Every now and again, cool stuff falls into my lap that changes things a little, the Skidmap project was one of those and now, in that vein, wasatchbackcountryskiing.com. I haven't had a chance to really explore it as of yet, but it appears to be a complete listing of every known major route in the wasatach AND know avalanche fatality spots. Pretty solid. It will be added to the link list so check it out.
First off, let me hit the highlights:
24 inches in 24 hours
48 base
15% to 8% to 3% density
Thats according to alta.com
What we actually measured was 140 cm to the old snow...on saturday before the storm finished.
140 cm is over 4 and half feet! 55 inches!
And still coming!
Okay so the plan was to do gunsight, like I have done in the past with both great success and great failure. Its not a big tour, but its tradition. Every year I've had a good gunsight tour, its been a good ski year, every year I didn't have a good tour, it wasn't great and last year I didn't get to go at all and we all know how that turned out. Im not a superstitious type but this winter is pretty much down to me having a good season opener.
It didn't start well, Wade got to my place at 9 like we planned but the power just went out and so we had to run to get a generator for my dad who is on a by-pap. After that we had to clear the driveway so he could get around, so we got a late start. No biggie. Wade also forgot his skins, which was very very bad until I remembered my spare set, cut for 169/80's and we put them on his 178/105's. I was pretty worried about CSF (congenital skin failure) as it has happened to people in my party more times than I care to count (turns out they killed it!)
So back to gunsight, we started hiking up, past the warning signs telling us not to go up until we were stopped by a patroler on a snow mobile telling us to pack it in or face a fine. Normally I would blow it off but he said they would be bombing in that area that day (they didn't BTW). So I didn't get to do gunsight, which was a bummer and we headed down to start up the summer road to try out toms ridge, since that was about all I could handle with my death cough that I had been dealing with.
It worked....sort of. Turns out there IS too much of a good thing. Because of the snow was so deep we couldn't break free and just plowed, chest deep, through it. A steeper slope would have fixed it, but a steeper slow would be a no go because of the amount of snow. Catch 22.
We still had a great time, as evidenced by Wade's smile, and even made some new friends. Hey Chris!
All in all it was pretty good for a first outting, no one died or got injured, I got to try out my new custom fit boots
yeah. It was so good even being stuck was a good time.
Check out the google map here
And download the earth file here
Courtesy of Coby and his lunch break, check out the video in the player above, or here on YouTube in HD.
In what might be one of the last rides of the year, Coby, Wade H. and myself did more of the mid mountain trail that I have ever done before, and might actually be the longest ride I have ridden to date.
take a look at the map.
View Mix Mountain To Red Pine Lodge in a larger map
and the stats
Of course, the elevation has some blips in it, but its pretty telling, mostly in the fact that the last few miles were kind of a tease.
So, going back a little, let talk about how we ended up on mid mountain instead of the crest, which was the original plan.
Well, that about sums it up. That's a pair of snowboards at the top of guardsman, yeah apparently is snowed enough to get the crazies out to build jumps. I used to do that, but now I realize what a silly thing that was.
Anyway, so plan B, was to finish the drive down guardsmen pass into park city and start mid mountain from deer valley stein Erickson lodge. I want to say, that driving gaurdsmen pass is amazing and I love it! here is my drive coming from midway the day before.
yeah, what an amazing place we live in.
back to the story, as you can guess it was pretty cold (between 38-45 degrees) since it was snowing at 10,000, but moving down to 8000 and coming over into the park city side of the Wasatch made it bearable.
bundling up in knee/leg warmers and layers of clothing helped, and it was actually quite pleasant.
Now, the plan originally was to ride the crest to the milcreek pass and then ride into the canyons were a parked car was waiting where we would ride back up and get the car. Since the change we brought the car to deer valley but the car was still waiting at the canyons which meant that we needed to either bomb down into park city via spiro like usual and ride all the way into town, or ride the additional distance to get to the car, we chose the latter.
