A #GuideLife Program

I always tell young aspiring backcountry ski guides that the key to being a ski guide is a diversified income stream. Honestly, the truth could be said for any profession that is intricately tied to the weather and the seasons. The statement is kind of a two-fold thing. One, is that as a young ski guide the consistency of work is difficult to manage in a life that typically has consistent fixed expenses. Second, is the diversity of skill sets within the #GuideLife that is helpful to craft a more and more consistent workflow. I have been a guide for nearly a decade now and have developed a program that works for me. It is not all glorious bluebird meadow skipping like the picture below or that my Instagram feed would lead folks to believe. 

photo: Chris Morgan

^These days I have so much guiding work that I have to

Trim to Win

 

Fall colors were on point for my trip to the U.P. of Michigan's Porcupine Mountains State Park where my dad and I drove up for a trim party in the woods with the a few of the tribe from Midwest Telefest, which is hosted at the Park's ski area each winter in early February. The objective was thinning out some glades for tree skiing at the ski area, as well as see some of our friends that we celebrate Midwest Telefest with. The experience was a bit different amidst a global pandemic, but all-in-all still a really enjoyable and productive trim session. 

^The drive up was really colorful. My dad and I packed our

Charles Dickens in the Age of Corona

February 7th is Charles Dickens' birthday. The writer of classic ominous stories and his birthday hosted an ominous snowpack event for the Ogden Wasatch mountain range that we never really recovered from in all honesty. Rain and rime iced the top of the snowpack taking on the name of the author becoming the Dickens crust. A crust so thick that it persisted the rest of the season only to be one-upped by an invisible layer of sickness and fear that blanketed our society like nothing I have seen in my lifetime. The novel corona virus Covid-19 finished off the winter in unprecedented fashion a month and a half early completing the destruction of the winter of 2019/20 completely... for me at least. 

^Ice formed on the tree branch in this picture above is a

Observations of I-80

The time came to make the big drive across the Great Plains to the Intermountain West. From my Wisconsin hometown that means a lot of time on Interstate 80 westbound. I took some time to rest and simply be at home for just a bit, but soon had to get ready for the big drive and a chaotic schedule. I had lined up a rather busy December getting ready for the upcoming winter that included observing instructors in an AIARE avalanche level 1 & 2 as well as a Rescue course to prepare for an AIARE Instructor's Training Course coming up in January. It was an ambitious timeframe, but I felt good about my plan, and at some point ya just gotta go for it. 

^I had a week off between seasonal labor efforts from