Slim Pickings

Brian agreed to go check out some climbing in Boulder canyon last Tuesday despite the rain falling all night.  The forecast for the day showed a gap in the rain with acceptable temps before noon with more precipitation expected in the afternoon.  Although we were less then optimistic we headed out to the Riviera where we hoped if the sun did peek out it would shine on this south facing cliff.  Our ride up the canyon was not reassuring as the clouds hung low.

Brian tries to illustrate how cold it is (you could see our breath)

Note the freezing line

We hiked up the face and found one, yes ONE semi dry route, a 5.9 that I had retreated from in the past.  The only problem was that water was dripping down the left side of the crux moves making it a more complex and tricky move.  Brian killed the lead in excellent style despite the 93% humidity.  I headed up on top rope and took about 10 minutes to figure out the weird crux moves.

Our dry patch of rock

After playing on the one dry route we took the jeep for some exploration in the woods.  As we headed up the canyon the snow started falling.  We cruised the Switzerland trail in the snow which took us through some interesting little towns that had some near misses with the big Four Mile Canyon Wildfire last year.  The trail was really just a forest road that you could realistically drag and scrap a Subaru down if it was dry, but it was adventurous enough for me considering I didn't have my new spare tire on the jeep yet and there was 2-4 inches of snow on the road.

snow

The scars of the four mile canyon fire

Some old mining ruins

Opps

 And just a few pictures from a trip to Lincoln Falls a few weeks ago.  Note: BV up to his tender bits in snow after he stepped off the packed trail.

-MG

Springtime!

This last weekend was a bit of a let down. On Sunday, Crystal and I opted not to pack up all of our ice gear and instead decided to take advantage of the 60 degree temps and head up to the Satellite Boulders at the base of the second flatiron for a bouldering session. On our arrival in the parking lot it was sprinkling and it looked as if clouds were building over the flatirons. After much debate, (mostly by me, Crystal was game) we headed up the 20-30 minute approach. Lucky for us a few patchy sprinkles was all we encountered and by the time we walked out the sky was clear. Just goes to show you have to put yourself in a position to get lucky. We climbed several problems including a few long traverses. On our way out I played around on my long-standing project Aerogel V5 and to my amazement stuck the crux and the last move. I was too whipped to give the whole problem a solid try but I am stoked to head back and put this thing to rest. 

Wasn't looking good initially.

Crystal rocking a V1 on the Sputnik boulder.

 
Now for the disappointing part...
 
That night I was packing for a day of sport climbing in Clear Creek the next day.  As part of the deal making process with Crystal I agreed to fill up my jeep with gas in exchange for taking her car.  On the way back from the gas station I noted a weird noise coming from the jeep. On investigation the Jeep's rear drivers side wheel was about 3 inches farther back then it should be. It turns out the U bolts holding the axle to the leaf springs loosened up causing the axle to shear the spring’s center pin.  The result being the axle walking back on the spring. Needless to say the next two days were spent in the garage and driving back and forth to the 4x4 shop. Now it is fixed and I am looking forward to spending some pent up energy this weekend. I have also renewed my interest in my Jeep and will hopefully get it on the trails now that it’s trailready again.
 

'Til next time, 

-Mike

 

March

March...

So March was a fun and exciting month but I didn't have any big trips so I kind of neglected to post any pictures.   All of my trips were relatively short, a weekend at most.  I had a couple of people ask me why the lack of activity so I thought I would post a little summary of my March activities.

Crystal and I headed out to Jewell Lake one morning in RMNP to grab a couple pitches.  Jewell Lake is nice consistently forming icefall in Glacier Gorge in the park.  It is approx 3 mile approach with snowshoes or skies.  Amazingly it was pretty easy to find which is always stunning when it is your first time to an area.  I have killed hours trudging around in snow looking for some hidden climb.  We found the ice to be 100 feet wide and 30-60 feet tall.  The ice was a bit inconsistent quality.  I specifically chose this climb for its potential to be my first lead climb.  I initially started the easiest line I could find but quickly found that the middle half was rotten ice thinly smeared over rock.  I backed off and reconsidered.  The toproping potential hear is somewhat limited due to the lack of an easy way to the top.  To the right was a deep snow slog that in the right conditions would avalanche.  After poking around I tried the lead again, this time slightly right of the previous line finding better ice.  I topped out after placing 4 screws in 30ft.  Probably a bit overkill.  We toproped a few more lines on the right side and then booked it out of there as Crystal was slowly becoming a popsicle.  

Lincoln Falls

We took BW out on his first ice climbing trip to Lincoln Falls.  The Ice has been super fat here in the last couple weeks as freeze/thaw cycles are kicking into full gear.  Bryan even found some crazy mixed line to climb.

BW sinking some tools for the first time!

Bryan inching out...

