Moab!

We've spent alot of time in Moab recently and I love it. Julie ran a Half Marathon down in Moab and I've been mountain biking up a storm. In addition to the amazing slickrock I recently went on this ride minus the top section since it was covered in snow:

http://www.utahmountainbiking.com/trails/enchilada.htm

It is indeed an epic ride and Here is a video that Harry put together highlighting some of the thrills and spills:

Here are two pictures also. I'd post more but I am getting lazy, come out and visit and you can see them all.

Excited to hike up Alta before the season starts and ride it on a snowboard... more details to come.

Snow at the highest elevations

According to this picture from Snowbird a few people have already made some turns off the cirque which is awesome except for the fact that the people in question weren't me! I'm also curious to know what the bottom of their skiis looked like since there can't be much more than a foot of snow up there and I know for a fact that entire area is nothing but rocks in the summer.

Mount Olympus

Mount Olympus is a very recognizable mountain that rises directly up to the east of I-215 and towers directly over Downtown Salt Lake city. It is about half the distance of lone peak and a much faster hike. Where else can you wake up early, hike up a 4,000 vertical foot mountain to some great views of both the city and nature, and be back down in time for work conference calls?

Mid Mountain Marathon Route

Julie is signed up for the Mid Mountain Trail Marathon so we headed over to Park City for a practice run on the course (with me on my mountain bike like a boxing coach). It starts at Silver Lodge at the Posh Deer Valley Ski resort that doesn't allow snowboarders so I took great pleasure in being there. From there you follow the Mid Mountain trail which meanders over the ridge to Park City Mountain Resort and then through to the Canyons. While it looks like torture to me to run 26 miles on this trail I can attest that it is very enjoyable on the mountain bike.

Home Inspection and more House pics and video

We had our home inspection today and everything looked very good with no major problems reported. We are very much looking forward to closing on Aug. 12th.


Here are 2 videos I took walking around the new property. The first one is the inside of the house and the second is the outside:






Here is a slideshow with more pictures than you can shake a stick at:

Wasatch Crest at 10,000 feet from Big Cottonwood into Mill Creek Canyon

The Wasatch Crest Trail is Spectacular.

I could end this post here and hopefully that would be enough to get the main point across. For those unfamiliar with it, the Wasatch Crest Trail is a segment of the Great Western Trail which runs all the way from Canada to Mexico. The stretch Julie and I went on begins in Upper Big Cottonwood Canyon between Brighton and Solitude, climbs up to 10,000 foot elevation, and then follows the ridgeline above Park City and The Canyons before dropping into Mill Creek Canyon.

Here's the GPS track overlaid on Google Maps

Here's a video from our experience but it doesn't come close to doing it justice. You have to experience the mountain scenery for yourself being that high up on a ridgeline and looking down on everything. Be sure to watch till the end of this clip to see video evidence of Julie getting passed by a cyclist while driving the Vette. I don't know if we can ever live down that embarrassment!

Launch Pad for Utah Adventures

Julie and I are very excited to report that we are under contract to buy a house here in Utah and are scheduled to close in mid August. While it was a tough decision to live so far away from many of you, we hope that you will continue to come out and visit, especially now that we will have plenty of room for guests. Julie and I are especially happy that the location of our new home is right at the base of the Wasatch Mountains. In addition to being closer to Snowbird than our current apartment, we can now walk out our back door to a huge variety of biking, running, hiking, and back country access.

This is where our new house is on a map. For those of you familiar with the area, Lone Peak is directly east of our house and Little Cottonwood Canyon is the one to the North:
map of house

Here is the online tour of the house. Both pictures and video are available now, but I'm not sure how long this link will stay active now that it is under contract.
Virtual Tour

Julie loves the open floor plan and the layout of the upstairs living areas. My favorite part is the basement which you can see in the last few photos in the online tour.

Many more details and pictures to come in the future.

Zion National Park hiking Angel's Landing

Last Weekend we also did a Hike in Zion National Park called Angel's Landing. It climbs up to the top of a large 1500 foot buttress that towers above the Virgin River Gorge. It starts out as a nice wide trail carved up the cliffsides but the last quarter mile to the summit because it is along an exposed ridgeline as narrow as 3 feet wide in some places with sheer thousand foot drops on both sides. The park service has installed chains to use as handholds and even though it can be scary if you are afraid of heights it is not actually very dangerous as demonstrated by the large amount of families who hike it every day without incident.

