Teach a Man to Fish

Education, the key to civil society. Also a crucial key to a life in the backcountry of the world. From trail to peak the education you take with you is all you really have to rely on. I finally got enrolled in learning a skill set that I have needed and wanted for a while now. A certification in Wilderness First Response was a loftier goal then I realized, but some good teachers and a good attitude go a long way. 

This is the Year

I have a practice of obsessively scouting terrain that I want to ski during the off-season. I like to get a good lay of the land for years before I ever put on skis in a zone. I scouted in the Farmington Canyon zones I love to ski now every spring for a good two years before I ever skied them. Needless to say, I have put in the same kind of time on this new zone I was in a while back. I won't give away the golden goose by publishing the location, but if you want to get into it you know who to call to take you out. However, this year will make three years of scouting this terrain, and I still have yet to place skis into it. I felt like I was ready last winter, but as the elevations of this area range from 8500 feet above sea level to 7000 feet it is a bit lower then most of the zones I get into. Last winter I was ready to go, but the terrible winter with a really high rain line, and my son's cancer fight put the brakes on that mission.