I guess we didn't realize how long a ride that was going to be, it ended up being about 17 miles just to the red pine lodge at the canyons, and about another 4 miles down to the car. because we were expecting a 13 mile ride and not a 21 mile ride, we didn't have the appropriate food to power us on, so by the time we got to red pine lodge, we were pretty spent.
Having to face the prospect of having to ride up and down and up another ridge as we were was unattractive. Fortunately, with a small amount of persuading including a playing of the "I don't want to get struck by lightning...again" card, she let us down the gondola on the "safety concern" provision. Certainly not something anyone should count on, but we are very grateful for for exception on our behalf.
It sounds like we were in worse shape than we were and that this ride was a rough experience, but it really wasn't, it was amazing. The trail was perfect, the scenery was amazing and the quite at times, was overwhelming. The terrain change from resort to resort (deer valley, Park City, Canyons) was stark and very fun to see, Deer valley having the most even keel flow, Park City being a bit more exciting in elevation, but still silky smooth, and the canyons, a very different and very north shore like ride: mossy rocks, challenging rocky riding and dense pine forests. This is easily one of the best rides that exists, hands down. The best part? there is at least another 10 miles of it that we never got to! So next year, it will be mine.
a view from deer valley. Imagine all those yellow leaves on the trail, and riding though aspen groves at the same time...or wait for some of the footage from Coby's gopro [In player above or on YouTube HD]
even better? Park city FINALLY has a few good cheap places to eat in the new mini mall near kimbal junction
Tom and I went out this Saturday to get a lay of the land, getting ready for this shoot. For some people it works better Friday, some Saturday, Let me know what works best for you if you are coming and haven't told me already. This short video should give you a taste of what the trail is like, and the lighting. Its going to be very cool. Also, tom and I had a great ride exploring the area more than we usually do, including a tour of the mystery building at the top of the trail.
This is bike related, but only partly. I am looking for people to help me with a personal project of mine, a short bike film.
Here is the plan. I want to film the "secret south" part of the upper Temple Quarry trail, for various reasons including; proximity to the road, low volume of traffic, very technical...but mail for this.
Its an amazingly place to be
With lots of really cool features
So I've been doing my homework and I have come up with a list of things I need, A few shots I want and how to get them, but I need your help. Coby/Dustin, I need as many GoPro's as you can muster, Especially the Hero 2. Beyond that I should have equipment very well covered but not enough man power to pull it off.
I have talked to Dustin about being the star of the show and Im hoping that he will be able to, he is also helping where he can on some technical rigging gear.
Wade, Tom L. (or Tom S.) or anyone else who would like, I could use some help with camera's, Rigging, and Audio.
I have 4-5 positions:
DP - Director of Photography, that will be me. Responsible for camera 1 and 2
B-unit Camera - Responsible for the second unit camera (3) and associated gear.
Audio/Cam3 - responsible for running camera 4 and capturing the audio, this would include boom mic holding and carting the gear around
Rigging - This person is responsible for helping move gear and rig really cool camera rigs that Dustin and I are working on.
Stage Manager - This person would help move gear and be responsible for helping make sure we aren't going to have safety issues with hikers or other riders, Also for using the radios to keep in touch.
As you could guess, Some of these positions could be merged or expanded as needed so the more help the better!
All Told, I should have something on the order of:
4 main cameras
4 GoPro's
audio gear
slider
line rig
ladder
2-3 tripods
Lenses
Misc rigging/Gaff gear
And as you can guess its way more work than I can manage on my own, but it should look amazing and be lots of fun!
I was thinking about Next Friday or Saturday evenings (21st or 22nd) from 500-900, that should give us enough time.
If it works for Dustin, I would like to go this Saturday evening as well to get the POV shots so they wont show in the wide shots.
PLEASE email me if you would like to be involved, I think it will be a ton of fun. Thanks.