen easily if someone isn't paying attention while doing a pretty mundane task. I topped out the day's first pitch and the anchor was completely covered. So I traversed 30 feet to the left and lowered off a different route. I didn't know it, but the 70m rope was about 25 feet too short to make it up one pitch, across the ledge, and down the other. Jen was tired from a night without much sleep and still pretty sick. It was the perfect combination of distraction and confusion to get me dropped. But... when I got about 30 feet off the ground Jen stopped, and I looked down to see a couple feet of line left before the end disappeared through her brake hand. I secured myself while she tied into the end and got the counter-weight belay. Had my belayer not been paying attention despite her crappy condition, I'd probably be in the hospital right now. Thanks.

Other than that little victory in safety, we climbed a few pitches of ice and one mixed choss pile. Temps are high in SLC, but the ice is still bomber in Provo.

Sick Game

Despite still being very sick (as opposed to sic!), Jen decided that she wanted to play hockey tonight. On my part, I still suck at shooting hockey photos, but I'm starting to get things figured out a bit.

Today Was Not Yesterday

We were hoping that the high of 20F would have kept USA bowl from getting cooked, but it seems that the sun did its thing anyway. Fortunately, the place is now without trees, and as long as you stayed within 50-feet of a tree row then you got some excellent powder. Allison joined our standard crew today, wore bright stuff to make the photographer happy, and even remembered her boots!

Sorry Allison, couldn't help myself.

Best...Dawn Patrol...Ever

Between the bluebird skies, all the fresh snow from last night, and the cold temps to keep everything nice and fluffy, I think this morning may qualify as my best dawn patrol to date. It's easily top five. Jamon, Alex, and I went into USA bowl to find not one other person and not a track in sight. We did two laps of ski-wherever-you-want freshies before we all had to go to work. There is no doubt that those turns paid for the pain of the early alarm.

Great White Barbecue

Last night I got an e-mail from my friend Kyle. He mentioned his disgust with the lack of dedication in the Wasatch BBQing scene and explained how he was going to bring things to the next level. So today, Jen and I soloed the first two pitches of the Great White Icicle and pulled onto the large ledge where Kyle and several friends had set up a full-size, charcoal grill and were well on their way to setting new standards in alpine barbecuing. We heckled the parties above without mercy after they managed to turn two pitches of easy ice into four and cross their ropes into a very impressive tangle spiderweb. And Zac, if you need a witness to confirm that Britney owes you $100 for eating the burnt-to-a-crisp brat off her crampon, just let me know. I'll testify.

1 Caught, 1 Carried

It's been nearly a month since I was last on skis, but Grant called and asked if Jen and I wanted to go out for a tour and poke around the jacked Wasatch snow, so we agreed. Shortly after peeling our skins, I went to ski cut the entrance to a steep-sided couloir. Instead of making a nice, fast ski cut, I half-assed it. So, when the slope went, I got tangled up and carried for a bit. As far as avalanches go, this one was pretty safe. But that doesn't change the fact that I fucked up bad. Anyway, snow was pretty variable, but there were still good turns to be had. Be careful out there.