Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds /
At the Tabernacle in Atlanta, April 6, 2012
I have wanted to see one of Noel’s shows for the last 15 years. Finally made it happen thanks to a good friend.
Monday's Dawn Patrol /
With the winter we’ve had I almost feel obliged to get out and ski every time it snows. This dawn patrol was fun to get up and out in the mountains, but the conditions ended up being less than ideal.
Quite challenging conditions for skiing, dust on icy crust.
This turn makes the skiing look much better than it was…
El Chalten /
Digging photos out of my phone from our trip to Argentina two months ago:
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“Let’s go take a look”
Twin Couloirs on Deseret Peak /
Some tours are more mind expanding than others, and sometimes prove that more is possible than what came before. This was one of those.
A 4:30am start of a several mile walk up a dirt road past the winter gate got us to the start of the trail, then more miles of skinning to get to the base of Deseret Peak. It was more hiking, skinning, skiing, and then hiking out than I would have signed on for last year. Glad to know that things can change.
From the end of the slogging in, we were able to skin up the couloir, no booting required. And the skiing down was surprisingly better than we expected given the snowpack and the temperatures.
See http://www.summitpost.org/twin-couloirs/627220 for how to get there.
The good light only lasts for a few minutes (6:43am).
We were sheltered from the wind on our way up but it was howling on top. A quick change over later and we dropped in. Second breakfast would have to wait till we were back down.
The ski out back to our shoes involved getting over, under and around many logs… followed by the 4 mile walk down the road back to the car. This tour is definitely worth doing (again). The rest of the photos are in the Skiing 2012 set on Flickr.
Ski crampons. They may not be that useful most years in Utah, but in the right conditions they’re like an extra 4-LOW gear, very helpful.
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Something extra before work (Taken with instagram)
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Ski crampons (Taken with instagram)
Twin Couloir preview /
Rich dropping the skiers left of the Twin Couloirs on Deseret Peak
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“NASA is one of the few institutions I know that can inspire five-year-olds.”
Jeff Bezos
Full Spectrum /
Donald Sadoway: The missing link to renewable energy
"If you want to make something dirt cheap, make it out of dirt.
Little Cottonwood in March /
White granite. Good weather. Fun.
And some creative descending…
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More Winter inspiration. Hopefully spring-skiing in the Wasatch works out this year despite our lower-than-average snowpack.
Salt Lake City in watercolor /
Really cool design project by Stamen Design overlaying watercolor renditions of geographic data.
Hiking below Fitz Roy: Lago del los Tres /
The video has the story behind the trailwork done that has made this hike enjoyable and kept erosion from ruining an amazing access point to these mountains. Their hard work certainly paid off.
Below are photos from our hike on the trail in February 2012:
A little extra /
Starting the day a little extra early to get in a ski tour on the best snow of the season before work was worth it.
