Since I am heading to Grand Targhee/Jackson Hole tomorrow for a ski trip and just may not come back I decided I should probably post a little update....plus I haven't posted in a couple weeks. Why might I not come back? The forecast for the Jackson Hole area is for 2-3 feet of snow over the next four days. Not to mention Grand Targhee reported 32 inches of snow yesterday (one day total). As I see it there are two likely scenarios. One, I get off of the lift at the resort sink under the snow and am never seen again....should of bought those BD Megawatts. The second and more likely is that much snow causes a dopamine dump similar to a heroin addict's response to his fix, and I will be hooked (even more). This will lead to a unproductive life of living in my car and chasing storms in order to relive the first 3 foot deep experience.
Back to the post at hand...
Since my last post I have gotten out a pretty good amount. Honestly my 1K project has really motivated me to get my ass outside and take advantage of the days I have off. These are the highlights...
Crystal and I met some friends in RMNP for some ice climbing. I had to drop my skis off at The shop for some repair after my Quandary miscalculation so it was a late start. Fortunately Bryan was cool with sleeping in after a long slog out to Loch Vale the day before. Speaking of that, check out his blog for a cool video of him climbing Crystal Meth (WI4/5) in Loch Vale
http://white-knuckled.blogspot.com/. I dropped my skis off hoping I could get them to do the work the same day, which was unlikely but a storm was brewing and I was stoked to get some powder turns.
Me: I need some work on my skis...(proceed to explain how a rock had attacked me unprovoked)
Ski shop guy: Not a problem. They should be done by Tuesday. (present day was Sunday)
Me: Is there any way I could bribe you to get them done faster?
Ski shop guy: What did you have in mind?
Me: You get them done by the end of the day and I will bring you a 12-pack of your choice.
Ski shop guy: Done!
And off we went to the Park while my skis were getting a face lift. We met up with Bryan and his friend Mike who had never been on ice before. By the time we got to the bear lake parking lot it was 1230 and we needed to get back to boulder by 6 so we hoofed it up to Nymph Lake for a few laps. Nymph Lake is great little wall if you hit it in the right conditions. There are probably a half dozen ice and mixed lines 30-50 ft tall. Unfortunately it had been snowing for 2 days and the wall was covered in a few inches of snow. At first I wasn't excited about the idea of going through the trouble to set up anchors on snow covered rock with a few ice patches but i'm glad we went through with it. We found a line that would allow a simple anchor and allow us to climb two separate lines. Bryan led the questionable ice smear/styrofoam snow pitch and got it started. The original plan was to set up a couple ropes but by the time Bryan topped out it looked as though a storm was brewing. Visibility dropped and it started snowing. We all got in a couple laps on the climb including a short curtain to the right that required a bit of finesse to keep the whole thing from coming down. We all kept an eye on the weather which couldn't make up it's mind. After a couple short laps we cruised back to the car making use of luge like trough we had cut in the deep snow. Nothing like a 100 ft glissade to cap off a day in the park. We got back to the ski shop before close and I exchanged a case of Stella for my skis which looked brand new.
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| Standing on Nymph Lake. That is Hallet Peak in the background. |
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| Yes there is ice under the snow. |
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| That is actually a bolted mixed line on the left side of the photo, not that you would know it |
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| I was last in the climbing order making it more difficult since there was less ice intact. |
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| Bryan getting first dibs on knocking down the curtain. |
The next day I headed up to Winter Park solo...even got an early start since Denver was supposed to get a few inches of snow and I wanted to beat the traffic. As I cruised over Berthoud Pass enroute to WP I stopped for a group of backcountry skiers who were thumbing it trying to get back up the pass. Hitchhiking powered skiing is genius, all of the powder of backcountry without the cost of a lift ticket or the work of skinning. I picked up 3 stoked guys, and we chatted up the hill. I pointed at the thermometer in the car which read -18 degrees (that F my friends) and mentioned the howling wind. The response..."Yup, it's pretty cold. Thanks again for the ride!" My day was fun with about 5 inches of fresh powder. I got in 18,000 feet vertical of bump runs on Mary Jane (a mountain, not the recreational drug), and even got some fresh turns in the Mary Jane chutes after they dropped the rope about half way through the day. That case of beer payed dividends.
Today Crystal and I planned to hike the 3 miles up to Jewel Lake for some ice climbing but decided to go somewhere a little closer to the road when we saw it was supposed to be a wind chill of -4 in Estes Park which is quite a bit lower in elevation then Jewel Lake. As a alternative we went to Big Thompson Canyon where we apparently found the proper gully but couldn't find the upper falls. The bottom of the creek was dry and as we hiked higher the trail disappeared into snow covered rock above a nasty gully. We couldn't see the falls despite lots of searching and ended up giving up. I'm not sure if the falls were melted out or if I don't have the ice finding gene. No ice, kind of a bummer but better luck next time.
1K Project update: 11.7% complete. My goal is 21.6% for the month of February so I'm a bit behind but this week off should allow me to catch up.
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