Emi express

I pulled a small train of between 1-3 riders at various times up Emigration last night. I know some people get upset by the un-announced wheel sucker also known as a barnacle but it doesn't bother me so much. I have to admit if I ever saw a 6'8" slipstream anywhere on the road I would hop onboard that train ASAP. It was a pleasant climb up. The lower half of the canyon was mostly dry and the upper half was only wet in spots. By the time I got to the top the evening clouds rolled in and I froze my nuts off on the way down but it's all good. Right now the endurance is there but the "snap" is not. Hopefully that will change by summer.

A Hint of Spring

I think the cold hard grip of winter is finally starting to loosen. I was on call this weekend and couldn't range far but thanks to the relatively balmy temps I didn't need to. I got out for 7.5 hrs on the road in the last three days mostly riding various 45 minute loops around my house. Saturday seemed like a summer day there were so many riders out but the last two days surprisingly not so much even though it was just as warm. I did see Ski Utah putting in the hours on Sunday. Today is supposed to be 60+ deg so if the MRI gods cooperate and I get out of work on time I'll try to do an inaugural 2009 Emigration ride.

Laramie Enduro

We signed up for the Laramie Enduro 111K MTB race on August 1st. It sounds like a pretty fun event and the price is right at only $60. It will be Rhonda's first solo endurance event so she's excited to have a goal to train for but also nervous about committing to a race that's so long. I'm excited because the race fee includes a post race dinner party with Wyoming beer.

Productive Holiday

Tearing up the underlayment
Progress as of quitting time last night

Since I had played the previous two days I felt like I needed to accomplish something on Presidents day. I got a pretty good amount done for a days work (plus a couple hours after skiing the day before). Tore up the old particle board underlayment, nailed down most of the bamboo and I also shortened the length of the half-wall guarding the stairs by about 12" to increase the size of the entryway.

PC is for eating, BCC is for skiing

Valen-times breakfast a day late

I think I was trying too hard to make photogenic turns cause those suck


Looking at the Honeycomb lift at Solitude. I've drooled over this ridge since the first time I skied Solitude. Now I can check it off the Bucket list.

Davenport hill on the right. Not sure what the big center peak is called?

This was the exit all the way down to the highway. It's much steeper than it looks and required jump turns most of the way down. Fun but maybe pushing it a bit solo.

Tiger shrimp fajitas and top shelf margaritas in PC last night for Valen-times, bluebird powder skiing in BCC today. Had a nice tour of Greens Basin. Since I was flying solo I was looking to explore something fun but mellow. Wasatch Tours Vol 2 made Greens Basin sound like it fit the bill. It didn't. Awesome snow and great skiing but a little hairier than I like to do solo.

Waist Deep

We came in the back way
The skin track was filling as fast as we skinned it

Utah powder....

Rocks!

Well, maybe thigh deep on me but defiantly waist deep on Rhonda. The superlight fluff from last night was the icing on the cake of the all the snow we've been getting recently. Ken joined us for some turns in hidden park which I believe is one drainage over from powder park.

Change of Plans

Too much fresh up north and not enough sun down south have forced my hand. We're going to stay here this weekend and do some touring instead of heading to Dixie to rip some singletrack. Hopefully base miles skinning are almost as good as base miles pedaling. Based on the number of people I know who have been having to cancel trips to southern Utah this year due to crappy weather St George is going to need an extra boost from the new Stimulus package to stay afloat.

Pillaging the pow (with a little help from UTA)

Looking back at Davenport
Steep, Deep and untouched into Days Fork

Rob almost needed a snorkle

After weights and the trainer on Friday and 3 hours on the road Saturday a big tour on Sunday sounded just right to finish off my legs for the week. The new snow had bonded nicely to the older layers so the plan was to hit some nice steeps preferably with a thick base of recrystallized under the new fresh. I met Ken, Rob and Jim (on his first real tour) at the 6200 S park and ride to catch the bus up to Alta. From Alta we skinned up Grizzly and popped over the top into the east bowl of Davenport. Jim's gear wasn't totally cooperating with the terrain so after the skin back up to Davenport he dropped back down to Alta and we continued on to the west bowl of Davenport. The snow in the east bowl was a little heavy but the snow between the trees in the west bowl was excellent and there was plenty more to come. We grabbed a bite to eat and tackled the skin up to Emma Ridge and ended up looking down into Days fork. Dropped one of the chutes into Days Fork where it was steep and deep. For some reason the storm gods decided to drop about twice as much fresh in upper Days than there was in Silver Fork and the turns were truely awesome. From there we stuck the skins back on and headed towards Flagstaff Peak. By this time I was feeling the prior two days workouts and the skin up hurt but it was all worth it. The Helo's had not been out yet and the turns down the Days cirque were epic. We skied all the way down to the Highway (3200 ft over 4 miles) popping out at Spruces and grabbed the 3:30 ski bus back down to the parking lot. Man what an awesome tour! You would be hard pressed to find anywhere in the world with that sweet of turns in the backyard.