Bryce Canyon Hiking and Hail Storm

As part of last weekend's tour of Southern Utah Julie and I stopped by Bryce Canyon National Park and hiked the Navajo and Queen's Garden Loops. Not only were we able to take in some amazing scenery including the famous "hoodoos" but we had some added excitement when the sky suddenly turned black, the temp dropped from 75 to 39 and we got pummeled by a quick but mighty burst of hail.

Lone Peak Hike and Shenanigans - June 2009

Yesterday Julie was running in a 10 mile trail race (where she won 1st place in her age group) so not to be outdone I planned a Lone Peak hike for the same day.  Myself, Charlie, Pat, and Pat's brother in law Dave set out right at sunrise and had an amazing time.  It's a good thing we did it yesterday because it has been snowing up there all day today!

Rather than Ramble on like I usually do, Charlie and I have distilled the footage from the hike into a video.  Make sure you watch till the end or you may miss the assorted antics of boulder rolling, synchronized skiing, and the world famous "Peanut Butter Jelly Time"

Be Sure to click the "HQ" button at the bottom of the video to get better quality

Moab part one: Arches National Park

Technical Note:  I am experimenting with different technologies to help improve the blog.  I am testing using a wider layout and including a slideshow of larger pictures at the end of the post.  please let me know if this improves your viewing experience.

Last weekend Julie and I were down in Moab and it was an amazing experience.  In fact, we saw so much that I will need to split it up into multiple blog posts so for the first one I will focus on Arches National Park.  I can't resist posting a picture of me under the famous Delicate Arch so here it is:

It only took us 3 hours to drive from our apartment to Arches and the change of scenery along the way is fantastic.  We left behind the giant green, brown, and gray mountains of the wasatch and arrived in a red sandstone desert wonderland.  Even though the views from the car were amazing, Julie and I did almost every marked hike on the visitor map so we saw alot of arches and other spectacular formations and probably covered around 10 miles on foot.

One other thing I need to highlight was the return of the dreaded "Cruise America" rental RVs.  Fortunately they were confined to the paved roads and seemed to congregate only in large parking lots.

We've got a TON of great pictures from Arches so I thought a good way to share them would be to post this slideshow.  I highly recommend clicking the box in the bottom right once it starts playing and then you can view the pictures in full screen mode.  Also, you have the option of just allowing the slideshow to play or you can pause it and select the pictures yourself.

If you have a copy of "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" laying around pop it in and watch the opening scene.  You will recognize much of the same scenery that we have pictures of since it was filmed at Arches.

Hopefully the slideshow works for people to see all the pictures from Arches.   We have alot more from our other adventures around Moab that I will post when I get a chance.

Touring the Wasatch Front with Ira and Illana

Interesting bit of Trivia: Everything that can be seen in the photos below is at most 45 minutes away from downtown Salt Lake City. Click the Pics for a larger view.

This past weekend Ira and Ilana were in town and we went on a pretty good tour of the Wasatch Front and Salt Lake. On Saturday we were at Snowbird but I'll skip over that for now as everyone has seen plenty of Snowbird pictures.  On Sunday we toured the Wasatch Mountains as well as the Great Salt Lake in the Jeep following the Route shown below.

We left our Apartment in Sandy and headed South until we cut through provo canyon to go east through the mountains.  We saw Bridal Veil falls and then headed up Alpine Loop towards Sundance and followed it upwards until Aspen Grove where the road is still closed and covered with snow (This is the little spur you see in the bottom right of the circle)  From there we continued to the North until we hit Deer Creek Reservoir and then Park City.  After walking around Park City for a while we headed back West on I-80 through Parley's Canyon and then swung by University of Utah and the Capitol Building.  Then it was off to the North-West where we took the causeway across to Antelope Island which is a very large island in the Great Salt Lake.  After exploring, hiking, and looking for Buffalo there we headed back home.

All of the pictures below follow this route in chronological order.