Also our buddy Nate got married the last week of March.  CONGRATS NATE and CASEY!!  We headed up to the beautiful Devils Thumb Ranch for the wedding.  Devils Thumb is a ranch style resort catering to cross country skiers.  It truly was an amazing venue and a great place to spend a few days surrounded by good people.  Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures while we were there....lame right?

With spring in full force I will be starting to transition to mountain biking and climbing as my focus.  Stay tuned for some new posts.  I am vowing to be more active in my posting and drag my camera with me everywhere I go.

1K update
 As of today I am 29% done with my 1K project (see January post if you're confused)
I have over 206,000 ft of ski descent, 39 Ice pitches, and almost 10,000 ft of mountaineering elevation gain.  I must say that this challenge has really forced me to take full advantage of every day I get out.  It forces me to grab one more run, pitch, or problem.  I get at least 2 and usually 3 days a week out in the mountains.  I am sore and tired, which I think is a good thing.  Even if I don't meet the goal the challenge has pushed me to get better.

Til next time,

-Mike

Wydaho

Wydaho..."Best of both states"

So it was pretty EPIC.  Grand Targhee received 5 feet of fresh powder over the week I was there.  Luckily the snow settles a bit or else I wouldn't have been able to ski.

We headed up on Tuesday after Crystal got off of work and got into Driggs at 130am.  The drive was pretty sporty.  I got stuck behind a snowplow and was really happy since I could finally see the road.  The first time in a while I didn't complain when driving 20mph in a 65 zone.

In the morning we headed to Grand Targhee which had gotten 8inches over night.  Unfortunately one of the three lifts was broken down but I was pretty happy with what terrain these two lifts had to offer.  The snow was amazing with the nice 41 inch base from the last few days with an eight inch top coat.  This gave us consistent powder turns and face shots all day.  First observation of the trip was that the difficulty ratings are a bit different for CO.  Anything in GT or Jackson Hole that was double black was no joke, cliff with mandatory airtime, or chutes that required super confidence in order to shoot through and avoid the rocks.  Unfortunately I learned this the hard way when Cate and I chose a line that required passing a 3-6 foot rock band.  The snow had lightly dusted the rocks and where I chose to come down landed me flat on a rock damaging my lateral ski edge, ripping out a dime size chunk of petex, and bruising my lateral ass.  Grand Targhee is a pretty small resort, kind of in the shadow of its more well known neighbor Jackson Hole.  The crowd however is extremely chill, very few snowboarders (no park), and tele/AT setups outnumbered everything else.  Even with 1/3 of the lifts down you only had to wait a couple chairs to get on the lift and even with a lack of a lift line maze people were chill about organizing the lift line.  In CO I could see fist fights breaking out over who goes first in line.

Cate running Das Boat...I broke my ski just left of the image frame.

The damage.

The next day the resorts only got an inch so we headed to the backcountry for a lazy tour.  We cruised up about 1200ft vertical up Chicken Knob and then cruised the mellow angle and trees back to the car.   It was a great intro to the Teton Valley backcountry and just made me want to do more.  This area has endless and accessible backcountry.  There are 2 backcountry skiing atlases available so check them out.

After our tour we milled around the streets of Jackson window shopping and going into gear shops with the off chance of a cheap pair of skis.

Jackson loves fur and this baby could be yours, with tail of course, for only $35.  Sweet deal.

On friday we headed back to GT where we had heard the main lift, dreamcatcher, was going to be back up and running.  This was attractive considering there was probably 2 or 3 feet of snow that was untouched on the terrain this lift feeds.  We showed up at 9 when the lifts start turning and we found about every local in a 10 mile radius doing the same thing.  This was the only time we had to wait any significant time to get a lift.  The skiing was worth it though, knee deep turns which we couldn't get enough of.  After we got a half dozen laps we found out Marry's Nipple, the area's hike up mountain was opened by ski patrol.  We promptly headed that way and started hiking the ridge.  We dropped in a little below the top and were rewarded with Thigh deep snow.  I have to say this was the deepest snow I have ever skied and it was at a nice 35 degree or more slope which kept up the speed.  That night we went to a house party for a friend of Dustin's which happens to live with the guys that make 22 Designs Tele ski bindings.  These guys are pretty well known and do all the work out of there garage (it does have heavy manufacturing equipment though).

Hiking up Marry's Nipple...it's hard to see but there is a big cliff about 10 yards to the left of Dustin

This slope is where the thigh deep snow was.

Scale

Jackson Hole was our last stop and although it couldn't compare to GT as far as snow was concerned the mountain made up for it with some of the sickest in bounds terrain I have seen.  Google Corbet's Couliour to see what i'm talking about.  It seemed like everything was over 40 degrees with cliff bands to pick your way through.  They also have a seasons worth of hike to terrain.  I would love to go back for a few days....especially if there was as good of a snow week as we had.

They stuff 100 people into these tin cans and haul you up 4200ft

This guy was in the road on our into Jackson

1K project update: 17.6% complete
Brought my ski descent total to almost 120,000ft


-Mike