Deer Valley

A day riding at Deer Valley this summer with Dave Jenkins:



My brother Mark offered to let me try out his new camera for the day. I repaid his generosity by dropping it about 40 feet (accidentally) off the lift. I've been told there have been no detrimental effects- GoPros are pretty tough.

The video editing software I used is pretty outdated, so it turned out a little grainy. Fun day, and good learning experience nonetheless.

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.