The aspen are popping both in the Wasatch and the Sierra and the temps are starting to cool at night, there’s snow coming folks! Just returned from watching the first ski porn of the 08/09 season. ”The Pact” is the latest release from the PowederWhore’s of SLC. It’s a fun film and did what I needed it to do, which was get me excited about the upcoming snow, but I don’t think it is nearly as edgy as some of their other ones. The highlight for me was some old footage that they dug up from some BC skiers in the late 70’s/early 80’s. It reminded me of some trips I’ve had with folks from here, lots of laughing and smiling. That said, the Reno crew should turn out the folks on 10/22 to Ceol. The generous whore’s are using the event to showcase their new film and as a fundraiser for NWP according to the website. I thanked one of the Howell brothers this evening, please remember to do the same at the end of the month.
finding big areas of granite slabstacles for complete enjoyment and freedom of route finding
what beats the hell out of climbing service roads littered with rolling baby heads and moon dust at the hottest time of the day?
Rippin’ long swoopy fun trail through fern groves, under big trees, and across bridges. i suspect the trails were pretty much empty b/c lots of people aren’t interested in the putting in the time to get to the top of the hill
what could possibly be better than looking across the high country and picking out the peaks you’re about to spend your day riding around…
looking back at the peaks you crossed earlier in the day and all the fun you’ve had along the way
what could be more refreshing than scoring an ice lemonade after finishing 7ish hours of riding?
well, we had another 10 miles of our ride to do to find out…
weeelllll, i’ve got a bout a week and a 1/2 till the Vapor Trail goes off and i’m feeling about as ready as i’m gonna get. while i missed last weekend’s fun at the SSWC08 - nice job guys! - i did my damnedest to get in a tough and kinda technical trail ride masterminded by Nate Schuster and his bud Jan (sp?) in the high country above Donner Lake.
over there, that peak on the skyline, the one with granite and trees
Indian Peaks Wilderness, CO 6.7.08. Snow Lion is the couloir just right of center. Ascent is just to the right of the cornice on very nice, steep (50 deg) snow.
Conditions were pretty good until we got high up when it was warm enough to get things on the mushy side. Small pieces of the cornice were crumbling off as I finished; it was a little disconcerting to see them tumble harmlessly by twenty feet away.
The dog visible in the picture was the trip leader. He was a mostly-black lab mutt who effortlessly climbed 45-degree snow (D6 rating) and and pretty much completed the perfect dog-day by chasing a ptarmigan and rolling in a recently melted-out, rotting and very putrid deer carcass. It doesn’t get any better than that!
Oh, except for the fact that the pub in Nederland had Avery Maharajah (tripple IPA) on tap. Now THAT is an exclamation point!
just a quick pic from riding Sunday with Nooner on the Hall Ranch - Fiddle Ck Ridge- N Yuba Trails. all in all, about 17 miles with just a bit of highway between trailheads. the rest was out of the saddle standing climbing in direct sun with bugs trying their best to enter my lungs, carrying, flying downhill, surprise! switchbacks, and gnarly up down up down exposure of the NYT.
did i mention it was warm? most trails were littered with loose rock and other F.O.D., exposed, and much of it very tight single track. the ride had a palatable feeling of adventure!
most notable, the trails were absolutely empty. didn’t even see the easter bunny!
did i mention it was warm?
can’t wait to do it again either, maybe an out and back the Saturday of the Banff Film Festival viewings at the Yuba Theater. any takers? drive out Friday night, maybe catch those movies too. roll home Sunday? what say, anyone for a whatthefuck out and back ride from Rocky Rest C.G., up the N. Yuba Trail to Hall’s Ranch and down Fiddle Ck Ridge, then sort of backtracking by going to the north end of the Hall Ranch Trail, climbing that back to Fiddle Ck Ridge and descending the way we’d come? I’d say 8ish hours, lots of fun.
That’s Stubbie, the smoothest biker you’ll meet, badass alpine shredder, in the resort and B/C and a beer drinking extraordinaire!!!
So I took a much needed break from the bike, in particular, the 1speed!Last night my buddy Greg (Stubby) called and told me to meet him at Aarons in the A.M.From there we headed west on I-80 to Cisco Grove, parked, and did the giant slog up to Signal PkWe thought we were going to ski the north shot on the backside, but noticed if we did another short traverse, we could scrounge a lil more vert out of it.So of course, we said, let’s do it, and screw the skins let’s just boot pack up this bitch!By the time we got to the top it was a freaking blizzard out!Which was off and on… bluebird, blizzard, bluebird, blizzard…We waited for Mr. Sunshine and sure enough he came.We ended up skiing down an east face that was one of the sickest “Warren Miller Style” screw that, “Powder Whore Style” lines that I skied this year.Well, maybe not that big, those guys go big!Nonetheless, it was fanfuckintabulous anyway!Smokey and Salomon’s lines were pretty sick too.Not bad for a few mutts and some old dogs!Ha!We dropped it like it’s hot, dropped it like it’s hot! So what we skied down we had to skin up, another freaking slog fest!When we got to the top we finished off our vittles and waited out the blizzard again… and guess who decided to show his bright face?That’s right, Mr. Sunshine… so we strapped our shit up nice and tight and skied another sick line down the south face of Signal Pk and took the long semi-downhill traverse back to the car… this was were Smokey and Salomon were really able to show off the speed and not so graceful agility… I think they got broke the fuck off, well, so did Greg and Aaron and I!!!It was a six hour day and we weren’t lolly-gagging around either.Maybe a lil, like pals do I guess! Sorry Wolfy, no pictures, to busy skiing!Sorry for not calling everyone else either, it was a last minute thing and we left early.Later dudes and chicks, Nooner
This video is making the rounds. It’s likely you’ve already seen it, but if not it’s worth a peek. Of note is the thin margin of error at work here. These guys were playing it safe, making good choices, and were snow savy (the victim of the slide had his Masters in snow science). Still, things didn’t turn out so well.
On Tuesday my buddy Earl and I went up to Alpine Meadows to check out the Placer County SAR Dog Team training. It was pretty cool! The little mutts got to take helicopter rides! Looks like fun. We’re going to have to try to train the TBS quadrupedal auxiliary in the fine are of diggign’ our asses out of the snow, god forbid…
Juni, Oso, Smokey, Chloe, Toolie, Reeces. Time to go to school!
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