This is a bad picture of Bridal Veil Falls which is a 600 foot waterfall in Provo Canyon.  I'll get a better picture later in the year when there is more water coming over and we aren't looking right into the sun.

In this picture we have passed Sundance a few miles back and are at the base of the Mount Timpinogos trailhead.  We couldn't continue any further up the road into the mountains because the road is still covered with snow and closed to all vehicles except snowmobiles.  It is the same road that Julie and I drove in the vette before the winter hit and it is full of spectacular switchbacks.

This picture was taken at Deer Creek Reservoir on the way to park city.  There were no boats on the water so it was smooth as glass and there was a nice backdrop of mountains all around.

Here's a picture taken on Main Street in park city.  What a great name for an establishment.

I found this "friendly" moose lurking the streets of Park City

After heading back from park City we checked out the University of Utah campus and the nearby capitol building shown below

From there we headed north to the Great Salt Lake and took a causway to Antelope Island.  The Island is huge and the Lake is even bigger.  Much like the Great lakes there are spots where it is so wide that you can't see any land on the other side.

Here is Julie hamming it up on Antelope Island

Here are Julie and I with the Salt Lake and Mountains in the background

And Ira and Ilana
Here Julie is preparing to head off in search of Antelopes and Buffalo.  In the background you can see the mountain in the middle of the Island. I told you this was a BIG Island.

We were pleased to see some Antelope so we knew that the island's namesake was well deserved but we were still on the lookout for the elusive Buffalo.

Finally we spotted a Buffalo!  Here it can be seen drinking out of it's giant Buffalo sized doggy-bowl.  I guess it is fair that they are provided with fresh water considering they are surrounded on all sides of the island with the undrinkable Salt Lake.

Here we have spotted some buffalo in a more natural habitat.  I was quite pleased to have gotten the Buffalo, Salt Lake, and Mountains to all cooperate and pose for the same picture...

Here we are hiking up the mountain in the middle of the island.  We didn't go all the way to the top because it was getting late and we didn't have any water with us but we still got in some great views as you can see in the pictures below

Here's another shot of the Mountain in the middle of the Island.  It is amazing that the island can be so big but still be tiny when compared to the great expanse of the Salt Lake.

Here's more of the lake

In this picture I used maximum zoom to take a picture across the lake of Downtown SLC with the mountains jutting up behind it.

I can't resist posting at least on pic from Snowbird on Saturday. I did a doubletake when I saw the Tram as shown below. For a split second I thought that Superman must be averting a disaster but quickly realized that someone had attached a dummy to the bottom of the tram.

Stay tuned for more updates.  Next weekend we are excited to be heading south to explore Moab and Arches National Park.

Hike to Bells Canyon waterfall

Today after I was done with work I decided to hike up Bells Canyon to see how far I could get before the snow got too deep. It stays light out here now till after 8 PM which worked out well since I had budgeted two hours to ascend as high as I could and then an hour to get back down. Though there was no snow at the bottom of the Canyon I knew it would get deep as I gained elevation. One reason I chose Bells Canyon is because there is a waterfall that Julie and I somehow missed when we hiked it in the Fall and another reason is because the part of the trail I was on doesn't have any avalanche danger.

Julie had gone for a long run earlier in the day so it was just me going on this hike. Here's a quick video I took after slogging through some pretty deep snow and finally finding the waterfall:



If you are wondering just how deep the snow got here is a pic I took of myself while hiking through one of the deeper sections. Fortunately alot of areas were already packed down or there was no way I could have made it as far as I did:


This is the entrance to the main trail and you can see the canyon wrapping around to the right in the distance.


This is the lower bell canyon reservoir which is near the beginning of the trail:

At the low elevations the trail was pretty easy to travel on without too much snow

This sign amuses me because it specifically forbids bringing hang gliders into the wilderness area. Do they really have a big problem with some rogue hang gliding element?


This is the stream that runs through Bells Canyon and forms the waterfall in a steeper section. It has much more water in it later in the spring when all the snow is melting.


This is a view of the "Crows Feet" which are pretty popular destinations for backcountry skiers and boarders.

In this picture you can see the snow is getting deeper as well as the "Bell Towers" in the background for which the canyon is named.


This pool of water looked very refreshing. Even though there is so much snow on the ground the air temp was pretty warm today and I was getting a bit hot hiking in my snowboard pants and a T-shirt.

