The skis finally got a chance to play!  This morning Wade and I as well as my coworker Clark went out for a short dawn patrol.


We decided on Circle Awl because it was predominantly west facing and had the highest safety factor, since this was all of our first times out this season it seamed prudent.  The snow on the west face wasn't bad, though it was very tracked out (likely because its a safe area and its still pretty questionable in places out there)


This top section looked like snowbird, it was really tracked, but there was better stuff lower down.  The snow was heavy but soft and about 5-6 inches.


It turned into quite a long tour because of the scourge of the backcountry skier, CSF or Con-genitive skins failure for Clark, they just wouldn't hook up!  Here is wade scouting the line...knowing that we would have to leave a man behind.  Turns out Clark is a good sport and a persistent fellow pushing along for another good little while before eventually calling it, with a good attitude the whole time.  Here's hope that he get his news skins soon so he can embarrass Wade and I another time with his mad speed.


Here is what you missed out on, but I'm sure you've seen it before.  It was kind of new to me, its was fun to see Raymond and Goblers so clearly!

So it was 1.8 miles up, 1.5 miles down, about 1800 feet of gain and about 3 hours car to car(yeah it took a while!) which is why i was so tired I ran into a tree at the bottom and may have broken my thumb, we'll see.  Either way, it was great just getting out!

I have been meaning to post this for a while since i couldn't find anything like it on youtube.

So Tom (lane) and I were talking the other night and he got me thinking about my preparedness kit that I cart around with me skiing and hiking and whats in it.  If you know me you know I'm okay carrying around a little extra weight to make sure I have what I need if I need it.  Sometimes it just means I'm carrying around a lot of extra stuff for nothing (except strength training I guess).  Anyway, so I wanted to lay out the things that I have in my prep kit to give other people an idea of what to put in theirs if they feel so inclined.  I typically only bring stuff that I would likely use and a few must haves in case of dire emergency.  So here is my kit.  (Pardon my spelling...no spell check in photoshop)

Okay, so it was a lame way to start the ski season, but I went skiing with Rich saturday and i loved it!

It actually looks like there is a decent amount of snow...but its a lie.  There is between 2-3 feet and although the top 6 inches were dry and fluffy there isn't much to write home about, unless that home is back east someplace. 







Go Rich! 

All in all, it was a beautiful day, good company and skiing, those are all winners in my book. Plus i wasn't in the valley.


Yuck

Also

00084

This is when i tried to film rich, but pushed the wrong button at the wrong time.  I'm a videographer professionally, can you tell?

Finally, i love ski racks on TDI wagons.  one step away from getting a lab and moving to sugarhouse.

I am going ski free today. I would love some company, if anyone would
like to go.

http://www.climatewatch.noaa.gov/video/2011/winter-outlook-for-2011-2012

Anyone who wants to and can do a light ski today send me an email as soon as you can
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Sent from my Android phone with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.