desert dawdling

 The weather turned out much better than forecasted for our Presidents' Day long weekend in Moab: the low 40s and partly sunny were quite enjoyable.  There was a decent amount of snow in the higher elevations, however, and it was even sticking around in the north- and east-facing aspects in town.  We got out for some short hikes but tried to stay where it would be less snow-covered.

Friday's jaunt was an out-and-back along the Pipedream Trail, accessing the trail from the Jackson Street trailhead, going south to the Hidden Valley trailhead and then retracing our steps.  We started around 10 a.m. and, with the morning's temperatures in the 20s, everything was frozen.  By the time we turned around and came back, the top layer of wet mud had thawed and some spots were messing and slick.  It was actually better walking on the snow because there was no chance of leaving footprints and it was less slippery than the mud.  There were tons of critter tracks whenever the trail crossed a small wash and Milton ran a LOT, out and back and up and down.  Although there were five cars down in the Hidden Valley trailhead parking lot, we had Pipedream pretty much to ourselves, only meeting two solo hikers, including one young guy who patted Milton and asked lots of questions about him.

The LaSals look so good with snow

Saturday was a Slickrock Trail day.  We got the same sort of start timing-wise but it was sunnier and a little warmer.  February notwithstanding, the holiday weekend had brought out some recreationers: there were some side-by-sides heading out on Hell's Revenge and a fair number of MTBers milling around in the Slickrock parking lot.  We did the Practice Loop - and met a nice young family who patted Milton and asked lots of questions about him - and then went out along the main Slickrock Trail to the Abyss overlook.  There was a little bit of action (jeeps and MTBers) out there to watch, so that was our entertainment while I dug a catcus thorn out of one of Milton's paws.

Post-thorn extraction

On Sunday, we went out to the Moab Brand Trails to do what I think of as the "winter hike loop": across to Bar M on the parking lot cutoff, right (south) onto Bar M, left onto Circle O, left back onto Bar M and right onto the cutoff back to the parking lot.  There were twelve or so vehicles in the parking lot but we only saw a handful of MTBers out there, including one guy who called out, "That's a happy dog!"  And when I replied, "I wish I had his life," he laughed, "You kind of do!"

Wide open spaces

jinxed ourselves

 We were down in Moab for the long Presidents' Day weekend - the canyon road between Spanish Fork and Soldier Summit is absolute carnage right now with all the roadkill: innumerable mule deer and three elk (!) - and there will be more on that later.  This is a filler post because when we were down there, in the low 40 degree temperatures and partly sunny skies, we were all, gosh, it's like we've turned the corner to spring.  

And we totally jinxed ourselves because the day after we got back to SLC, this big ol' snowstorm dropped about twenty inches at our house and we've been digging out ever since.  Not really but it feels like it.  So here's a desert-y photo to lift our spirits.

whee let's ski

 While I cooked my little legs off on Saturday, H was experiencing what appears to be the start of February vacation (how do we know? we don't have kids) up at Alta: BUSY.   He got on the 7:10 a.m. bus and was surprised that it was SRO.  There was a red snake [line of traffic tail-lights] heading up the canyon for a while but he did get to the Goldminer's Daughter stop by 7:53 and Albion Day Lodge by 8:01.

Where the sky is the same color as the slopes

It was overcast and chilly all day but H did his thing, including getting into Devil's Castle for the first time all season.  It hasn't been open that much, actually, with all the snow needing to be managed.  He made a decent day of it and was back on the 2:39 p.m. bus down-canyon.

In the Castle

On Sunday, I had gotten all the domesticity out of my system and was pysched to ski.  We caught the 7:10 bus, which was much less crowded for some reason and we got seats, plus it was a free fare day, saving me $10 in ski bus fare.  When we got to Albion, the sun was mostly out and it looked to be a nice day, even warmer than they had forecast.  Which turned out to be fortunate.

 Here's the thing about those miraculous battery-heated ski socks: you have to remember to bring the batteries with you.  

Luckily for me, it was quite a bit warmer than expected (up to 41 F per the Collins base thermometer).  Although my toes still eventually got cold (because they always get cold), it took much longer than it would have had it been in the 20s as forecast, and I was able to still enjoy the skiing sans batteries.