I noticed this arrow carved in a tree which apparently indicates where to turn off the main trail to find the waterfall. Julie and I somehow missed it on our last hike up this canyon


Here's a picture of the waterfall
And another

And this one is looking back down the canyon toward civilization

In this area I was sinking in almost to my waist so it seemed like a good point to turn around

And finally a self portrait with the waterfall:

13 feet of snow in 12 days!!!

Before I get to talking about all the new snow, I need to share this video we took a few weeks ago but it got lost in the shuffle. Julie and I were up at Snowbird with about 18 inches of new snow and we were lucky enough to drop into Mineral Basin right when it opened. I decided to video the experience while holding the camera in my hand so please excuse the poor camera work. The highlight of the video is definitely the full on cartwheel that Julie manages to pull off when she leans too far forward. Don't worry folks, it doesn't hurt at all if you crash in deep snow like this, it is like being surrounded by marshmallows:



Anyway, on to the main blog post:

Two weekends ago Julie and I were climbing outdoors in T shirts in 75 degree weather. The total snow for the season at snowbird was at 387 inches and we were wondering if it might end up falling short of the 500 inch season average. As I write this the snowfall stands at 543 inches and today Julie and I had one of the best powder days of the season. For the past two weeks snowbird has averaged more than a foot of new snow a day and in the past 48 hours we've gotten around 4 feet which made for epic conditions on the slopes today.


The powder at snowbird today was so deep you would literally sink up to your waist in places. It is fortunate that Snowbird has plenty of steep terrain because on anything more moderate this much snow could bog you down like quicksand. It was snowing so hard up on the mountain itself that I couldn't really get any pictures to come out well so I've improvised with some pictures I took at the base.

It is amazing how much more snow falls at the higher elevations compared to the valley. Our apartment is at 4,000 feet elevation and we have exactly 0 inches of snow on the ground down here. The entrance to the Canyon road is only a few miles away but a few thousand feet higher and there are a few feet of snow on the ground. The base of snowbird is around 8,000 feet and there is a whole lot of snow as you can see in the below pictures. The peak of the mountain is over 11,000 feet and it is nearly impossible to describe how much snow has fallen up there.

This picture is from the parking lot at the base of snowbird. The truck buried in this picture is a full sized Dodge Durango and the snow that has covered it all fell in about a 12 hour period overnight!


This is also a picture from the bottom of the mountain where groomers pack the snow down every evening. The snow in this picture fell after the area was groomed the previous evening. For reference my board is about 5 1/2 feet tall and half of it is buried.


The previous two pics just showed overnight snow fall. In this one you can see how much has fallen cumulatively over the past two weeks. In this picture Julie is actually standing on a balcony that earlier in the season overlooked the mountain. Now the snow has piled up well above the balcony which is normally at least 10 feet or so above ground level!

Even though I couldn't get any pictures to come out on the mountain, the pros apparently could so I've copied a few of the snowbird pictures of the day to give you an idea of what riding in this much snow looks like. I love how in the third picture the guy is completely submerged except for a ski pole!





OK, as excited as I am about all the snow I've also got a few pics from a few weeks ago that you might find interesting. If you read closely on the box in the picture below you can see that it has a U.N. Weapons designation of "Howitzer". Don't worry, the box is empty but it is one that was used to store the shells that the Ski patrol shoot off every day to set off any potential avalanches before the slopes open.



This is one of the spent shell casings from the Howitzer. It smelled like fireworks... Apparently the Ski patrol at snowbird has a bigger stockpile of explosives than the military of a small country.

Lastly, I will close with some pics from a nice bluebird day a few weeks back with about a foot of fresh snow. A great day to be sure but it seems so quaint now compared to what we were riding in today.

February in Utah, a Great Time for... Rock Climbing?!?!

The weather in February was interesting to say the least. In the middle of February the mountains received over 7 feet of snow in 12 days which made for some amazing snowboarding conditions as you can see in the picture below of my sister Carolyn cruising down mineral basin. (The picture was actually taken 4 days AFTER the last of the snow hit but you could still find fresh tracks. I didn't have the good camera that day so I apologize for the poor iPhone image quality.)


