South Mountain and the South Fork

We got out to South Mountain last week to ski what are long talus slopes in the summer but when they get covered with sufficient snow in the winter they become the best runs in the range. A surface hoar layer buried by the last storm stopped us from venturing all the way to the top of the mountain, but the part we skiied was perfect snow.

Perfect La Sal Powder

Sunny days and North Faces. Todd and the bottom part of the runs.

The blur of white and red in the middle of the photo is a local skiier that is twice my age. He beat me up and down the mountain twice that day. I hope I am doing that at his age.

We went back up north last weekend to celebrate Rowans and Grandma Murdocks Birthdays and we got one day of skiing in on Presidents Day. We had a nice little tour up the South Fork of the Provo on the backside of Cascade Mountain. I had never been there before. It is a bit longer approach than other Wasatch locations, but there is some wild terrain up in the high bowls . Photo is of Todd and Tuk breaking trail in the sticky spring like snow. It was Tuks first ski tour and he learned the hard way to not jump in front of someone on skis heading downhill.

Elk Ridge Winter

With the massive amount of snow that the southern mountains have received we decided to try and make it out to our cabins on Elk Ridge and clean the roofs off to avoid the roofs caving in. I thought we would be able to drive a ways up the South Cottonwood road but we had to start snowmobiling from Highway 95, which made for a very long day.

I broke the clutch on one snowmobile in the first mile and had to tow it back to the highway. We saw 8 good sized bull elk that were having a hard time getting around in the snow, hope they make it through the winter. We finally made it to the cabins and removed the snow and got back to Moab at about 9:30

Slickrock avalanche. We actually got enough snow down low that we saw good sized avalanches on the slickrock. I believe this one is on Ute lands and it actually took out a fair number of trees.

Removing snow from the Gooseberry Cabins

Winter at Sego Flats. Nobody had been up there yet this winter

Elk Ridge Winter

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.

Red Mountain Pass Backcountry

We made a trip over to Ouray last weekend to soak in the hot water and be surrounded by big mountains. The San Juans are amazing and not really all that far from Moab. Toad and myself got an early morning ski tour in around Red Mountain Pass. I had never skiied in the San Juans so I was expecting to just do a short tour and scout the area out. We ended almost summiting MacMillan Peak at 12,800 feet and finding amazing snow conditions up high, even though it has been a week since the last storm. Once we were above treeline we were surrounded by high peaks and alpine terrain.

Good sized avalanche in US Basin that we could see from Macmillan

Todd skiing excellent recrystallized powder above 12,000 ft


Looking over towards the high country between Red Mountain Pass and Telluride

Skiing back to the Pass

Slickrock Sledding

Rime encrusted trees at the Geyser Pass Trailhead on Monday. The lighting was pretty amazing with the dark clouds behind them.

Last Friday we went out and hiked up some of the slickrock domes to see if we could sled on them. There was still plenty of snow and the slickrock made for a perfect luge run. A friend of mine actuallu went up and skiied on the slickrock trail. The warm temps Sat and Sun pretty much melted everything but it was fun while it lasted.

Ridge jumping slickrock ledges

Slickrock sledding

Moab Dump

The first "Snow Day" in Moab in over twenty years happened on Monday. It was the biggest storm we have seen in town since we have been here. 8 inches in out backyard, 18 in the La Sals and almost 30 inches at Camp Jackson in the Abajos. Hope it keeps up.

Smokey showing the snow totals in the backyard

Sledding down the driveway. Rowan was yelling "it's the best day ever!"

Sand Flats and South Mesa covered in white stuff

Climbing Courthoue Rock with the Taliban

We went out Sunday to a place Todd found while working. It is a route to the top of Courthouse Rock via some ledges and then a crack with a fixed line. It was too late to make it all the way up but we did find the crack and rope, so we will be back.

River and Ridge watching Toad climb the crack in the setting sunlight on top of Courthouse Rock

Uncle Todd forgot his coat so he grabbed part of his Fidel Castro costume from Halloween out of his car trunk to hike in, which made him look even more like a Taliban. Shadows in the setting sun

Tree thinning in the La Sals

Last weekend, before the big storm we went up on the mountain to kill some living trees to put in our house as a symbol of eternal life, kind of ironic but I like the tradition nontheless. We send most people up to Geyser Pass to get thier christmas trees because the aspen groves there are dieing off and conifers are encroaching on them. So it is actually a good thing to remove the small firs and spruces moving into the aspens.

I think my favorite thing about Christmas is the tree.