Monthly Archive for April, 2012

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Encore

Published on April 10, 2012 by a ok.

How does that saying go – You can take the racer out of the race, but you can’t take the race out of the racer? Err, something like that. That in mind, for anyone who hasn’t heard, there is another of the low key, informal, and free rando races coming up this Friday, April 20th. Still at Brighton, however, a slight change as the starting time will be earlier than the Thursday night fiestas; plan to be racing at 5:30 p.m. Friday instead of the usual 7 p.m.

Not sure if it’s purely racing (with this crowd, it might be silly to expect otherwise) or a group ski, but the plan appears to also include a BBQ, so bring some edibles and something to sit on afterwards if that’s your style.

If you’ve been sitting in the wings all season long, wishing that the races were on a different night than Thursday so you could attend, now is your chance. Come on up to Brighton for what may be the last Wasatch rando race of the season. Yes, the last race already happened a while ago; but please refer to the first sentence of this post…

 

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Monte Cristo Directissimo

Published on April 9, 2012 by a ok.

Pondsy came to town – all the way from Boston – so like any conscientious ski mountaineer, I did not suggest that we ski the foot or so of untracked, buttery soft, light as a feather powder still to be found on certain aspects here in the Wasatch range. No snorkel meter measurements for us. No. Instead, I agreed that it was a fine idea when he suggested the south facing Directissimo. That seemed likely to provide a fine outing on a variable snow surface.

The moon, sunrise, Superior, Pondsy out for a stroll in the Wasatch..

Indeed, the line included all of: bulletproof, flowing water, breakable crust, frozen avy debris, corn, chicken heads, and death cookies. No powder in sight. It was sweet. Some people search high and low for a ski descent that provides smooth consistency in the snow surface from top to bottom. That’s no way to Continue reading ‘Monte Cristo Directissimo’

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The Flanks of Red Baldy

Published on April 7, 2012 by a ok.

With an afternoon trailhead departure time, Travis and I headed to some north facing options to avoid solar heat inspired headlines, and ended up banging around on Red Baldy. Plenty of other tracks there (15-20?), but plenty of untouched as well. Curious about the stability of the icy sandwich beneath the feet, a pit was dug. Dang, that’s some sandwich down there, still. Three, maybe four, separate, distinct ice layers in 2.5 feet of depth, with 6-10 inches rounding out the top. Reasonably stable, though. It’s a slice of good news, I’ll take it.

With a new lightweight bc rig, Travis nearly floats up the hills.

Snowpits aside, we got in some good conditions despite the heat, and managed two quick laps before Travis’ must-attend-to-girlfriend meter started sounding. Fortunately Continue reading ‘The Flanks of Red Baldy’

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A Few Scenes From the Day

Published on April 5, 2012 by a ok.

Drank in some excellent scenery today whilst traveling solo. I’ll post up a few pics before I write about what was on my mind throughout the day (in coming days). As for the turns? Teeth chatteringly bulletproof on every aspect I visited (every one?). Except that I didn’t get any tooth chatter because I was doing my best impression of a mouth breathing valley girl during each descent. Beautiful.

Waterfalls mean it's hot out there. Pretty nonetheless.

Balancing summit.

This tree was something else. It had grown around this large rock, and sometime along the way, presumably got struck by lightning. It's really thin at the burned out section, but still supporting the weight of the full tree above.

Anyone know the name of this peak? (I don't, either)

And then the sun was setting, lighting up the space beneath those grey clouds...

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