After the two weeks of storms, the last week in February was unseasonably warm down here in the valley with bright sunshine and occasional highs in the 60s. Julie and I have been climbing indoors at the gym all winter and we saw the last weekend in February as a great opportunity to see what the outdoor rock climbing conditions might be like after a week of sun and relatively warm temps. We decided to head to American Fork Canyon which is just a few minutes away and check on some of our favorite south facing climbs that receive direct sunlight all day. Even though it was warm enough to drive comfortably with the top down, we were both worried that there might just be too much snow to make the approach hike. And, as you can see in the picture below, there was a good 3 feet of snow at the trail head for the approach...



However, as you can see in the below picture, even though there was so much snow on the trail the actual rocks were completely free of snow and receiving tons of direct sunlight to warm them up.


We walked up the road just a bit from the parking area before cutting into the snow so we could make the most direct approach possible.


Fortunately for us, even though the snow was extremely deep it was also packed down pretty well so we didn't really sink while walking on it (unless you stepped off the trail in which case you would sink up to your thighs).


As we started to approach the steeper sections with less trees and more direct sun, the snow became more and more sparse.


On the more exposed sections of the trail there wasn't even any snow at all.

Here is Julie rounding the final bend before our climbing area.


And in this picture we have arrived. We chose this particular area because it had the best chance of being dry and it offers many moderate climbs with great hand holds and very safe protection.

In this picture I am preparing the rope and getting all our gear organized.

In this picture you can see most of the gear necessary for sport climbing. Hanging off my harness are two different lengths of quick draws which clip to the bolts already on the wall, a prussic safety knot for backing up a rappel, two slings used to attach me to the anchors, and finally a belay/rappel device. In the upper left you can also see the figure eight retrace knot that attaches the main rope to the harness.

In this picture Julie is preparing to climb.

This is what the rope looks like once the climb has been completed and the climber has been lowered back down to the ground.

At the top of the climb the rope is going through two different anchors for redundancy.

Here's a picture I took looking back down while attached to the anchors at the top of the climb

Also, from the top of the climb I noticed this interesting rock formation. I will be calling it "Eye of the Needle" unless I hear it is already named something else.

I also took a short panoramic video from the top that you can view below.



Looking back down the canyon from the top you can see the road we drove in on and our parked car is blocked by one of the pine trees in the middle of the picture.

Since last weekend, the weather has turned much colder again and we have received two more snowstorms with more on the way. Julie and I definitely enjoyed getting out climbing in the brief warm weather we had, but we are also looking forward to many more weekends of snowboarding. (Last year it was still dumping feet of snow in the mountains through April and Snowbird didn't close till the end of June.)

J's unfortunate "accident" at Snowbird

As many of you have already heard, My little sister Carolyn recently got engaged to her long time boyfriend J. I have always been somewhat protective of my sister and also have a natural suspicion of anybody who's name only contains one letter so I devised a plan to take care of this little "situation". Luring Carolyn and J out here for a visit with promises of snowboarding was easy and once I got J near a very "scenic" cliff at Snowbird last weekend I put my master plan into action as you can see in the video below...



Unfortunately J somehow managed to survive my first attempt at window-less defenestration so as plan B I decided to attempt a less subtle approach as you can see in this video...



After J survived my second attempt without plummeting off the side of a cliff I took a cue from the Salem Witch Trials and decided that this must be a sign that he was innocent after all so I gave him and Carolyn my blessing. It also seemed like falling off the mountain looked like fun so I decided to give it a go myself...



After scrambling back up to the top I was greeted by a crowd of concerned/amused onlookers who had recently disembarked from the Tram. Most people realized we were only fooling around after witnessing three takes as well as the directors commentary but it seemed like a few of them just thought we were the clumsiest people they'd ever seen.



Now that the histrionics of trying to off my future brother-in-law were over we did actually take some real pictures from the top of hidden peak and they came out pretty well...




Once the photo shoot was over we headed back into mineral basin. In this shot you can see J, Carolyn, and Julie boarding along "Path to Paradise"


In this video Julie, Carolyn, and J head down a groomer while I attempt to video. It is pretty hard to hold the camera steady while snowboarding at the same time:



Here's Julie at the bottom of Mineral Basin, nothing but snow in every direction...



