In the off-season I need to stay motivated in order to keep working out and eating better. All of that stuff that can get left behind in the everyday of working and living in the regular world. The winter has kind of become the irregular world, but in order to kill it in that world I have to keep my shit together in the regular world. All the while still taking care of regular responsibilities. I have a lot of balls in the air to balance this lifestyle. Motivation is key to keeping them all in the air. A key motivator for the irregular world, which is what we all like to hear about anyways, is terrain scouting. It is a good hike for a workout, and it is essential in getting the lay of the land that you'll be skiing in a few months.
^A good breakfast helps too.
^This is a real nice view of a little piece of Ogden canyon that my tour partner Ben, and I enjoyed with our dogs on the way up. We decided to hook up on Friday evening, and scout an area that we ski every so often in the Ogden backcountry called Coldwater Canyon.
^On a different scout that Christine and I did on our bikes a few weeks back, I snapped off this photo of the area from a more Northerly perspective. You can see the slide paths in the trees. There are some monster slide paths in there that scare the shit out of the most experienced backcountry travelers I know. Including myself. All the paths are big and long, and all convolute in a river bottom.
^This is another angle of the zone. It is a tricky little canyon with some sub-ridges and things that can trip up travels. That is why it is essential to do as much homework as you can before you start getting into areas like these. I try to do everything I can to prepare, and I still mess up all the time. It is a big scary world out here that carries high risk/reward function factors. Like most Ogden backcountry, it is not traveled very heavily. This means fresh tracks, but more importantly it means very little skier compaction. The Ogden backcountry is relatively dangerous and slippery because it does not see the kind of traffic or control work that the Cottonwoods do. There are no helicopter guide services or UDOT control in this zone. It is solely up to the travelers to mitigate their own safety. Hard to do in the grey world of backcountry travel and avalanche mitigation.
^After another great scout trip, Murphy is motivated. She is sporting her ski bum pride while thriving off the adrenaline buzz from hiking a lot of vertical, and talking skiing for a few hours. Murphy will never get to ski that zone, but she is an essential summer scout partner. Murphy only meadow skips in the low lands and trees where the avalanche dragons tend to avoid. However, the scout trips help keep both of us in good shape for taking care of our business when the snow does fly. Soon.