In search of snow: MLK weekend. January 16-18, 2010

Tim and I packed our bags and headed out after work on Friday for Salt Lake City for the long weekend. There wasn't much desirable skiing in the backcountry here, so we thought we would go to some new terrain and see some friends too. Most of my teammates live in SLC, and luckily they also like to ski tour and go in search of fresh tracks in powder. Well, we got 50% of it right. We did get fresh tracks. Just not in powder. A great weekend, despite that Utah is also suffering from a lack of snow.

Saturday the crew headed up White Pine Fork and Red Pine fork, doing a shake down cruise together. We did over 9 miles and about 3500 feet of climbing. Only my second time out for the season on my backcountry gear. It was an adventure, b/c the skiing was certainly not great. Marginal at best. But good to be out and above the inversion (read:smog) in the city.

The valley.

Singletrack of a different sort.

Matt crossing the bridge.

Such a great team manager and friend. Always supporting me!

Alex and Bart continually waiting for the rest of us.

Good to be in the snow playing.

A successful outing. We are all alive and well!

Sunday the group dwindled to four. We did a point to point tour from BUTLER fork to Porter Fork. It started in Big Cottonwood Canyon and ended in Mill Creek Canyon. It was a 3 hour climb before we even took our skins off the first time. Over 9 miles and 5000 feet of climbing, it was a big day. It was more for the views and the experience than the skiing, unfortunately, but hey, I think I had about a half dozen turns in really good snow. Bart and Alex were wonderful tour guides and really did find the best of the bad snow.

A perfect starting place.

The aspens were amazing.

As were the views from Gobblers Knob.

Happy to be up at 10,000 feet. Finally.

The turns look a lot better than they were. Gorilla skiing is what I like to call it.

We all had great attitudes and are still smiling after our 2nd not so great run!

On Monday we opted for a different type of fresh tracks:

Luckily staying with Matt and having Bart and Alex close by, Tim and I were fully outfitted with shoes, helmets, bikes, & gear for a winter ride. And it was really fun. 2.5 hours of fun and some good challenges with slick ice under snow. Always an adventure...

The trails right above the city.

Playing in the snow on two wheels was just as fun!