And here is a video of Carolyn spinning like a Ballerina:


Here are the three stooges heading up a chairlift:


In this Shot Julie is about to enter the Cirque Traverse from which you can access a TON of terrain.


As you can see in this picture, the Cirque Traverse is a narrow ridgeline that separates Peruvian Gulch from the Gad Valley with steep terrain dropping off either side. (See if you can Spot Carolyn, Julie, and J in the picture below)


In this video I am boarding along the cirque traverse and most of what you can see drops off into Peruvian Gulch:



After cruising down the cirque traverse for some time we dropped off to the left ending up in Wilbre bowl. Here you can see Carolyn, Julie, and J making their way down.



There is so much terrain available at snowbird that you often feel like you have your own piece of the mountain, rather than feeling like you are at a large resort. We didn't see another person this entire run until we merged with Big Emma at the bottom of the mountain. Here are Carolyn and J, enjoying the serenity and gazing down the canyon we know and love so well.

Congratulations on the engagement and I know you two will live long happy lives together.



I certainly can't end the post on a sappy note so here is a picture of me ready to cause some trouble with a snowball. unfortunately those exploits were not captured on video.

Snowmobiling on MLK weekend with Carolyn and J

My sister Carolyn and her boyfriend J were out visiting over Martin Luther King weekend and it was great spending some time with them. While they were here we all decided to take a snowmobile tour and it turned out to be an amazing experience(including a few hijinks but you'll have to read to the end to find out about that excitement)

Before I get going on how it all began, here's a quick picture of Julie relaxing on a snowmobile in the Wasatch wilderness. You can see the twin peaks in the distant background but we are completely on the other side of the mountains from civilization
Below is a map of the route we took. Our snowmobile tour started from the backside of snowbird which is at the top of the red line. We then wound our way through the mountains all the way to Deer Creek Reservoir and back covering a total distance of over 50 miles. The spot in the very upper left is our apartment.


Here are Julie and Carolyn getting suited up for snowmobiling and modeling the emergency beacons that we all were required to wear.

In order to get to the backside of snowbird where our tour left from we had to take the tram up to the top and then download the Mineral Basin lift. It was weird riding up the tram without our snowboards

Even weirder than taking the tram with no board was riding the lift the "wrong way" down into mineral basin. It also is reminiscent of riding in a station wagon with the seats facing the wrong way because all the oncoming lift passengers are staring at you.

I also took a quick video as we rode down the lift and in the background you can see the area that we will be snowmobiling in.



Here is our merry group having finally arrived at the backside of snowbird and ready to embark on our journey. We were the only people who had signed up for the tour that day so it was like we had a private guide.


Before mounting our chariots we each had to walk one by one past the magic sign that would beep to indicate that your emergency beacon was functioning correctly.

Here we are on the first part of the trail. The state pays for these trails to be groomed regularly during the winter

The scenery was breathtaking in every direction. Here we stopped after riding for about 15 minutes and our guide informed us that we had already covered 10 miles which was pretty surprising. I put a red arrow in the background of the picture where you can just barely see the top of the snowbird Tram and Mineral Basin lift at maximum zoom.


Here we are winding our way next to a frozen stream
Along the way the guide would let us pull off into some large open meadows and tear around just for fun. Often Julie and Carolyn would opt to get off the sleds while J and I attempted to get a bit of air as you can see in the video below



Here we are after passing through much of the mountain range and emerging on the other side.
And a close-up of Carolyn and J

I'm still amazed at how much ground we covered so quickly. For reference, in this picture Park City would be in the range of mountains on the far left side.

In the below video I am filming from the back of a snowmobile as Julie drives it and Carolyn is piloting another sled with J on the back.



Literally about 10 seconds after I stopped videoing I suddenly found myself airborne and realizing that I was no longer on a snowmobile. Julie had somehow managed to flip the slid while driving in an open field... Nobody was hurt and it was really more like a low-speed rollover but I'm sure the video footage would have been great if I had kept recording.

The below picture of the aftermath of Julie's "driving" is now my new desktop wallpaper


And from another angle...

Anyway, after the sled was righted we were on our merry way and everyone made it back safe and sound.

