August Fly By

It felt like the month of August flew by in a blink of an eye. Perhaps because of all the flying on airplanes that I did, but also perhaps due to the schedule that I put together to take advantage of some free time away from my night job. I lucked out to receive the entire month off from my Delta Air Lines night job, and I intended to make the best use of it that I could. First and foremost was a family vacation to the north woods of Wisconsin, followed by plenty of work on my properties, a mountain bike guiding certification course, and a reunion trip with some of my oldest friends. The time flew by in between all of the actual airline flights. 

^My family and I have been

Dirty Snow & Muddy Boots

Summer is yet a few weeks out on the calendar, but has arrived in weather to the Northern Wasatch Range. The gate for one of my favorite spring skiing zones, Farmington Canyon, took forever to get open this year and as a result I missed most of the good skiing conditions up there this spring. I was irritated at the delay from the U.S. Forrest Service to get the gate open, but once it finally did open up I decided that despite my irritation I might as well get up there to check out a few more spots I have wanted to ski. By the time I could get up there the snowpack had receded to full-on summer snowpack, which is good for avalanche concerns, but not all that great of skiing conditions. 

Spring Fling Scouting Mission

Spring skiing is still in full swing in the Wasatch Range and the Uintas here in Northern Utah. My season still slows down to a certain degree as I add more construction projects into my daily life. Despite the increase in other work, I still find some time to get out into the mountains for skiing. Corn snow is the name of the game this time of year, so early mornings, and sunrises are a staple of the spring corn skiing diet. The high temperatures and strong sunlight cook the snowpack quickly so the aspect and elevation of a particular slope is a key element to harvesting good corn. 

Dusk Patrol Solo

This time of the year sunset in Northern Utah is around 8:30pm. This particular spring day the temperature was going to be a high of 52 degrees fahrenheit and raining in Ogden City where I live at 4,300 feet above sea level. The highest mountain peaks in the Ogden Wasatch Range are at about 9,700 feet above sea level. I knew the high country would see some snow, but the elevation where the rain would switch to snow was in question. A rule of thumb states that for every 1,000 feet higher in elevation it can be expected to see a 5 degree drop in temperature. The base area with which I wanted to start my tour was to be about 6,300 feet above sea level. Some simple math shows that if I started my tour at the highest temperature of the day, typically around 2pm, then there was a good chance that I would be starting my tour in the rain at 6,300 feet above sea level and roughly 42 degrees fahrenheit. With some luck I could be out of the rain and into snow by 7,000 feet above sea level. I was not particularly stoked about touring in the rain, but I held out hope throughout the morning.