Skiing and Shovelling and Roofalanches

Last weeks series of storms centered right on the town of Monticello, where the other half of our office is located. Our weather station in the Abajo Mountains recorded close to 60" of snow and an incredible 6" of water, it a was a storm of biblical proportions.

We went down on Wednesday hoping to see if any of the big slide paths had slid, but it was still snowing with little visibility. We dug some pits did some tests and skiied the old Blue Mountain Ski resort.

After coming off the mountain we went down and started digging our Forest Service buildings out so they did not collapse like several buildings did on main street.

Todd and Miles in the abandoned lift shack at the top of the old resort, which makes a nice little warming hut now.

Buried Forest Service truck

The horse barn. I hope the snow on top does not come off and kill one of the horses

Photo from the San Juan Record looking out somebodies door after the storm

Gold Basin

With no snow for the last 15 days, the avalanche danger has receded somewhat in the La Sals so we headed into terrain that is usually reserved for the spring. We made it into the large cirques of Gold Basin and found unexpected good turning conditions. The temperatures were much warmer than down in the Moab valley.

Skiing Tele Gold

Talking Mountain Cirque at the very end of Gold Basin

Todd (in the lower left) making turns in Red Snow Cirque

Nate in Red Snow Cirque

Skinning up into Red Snow Cirque

Little Cottonwood

We had to make the trip back up north this weekend so Alina could take a test for her teacher recertification. It was a quick weekend trip and we will probably not be back up that way for awhile. I met up with Creed and Nate Saturday morning and we skiied into some country I had not been to for a long time. Started at Alta went up to Catherines Pass, climbed the ridgeline to Tuscarora Peak, summited Mount Wolverine, traversed Wolverine Cirque and skiied down Patsy Marley Peak back to the cars. We actually found some decent snow off Catherines Pass and made a few runs, but everything up high was windblown and crusted. It is a little depressing to see how little snow there is in the Wasatch right now. There are stilll a lot logs and rocks lurking under the thin snowpack and unfortunatley my skis found a few of them.

Nate and I bootpacking up Mount Wolverine

Creed skiing off Catherines Pass

Breath deep the gathering gloom. The view down Little Cottonwood into the toxic soup of the Salt Lake Valley.

Old Tilly

I took the boys out to ride on Tilly while we were up in Utah County. This is the same horse that my good friend Regan used to ride when we were in Jr. High and High School. We put a lot of miles on that horse ans she is still getting around. My dad rode her into Dark Canyon this fall.

New Years, Skiing and Burnt Flesh

We headed north after Christmas to visit friends and family, celebrate the New Year and alos got some sledding and skiing in the Wasatch in before heading back to the frigid cold of Moab. We have been the coldest point in the state for several days.

Sun coming through the trees in upper Mill D North

Bringing in the New Year with fire and hot metal.

TThe after math of the fire and hot metal. Ridge got a piece of sparkler down his shirt and a cool scar to remember 2009

"Sun Dog" we saw in the clouds while skiing up Big Cottonwood

Todd skiing the avalanche paths in Days Canyon

Christmas/Solstice

After getting back from Ouray we stayed in Moab for Christmas and played in the snow. Alinas parents spent Christmas with us and it was nice to have them down.

Ridge on the skis at Geyser Pass

Rivers first time on tele skis

Solstice Fire

We usually try to get out and spend some time under the stars on the longest night of the year. I like celebrate the old Pagan holidays and see how they have been morphed into the modern Christian ones.

Skiing the old Blue Mountain Ski runs in the Abajos in good conditions

This is the first year that the kids have woken up early on Christmas morning, they usually sleep in which is nice, but not this year. Thye drug us out of bed at 6:00 AM. So I walked outside in the dark and took a picture looking through our front window.

Christmas with four boys is mayhem and things get crazy, but I hope we were able get the boys to at least think a little about giving and not just getting and about gratitude and not just commercialism.