New Years with good snow and great friends

I've had these pictures for a few weeks now and have been meaning to post them but I suppose it is better late than never. Over the new year's holiday we literally had a full house with visitors from back home including Micah, Amber, Greg, Hillary, and Jake. It was great seeing so many of our friends at once and it certainly made all the activities that much more fun.

During this same period we were also getting pounded by a continuous string of snowstorms so the skiing and boarding was great as well. In the picture below, Julie has stranded herself in some deep snow after a slight navigational miscalculation. Plan B was apparently to make a snow angel but eventually she ended up having to take off her board to escape the deep snow. As you can see, I am in the background preparing to quickly rush to her aid...


We'll get back to the mountains in a bit but first are some pictures of our new year's eve dinner at a quaint restaurant called Loghaven, a romantic getaway nestled away in the forest of Mill Creek Canyon... clearly a more sophisticated establishment than some of us guests who will be attending.


Here we are piled into the car on the way to the restaurant. It's actually a really nice drive up Mill Creek Canyon to the Restaurant but it was dark so we couldn't see much.


Here we are sitting down for dinner. The food was excellent and we enjoyed dinner so much we were still there at 10 PM local time which is midnight eastern when the ball drops in new york. Turns out they run all the new years programming on a two hour delay out here though so we saw the ball drop here at midnight local time.


Here's a shot of Amber and Micah. Dunno if this is mistletoe or just your average everyday evergreen.

Anyway, we all definitely enjoyed New Years but the real reason people were out here was to ski and snowboard. Below are a series of pictures we took while going through "the tunnel" at snowbird. For anyone not familiar with "the tunnel" it is a 600 foot connection that was drilled through the mountain a few years ago right under the highest ridge as a way to get people to the backside of the mountain without having to clear the ridge which can be EXTREMELY windy.

It has a people mover conveyor belt in it just like the airport and in the picture below you can see Jake in classic tuck form for optimal aerodynamics. On the Right you can also see Julie and Greggy B walking and carrying their snowboards which is actually faster than the painfully slow conveyor belt.

Here we can see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. Julie is in the Red Jacket surveying the beautiful views of mineral basin.


The scenery as you exit the tunnel is breathtaking and fortunately it is not interrupted by recordings saying "Caution.... the moving walkway is ending" like they have at every airport. I guess they figure that if you are able to ski or snowboard in mineral basin that you can probably also exit a people mover without dismemberment or other serious injury.

Here's the scene looking down over mineral basin once we exited the tunnel. Since this picture was taken we have had the opportunity to go on a really neat snowmobile tour through alot of the wilderness you can see in this picture but that is a topic for a future blog post.

Here's a picture of Micah take at the top of hidden peak looking back down little cottonwood canyon to the valley below. The closest developed area you can see in the valley is Sandy where out Apartment is.

Here's a picture of Amber posing with her favorite trail marker, named after her number one choice in Bottled Water.

And here are Greg and Hillary demonstrating how a couple can overcome serious differences like one being a skier and the other a snowboarder.

In this picture Julie has attempted a flying tackle to knock me off the bench where I was innocently adjusting my bindings. Fortunately there were no injuries reported.

This is a picture I took of Jake literally a split second before he wiped out in a giant ball of snow. He is lucky his shoulder was OK since he was violating doctor's orders skiing this soon after surgery.

This is a pretty cool shot that Greggy B took of himself while standing on Hidden Peak

We also loaded up the whole crew and drove into downtown Salt Lake to see all the lights. It was actually the first time that I had been downtown since we arrived out here in Sept. since none of my normal activities have anything to do with the city.

Here are Micah and I admiring some lights while sporting some very fashionable hats.

In case anyone was wondering about where I got this stylish and hip beret I have to admit that Hillary and I had traded hats for the evening. While the beret was defintely the hands down winner and the pinnacle of European fashion, my redskins hat still did a better job at keeping your ears warm and also putting any Dallas fans who may be lurking around on alert.

Speaking of fashionable headpieces, here is Greggy B modeling Julie's old helmet, affectionately dubbed "the bowling ball" which is actually a hand-me-down from my mom and I am convinced that this style will become fashionable again in a few years.

