What we call "third season" is still in full effect in Utah, but I took a week and half off from the mountains to get a little work done. I also took some of that time to go back to my hometown in Wisconsin to visit family and friends. My wife had some business in Chicago. Our hometown in southeastern Wisconsin is just and hour north of the Windy City so it was perfect to get some family time as well.
Psychology of the Death Cloud
Snowbasin resort in the Ogden Wasatch Mountains is a basin dominated by a north-south running ridge line with five peaks across the ridge. The dominant weather pattern is from the northwest through southwest. Every once in a while we will see swirling weather from the south or east, but rarely. Any time that weather comes from anywhere other then straight south or north, which even more rarely happens, the clouds will get hung up on the Snowbasin ridge line and linger. They must linger long enough to empty out their precipitative mass to then move on. On this particular day the Ogden winds were blowing from the east to the west stacking big thick clouds up against Mt. Ogden and the Snowbasin ridge line. This has come to be called the infamous, "Death Cloud" of Snowbasin. It is a phenomenon we know all too well, but still it has a way of messing with my head when I am in it. The other day was no exception. Well, actually it was an exceptional day, because I allowed the Death Cloud to get in my head more then I typically do. I suspect my particular schedule that day was playing into my mental state, but typically I can play the game much cooler then I did.
Nap Time Ripper
Spring time in Ogden Utah is that magic time of year when I can ride my bike as well as ski lines up in the higher elevations. On this particular day I was scheduled to be home all-day with my young two-year old son, Amos, so I was not able to get up to the higher elevations to ski. However, another nice thing about the particular part of Ogden in which I live is trailhead access is literally just a ten minute pedal away. This affords me the opportunity to have a quick little mountain bike ride route that I have come to call the "Nap Time Ripper". I can spend all morning looking after my boy and when I put him down for his daily nap around 1pm I take the baby monitor down to my lovely wife. She works from home in a basement office at our house, which is also a really integral part of the "Nap Time Ripper". If she had to work from the big city high rise office down in Salt Lake City all the time the "Nap Time Ripper" would not be feasible.
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