Alas, Bean Bowers of Ridgeway, Colorado (and many other places as well) recently died of cancer. This was a double tragedy as; 1) Bean was only 38, and 2) he had survived so many outrageous incidents that cancer seemed an unlikely way for him to go. RIP Bean. Continue reading ‘Remembering Bean Bowers’
Archive for the 'Commentary' Category
I wouldn’t want to do it all the time, but I love skiing with dogs because they have such a good time. With many of the canyons around Salt Lake City being closed to poochies because of watershed issues, it is getting tougher to find a place to take you dogs for a powder run around here. Luckily, our house is just over the SLC/Summit County line and has a nice sheltered, north-facing, safe, treed run in the backyard. It use to be just a local’s hangout, but over the years it has become known as one of the closest places you can go skiing or snowshoeing with a dog, so it has become Canine Central with people traveling 45 minutes just to ski 700′ shots. Continue reading ‘Skiing with Dogs’
Ever since I moved back to Utah 20 years ago, Snowbird has been aggressively pursuing physical expansion of the resort to the point that it is almost nothing new. On the Park City side of the Wasatch Mountains, most of the land is privately owned so development is a foregone conclusion, which has led to almost no free public access to the mountains on this side. You can exit out of the resort gates, but with no uphill traffic allowed in Utah, you need to buy a ticket first. In Little and Big Cottonwood however, the ski resorts are mostly on leased Forest Service land, so expansion is much more controversial and involves public input, which resorts must hate.
My first experience with the Snowbird expansion machine was about 15 years ago when they were proposing to put in a 50,000 square foot “warming hut” on top of Hidden Peak. It was billed as being architecturally sensitive to the surroundings, but from the artists sketches it looked like they wanted to construct the Sydney Opera House at 11,000 in the central Wasatch. I attended the public hearing which was standing room only and overwhelmingly against the idea. After an hour or more of comments against the idea, the Commissioners asked if there was anyone in the audience who wanted to speak for it, which is when I first met the Three Horsemen of Irrational Wasatch Development – a child, a senior citizen of European heritage and a person in a wheelchair. Five minutes later, the decision was made – in the name of doing it for the children, the handicapped, senior citizens and of course, to be World Class, it was approved. Thank you very much. Goodnight. Exit out the back to a roar of disapproval. Continue reading ‘Derail the Coaster Rally’
When I first got into backcountry skiing in the Wasatch, people were always referring to runs that were “in the book,” which unfortunately was out of print. You either had one, went skiing with someone who did, or figured it out on your own. I’d given up hope of ever getting a copy of the book, until one day my Great Uncle gave me his copy with a typewritten note in it: “…the risk of avalanches terrifies me so I’m not sure if you ought to have this or not. It worries me! Please don’t take chances! Bruce” Ironically, Uncle Bruce lived a full life of hiking and skiing in the mountains only to be run over in a crosswalk soon after moving into a retirement home in Salt Lake City. Continue reading ‘Dave Hanscom, Alexis Kelner & Wasatch Tours 0′
According to the Wasatch Powderbird Guides (WPG), many backcountry skiers appreciate their efforts at keeping the Wasatch backcountry safe by bombing it and enjoy the “sizzle” that a heliskiing operation brings to a mountain range. I’m not one of them. On Tuesday, WPG said they were going to be skiing in Mineral, Cardiff, Days, Silver, White Pine, Millcreek, Box, American Fork and Cascade – pretty much all of the central and southern Wasatch except the Alta parking lot. To nobody’s surprise, WPG decided to concentrate their efforts on Cardiff, which is a 60 second flight from their helipad and about 40 minutes skinning. We were one of four parties touring in the drainage and were treated to a thundering A-Star Symphony in B Flat Major for a solid three hours.
The WPG 2010/11 Operating Plan states “WPG will practice good backcountry ethics, including: (a) allowing ski mountaineers who arrive at a particular location before WPG an opportunity to ski first, and (b) avoiding, when practical, flying through passes and along ridges occupied by other backcountry users.” At least that is what they tell the Forest Service. The photo below shows the reality. We are standing on a ridgeline, in plain view, especially from above and not only does WPG land on top of the nearby peak, but then WPG guide Ryan Carlson brings his entire group straight over to us and proceeds to ski the slope we had just skinned up. Continue reading ‘Awesome Day with the Wasatch Powderbird Guides’
I was hoping that the three-headed love child I had with Brad Pitt after our night of reckless Hollywood play-pal fun would make the front page of The Sun, but that will have to wait. For now, it is just your standard issue “Daredevil’s Super Iceberg Ski Stunt.” Continue reading ‘Iceberg Ski Snoggin’’
Well, naked as in without health insurance.
I’ve got quite a few friends who ski without any sort of health insurance and have done so myself in the past. My case was semi-accidental as I started out with self-employed health in$urance, which represented almost as much per month as my mortgage, and then after a year, it was raised for no apparent reason. I hadn’t filed a claim, visited a doctor or been late on a payment, yet it went up about 20% and the insurance company said that’s just the way it goes. So, I decided to cancel that policy and look for another, yet they were all pretty much the same – sizeable monthly payments and HUGE deductibles which in essence only covered major surgery. For anything as trivial as a broken arm, torn ACL or taking a ski tip in the head, you were on your own. My one week search turned into a month… then another, then another, and since I hadn’t been hurt, it started to lose its urgency. Continue reading ‘Skiing Naked’
One of the best slideshows I’ve seen in recent memory was put on by Tero Repo while we were on the Clipper Adventurer. Tero is part of the Finnish mafia living in Verbier and a professional photographer who was along to shoot Jeremy Jones and Xavier de le Rue. Tero’s show was good as it was short, had high quality photos and involved a humorous running dialog delivered in deadpan monotone. Continue reading ‘Tero Repo Ski Mountaineering Wisdom’
After 30 hours of travel last Sunday and Monday, I made it from Ushuaia, Argentina all the way back to Park City, Utah, and as a bonus, arrived with both of my bags. Between lack of sleep while traveling and the surreal experience of skiing in Antarctica, it seems like the whole thing could have been a dream, except I happen to have 1,200 photos, two stuffed penguins and a few mini movies that suggest otherwise.
There is something about this trip that reminds me of standing barefoot in a puddle and intentionally grabbing onto the positive and negative electrodes coming from a nuclear power station. Exciting and thrilling don’t seem to do it justice, especially as the jolt lasts for two full weeks. More than any trip I’ve ever been on, the Antarctic Ski Cruise has some sort of crazy energy that is hard to explain. Imagine the anticipation you feel when you join four close friends, pile into a car and head up to the hills for a day of killer skiing, except in this case it is 100+ friends, the car is a cruise ship, the road is the Drake Passage and the ski hill is like nothing you’ve ever seen or skied on before. In a sense it is still “just” skiing, but in this case it is exponentially more. Continue reading ‘Back From Antarctica. Sigh.’
Haute Hut Cuisine
We recently spent a night in a hut and I was reminded of an excellent food trick I learned last season from “Goldie” up in Whistler. Time and powder are of the essence with a hut trip and it is a shame to waste them by washing dishes and doing endless clean-up, which takes twice as long if you don’t have running water. Behold – burritos to the rescue. Continue reading ‘Haute Hut Cuisine’