Not to be outdone by ridiculous hats, Jake decided to up the ante by creating a one man band with items we had laying around the kitchen.


And lastly, to ensure everybody's safety while crossing the street, I was nominated to be the official flag bearer at crosswalks. Chris K had told me about these crosswalk flags previously but this is the first time I had the pleasure of seeing them for myself. On either side of the crosswalk there were buckets attached to the lampposts with flags in them that you could proudly carry to the other side. What I am curious about is if they employ city workers to run the flags back across the street once people are finished with them to keep them all from accumulating on one side or the other. I will certainly report back once I have more details...

The Fastest Ice on Earth

With the Olympics still fresh on my mind and my desire for fulfillment and stardom still intact, I spent the duration of 24 researching the various Olympic venues here in Salt Lake City for new ideas. (I’m not a fan ever since Kim endured her 99th kidnapping, but Steve still faithfully watches faithfully).

As Jack was about to pull the trigger on his beautiful, blue-eyed FBI colleague, I turned to Steve and said, “Do you want to go bobsledding?” Indeed, I had achieved a first: he paused 24.

“Race up to 80 miles per hour, experience 5 G’s of force, an equivalent of a 40-story drop, in just under a minute on the winter bobsled ride “The Comet”.”

What the advertisement fails to mention is the $200 fee for about 52 seconds of fun. Needless to say, Steve resumed the tv show and Jack shot the girl.

My Internet surfing continued. Turns out, the Olympic Oval has a running track surrounding the speed skating ice. Remember Apolo Anton Ohno? He won his medals on that ice, which by the way, isn't just "ice." It's “The Fastest Ice on Earth.”


In a word, the Olympic Oval is behemothic. The 442 meter track surrounds "The Fastest Ice on Earth," which surrounds two skating/curling/hockey rinks. This place puts Tam O’Shanter to shame.


Unfortunately, the track is basically worn-out carpeting on top of concrete, but the facility is somewhat inspiring, especially as you’re circling just outside of “The Fastest Ice on Earth.” Beside the physical workout, the mental task of calculating how the extra 42 meters affects one’s 800 meter repeats (both in distance and in time) provides an additional challenge.


So, although my Olympic hopes are slowly fading away, at least my sense of adventure continues.

My Next Career: Biathlete Julie!

In recent days, while contemplating my future, I decided my next shot at fulfillment and potential stardom was to become a biathlete. Nevermind that I had never shot a gun, much less touched one more dangerous than a Super Soaker. But, pure logic suggested that I could surely become at least a bronze medal winner in the Vancouver Olympics.

Logical Points:

1) Physically I’m built for biathlons: I have long legs, strong lungs, and a steady hand.
2) I am in Utah where Nordic ski areas abound and Cabela’s is practically a temple.
3) I own two pairs of CW-X compression tights, both that allow me to exercise, without tire, for countless hours.
4) Oracle has granted me those countless hours.

On top of these logical points, I love the outdoors, snow, and cardiovascular activity. Clearly, I’m the perfect biathlete.

This morning marked Day 1 of training for the Vancouver Olympics. Bright and early I awoke, full of energy and spunk. A big bowl of Irish oatmeal later, I was on my way to Big Cottonwood Canyon, home of the Solitude Nordic Ski Center.

Thrilled to be above the current valley haze (http://www.sltrib.com/ci_11486229), I confidently donned my CamelBak, attached my “lift” ticket, and snapped into my shiny, skinny skate skis.

And then I fell over.

Just kidding, I didn’t actually fall over. Well, I did, but not immediately.

A very small, flat circle serves as the warm-up area for most Nordic skiers. Off I went, at blazing speeds, fully enjoying the warm sunshine, until another skier passed me. And then another. And then another. And so my lap continued.

Two “warm-up” laps in, while gasping for oxygen, I decided to imitate those who appeared to actually be good at this sport. That’s when I fell over.

Trying to keep my frustration in check, I called Steve for support. He suggested I turn in my skate skis and try out the classic kind. Classic skis, however, do not win an Olympic medal. I continued on.

Twenty minutes and .5 km later (why can’t the Nordics switch to miles?), I handed in my rental boots while simultaneously calling Steve to announce that my biathlete career was over. Snowshoe racing, here I come!