First Turns of the Season

I added John Muir to the quotes board today. John Muir, another visionary and wilderness saint. He lived a very interesting life, born in Scotland, came to America, invented lots of crazy contraptions, lost sight in an eye from a machinery accident, walked across America, fell in love with the Sierra Nevada, hiked with Teddy Roosevelt and dedicated his life to protecting wild places. His ideas were ahead of his time. One thing that I loved about John is that he would climb into trees during storms so he could feel the storms power. Not a reccomended practice.


Winter is officially started (even though we are a few days before Solstice) now that the first turns of the year were made high in the Sierra La Sal. I got out with the avalanche forecasters today to check snow stability and look for any recent avalanche activity after our last round of storms. We skiied up Laurel Ridge and down in to Gold Basin in perfect snow conditions just as the sun was setting in the far West behind the Henrys. The sunset was incredible as there was somewhat of an inversion in the valley, and only the tallest of the sandstone pinnacles were poking through the clouds. I think it is hard to find a place with better sunsets than the La Sals.