Seattle, Vancouver, and Whistler BC

I had the great privilege recently of driving from Seattle, WA up through Vancouver to Whistler, BC for some of the best downhill biking I've experienced. British Columbia is beautiful, and it was an incredible trip.

Island Park

Fishing in island Park, ID a few weeks back with my brother Ryan:

The Minefield

It's been a record snow year in the Wasatch, and the cool trend has continued through June.  With the mild weather many local peaks have been stubborn yieding their snowpack, and skiing potential persists.

 A few weeks ago, my friend Mike ran a race called the Squaw Peak 50. I tagged along for the last stretch and as we passed by the base of Cascade Mountain just to the East of Utah Valley, I coudn't help but notice a great-looking couloir off the SW face was still filled in. I'd seen the line before and it looked pretty awesome, so I set aside a Saturday morning and asked Dave Jenkins if he wanted to go check it out.

Being June, the snow on the approach had long since melted, so we packed our skis in and eventually made our way to the base of the chute (after ascending an adjacent slide and a heathy-dose of bush whacking). 

It was clear right out of the gate that the snow was in pretty rough shape. Due to repeated slides, the couloir had become riddled with rockfall and debris was everywhere.

Given the steepness of the slope and the time of year however, this was somewhat expected and we began booting upward. It was an enjoyabe hike. 

As we ascended and surveyed the conditions, we joked about the minefield and hoped things would improve somewhat with some altitude.  It did a little, and there was a decent, soft corn layer on the way down that was nice in short glimpses (when your full attention wasn't on avoiding the rocks).  Out of pure sympathy for our skis, however, we ended up carrying them through the final stretch.

We followed a different drainage out to avoid a repeat of the jungle traverse, and were on our way. Granted the snow could have been consideraby better, but I'd already approached the day with a laid-back and exploratory attitude so it was a lot of fun. Beautiful morning; and it was cool to simply be in a position to head up there. Good to be alive.

On that note, I was driving up Provo Canyon afterward and came across the following scene at the South Fork turnoff. I've been told the driver made it out okay.

Dark Side of The Lens

A while back I stumbled across this gem from photographer Mickey Page entitled Dark Side of the Lens. It blew me away then, and has since solidified its place as a personal favorite (for a number of reasons).  If you haven't seen the video, I recommend some good earphones and full-screen mode for total value.


DARK SIDE OF THE LENS from Astray Films on Vimeo.

Lone Peak: Round 1

Had two shots at the South face of Lone Peak this winter- both were following big storms; both were excellent.

The Round 1 crew consisted of Mark Hammond, Zach Grant, Cindi Roller, John Jamison, and myself.  It was an interesting day as far as as the weather goes.  When I left home, it was drizzling rain in the valley and was pretty socked-in with clouds.  I had my doubts, but the forecast called for gradual clearing so we decided to go for it.  As things turned out, the valley stayed socked-in with a low-lying cloud layer for days while the surrounding peaks poked through into beautiful conditions.

As I reached Alpine, things began to clear up a bit; however there was still a distinct thick layer a few thousand feet above us. The city lights reflecting off the low clouds resulted in a strangely comforting glow in the early morning darkness.

We fired up the headlamps and started up.   The snow was deep and a little on the heavy side at low-mid elevations for Round 1. It kept globbing up on our skins and my hip-flexors were punished.

It was manageable however, and before too long we had broken through the cloud layer to cooler temperatures, clearer skies and faster trail-breaking conditions.  The light revealed the recently plastered landscape resulting from 2+ feet of snow the days before.

 The climb from the second hamongog to the upper saddle was amazing.

 As we neared the upper saddle, the wind picked up and we were a little concerned about wind-loading of the new snow on the summit ridge, and debated whether or not to shoot for the top. We opted for what we felt would be safer conditions, and skied down from the Lone Peak/Bells Canyon saddle.

The conditions for the descent were a little unexpected, but super fun.  While there was tons of new snow, the warming temperatures had created a supportive top-layer across the whole South face so we didn't sink through as deep as we'd anticipated. Instead, it was almost as if the whole face had been meticulously groomed with a 5" top-layer of fluff.  As a result, conditions on the upper face were fast and soft. Kind of apples and oranges when compared to deep, dry powder, but combined with the rolling terrain, still among the funner descents I've had.

By the time we'd reached lower elevations on our way out, the sun had been shining through the cloud inversion for awhile and we marched out in a greenhouse-like atmosphere.

TNF- Towers of the Ennedi

Wow- High quality. Really enjoyed this one.

Trepidation

It's a little harder for me to get out skiing as frequently as when I was in school, however I've had some great days in the hills this winter. The snowpack is deep, and in typical Wasatch fashion the conditions have been really good all things considered. I reckon I'll take a few entries to report on some notable tours from the past few months.

First up: Trepidation. I'm actually not quite sure (geographically-speaking) of its real name, but I do know it was an incredibly fun and memorable line. My friends Sam and Aaron refer to it as 'Trepidation' so I'll continue the trend. Our group consisted of brothers Sam and Aaron, their cousin Isaac, and myself.

We had originally planned to hit the East ridge of Timpanogos, but we got got started a little later than anticipated and warming conditions persuaded us to switch over to Plan B.

We skinned/booted up a prominent ridge that splits Primrose Cirque from Cascade Cirque (North East side of Timp) and continued to the summit of the sub-peak. I had purchased some new crampons and a Whippet right before the trip and it was fun testing them out on the Primrose headwall.




It's always a pleasure hanging out with the Inouye clan, and I'm always blown away by how fast they are on the ascent. It must be a genetic thing, because they've all got it. They smoke me every time on the skin up, and I've accepted my role as the caboose. At one point on the upper ridge, the snow firmed/iced-up considerably to the point that I kicked off my skis opting to boot and kind of figured this would be standard procedure. Sam and Aaron had different plans, and were somehow able to skin the whole section sans-ski crampons.

When I caught up with them at the top, we took a few moments to pause and take in the incredible views, and I put down a Snickers. The Timpanogos massif is one of the more alpine environments in the Wasatch range and is pretty spectacular. The added snow in the winter only enhances it, in my opinion.

By the time we reached our intended line, the sun had softened up the snow on that respective aspect to a nice, soft consistency- resulting in an amazing decent.

As a side note, we strategically shuttled cars that morning to simplify our exit. This detail slipped my mind as we began, and I left my truck keys in Sam's car. Fortunately we were able to flag down a ride back without much trouble.

Diamond Fork

Maple Canyon in Winter

Near the small town of Fountain Green, Utah (home of Lamb Day) exists an amazing area called Maple Canyon. The canyon entrance lies just beyond the reaches of local turkey farms, and is fairly inobvious from the outlying valley.

I first caught wind of Maple Canyon as a climbing destination. The rock is a unique conglomeration of polished cobblestones bound together by a surprisingly-solid natural mortar. Over the past two decades, many great routes have been developed and the area has gained international exposure and acclaim within the climbing community. I've met travelers visiting from Germany, France, and Canada, yet many Utah residents are unfamiliar with it's existence.

Historically, all of my visits have been in the summer or fall; however, I've long heard mention of great ice features and waterfalls that form in the winter months. With some time freed-up this past Saturday, I decided to make a visit.

It was a little foggy as I first rolled in; however, the clouds soon broke- allowing me to view the area from a new angle in what turned out to be a beautiful, solitary day.