December 2009

Wyoming
Last Pow of the Decade
12.31.09 | Permalink | Post a Comment

We finally got some more snow here, so on this final day of 2009 we were able to make a few good powder turns. Hopefully winter will bring its fury in 2010! Happy new year!
Wyoming
First Light on Mt. Moran
12.28.09 | Permalink | 6 Comments

I woke up early this morning and drove up to Jackson Lake to check out the sunrise… wow, I was treated to a good show! The Tetons are so spectacular. This is a two-image stitched panorama.

>> See more photos from this morning here.
Utah
Timp O’ the Morning
12.26.09 | Permalink | 2 Comments

Dawn light on Mount Timpanogos, moments before Deer Creek Reservoir’s morning fog shrouded the scene. Happy holidays!
Wyoming
Backyard
12.21.09 | Permalink | 2 Comments

…and back to our regular scheduled programming…
From the Vault, New Zealand
Lake Wakatipu
12.19.09 | Permalink | 2 Comments

Just to switch it up from all my recent snowy posts, here’s a photo from a gorgeous summer day last December at Lake Wakatipu, near Queenstown, New Zealand. I snapped this photo along the road on my way to hike up for a sunset vista of Mount Earnslaw, which is the glaciated peak at the upper right here.
Wyoming
Sun Dog
12.18.09 | Permalink | Post a Comment

Today I witnessed an incredible sundog in the sky above Jackson Hole. People were forgetting about skiing and snowboarding as they looked up and marveled at the solar spectacle. So surreal… This photo only shows a portion of the magnificent light pattern in the sky!
Backcountry Skiing/Snowboarding, Wyoming
Whumpf
12.16.09 | Permalink | 2 Comments

It felt great to take the splitboard out today for the first time up here in Wyoming. We were out for about 7 hours, putting in most of a skin track and then scoring a powdery 3,000-foot descent. Due to the limited visibility of the foggy snowy weather, and sketchy avy conditions (whumpf, whumpf), we took it pretty safe and easy on the way down. This zone has some serious shredding potential and I hope to return again during clearer weather and more solid snowpack conditions.

Rider: Mot Gatehouse.
Backcountry Skiing/Snowboarding, Wyoming
On
12.14.09 | Permalink | Post a Comment

The snow faucet has been turned on, with 2-3 feet of fresh snow! Rider: Jason King.
Backcountry Skiing/Snowboarding, Wyoming
Too Cold
12.09.09 | Permalink | 3 Comments

Rider: Jason King. Today we repeated the nice route that we did on Saturday. The two north-facing descents were perfect mid-winter-esque powder goodness; however, hiking up along the ridgeline involved some suffering in perhaps the coldest temperatures I’ve ever experienced. Dangerously cold. Too cold for human beings in their right minds, I think. But we persevered and scored some sweet pow lines… along with a bit of frostbite.
Backcountry Skiing/Snowboarding, Wyoming
Training
12.07.09 | Permalink | 3 Comments

Brutally cold today up on a high ridgeline, with frigid winds and sketchy frozen windslabs. We hiked a long ways for not that great of a descent – at least compared to the sweet lines we’ve been getting lately. But as always the hiking and adventure were fun enough… at the least, chalk it up to training.

Dropping in to the line.

The lower runout.