It was definitey busy, though, and lots of kids.  It took forever to get on our first chair at Sunnyside: people could not count to six so there were lots of partially empty chairs going up, and the liftie was not the most efficient we've encountered.  Once we got out of there, we went straight to Supreme, where the crowds did not join us until 10:10 a.m.  There hasn't been any new snow for at least a week so conditions were pretty beaten down and chalky but fast - which is actually how I like it, although the steeper pitches got skied off pretty quickly.

Skimo = Skiing and mountaineering

(we took this photo for a friend who is a skimo-er)

We stayed at Supreme until the lines got too long, took Sugarloaf only to get up to the EBT, and then went around and skied Collins for a while.  Conditions were the same there but the lines were perhaps a touch shorter.  We did laps there with no breaks until about 1 p.m. when H couldn't stand to wear his telemark boots any longer.  We did an around-the-world - up Collins, down through Sugarloaf and out to Sunnyside - then grabbed our ski bags from the Albion lodge and rode the tow row to Goldminer's Daughter to catch the bus.

productive

 I went back east for a week for family and while I was gone, H and Milton spent that week in Moab.  I have nothing to share from their time there because (a) H had to work all week, although he did get a road ride in each day after clocking out, and (b) the only photo he took was of all the snow that slid off the roof that he had to break apart.  He and Milton did do a good MTB ride on Saturday, out at Moab Brand Trails.  They did 9.7 miles - slow, so Milt wouldn't overdo it, and with a couple of quick water breaks - and the dog was dog-tired afterwards.

Made muffins first - hearty and good for

pre-hiking snacks

I got back to SLC around 8:30 p.m. Sunday night, then had a very busy week at work.  By the time the weekend rolled around, I needed a down day.  So Saturday H went skiing by himself.  Milton and I did a 4-5 mile walk and then, all the rest of the day, I cooked (and did a load of laundry).  Some of the recipes worked (cookies and stew), some not so much (bread, per usual), some were staples that needed replenshing (veggie broth and sauteed onions and celery for soup starters (not pictured)).  But I got a lot of gratification out of it and we got to restock our freezer a bit.

Veggie broth from saved veg scraps

Chocolate chip cookies (an all-time

favorite around here)

Plum sauce (adapted from Freeze Fresh

and using the last of our CSA plums

from the freezer)

Hatch green chile stew

Good for dunking in stew, at least

short but steep

Sunday found us with another six or so overnight inches up at Alta, but no morning canyon closure and no 4x4 restrictions.  So after we fought our way onto the 7:09 a.m. bus (almost literally as there were around ten people who couldn't squeeze on board), there were lots of vehicles headed up the canyon.  Traffic was moving freely, however, and we got up to Albion lodge (after having to wait a little bit for the shuttle bus) a little after 8.  There were already a lot of people there and we knew that there would be lift lines.

Supreme Bowl Sunday

There were lines but they moved pretty quickly and H and I actually got to ride together more often than not.  The snow was fantastic.  H kept diving in deeper and deeper, plundering untouched stashes in Supreme Bowl and its surrounds.  It kept on snowing too and the conditions were true powder, soft and light and dry.  It was a terrific couple of hours.

Steep and deep

And then word came out that they were going to close the canyon road for avalanche mitigation between 12:30 and 2:30.  When that happens, there is a huge line of traffic to get out once the canyon reopens and it can take hours.  When H skis by himself, that's only an inconvenience to him; with both of us skiing, that had potential to strand Milton for more hours than he's used to.  We bit the bullet and nabbed the last bus heading down before they closed - it was late showing up and we actually tried hitching a ride out before the bus finally showed up.  I felt badly because H was getting such good runs in; H felt badly because I'd spent one of my ten ski days on just a couple hours; Milton didn't feel badly at all because we got home early.

free refills

 I went ahead and ordered battery-heated socks from Snow Deer: not cheap, but not nearly the most expensive on the market.  Years ago I had battery-heated insoles for my ski boots, expensive and didn't work well; since then I've been limping along with neoprene boot covers, which help keep some of the cold out but which certainly don't add any heat.  It's been a battle.

On Saturday we caught the 7 a.m. bus up to Alta.  The canyon was closed for avalanche control until 8:30, so we were on the bus a while.  But we got seats and a police escort to the front of the line - like, we were literally the first ones up the canyon - and we got dropped by the shuttle (which was waiting at Goldminer's Daughter lodge) at Albion lodge at 8:45 a.m.  H's forecast had said 6-10 inches of new snow overnight but it was clear that it was on the upper edge of that range.  It was snowing when we got there and it snowed all day until we left: light, fluffy and not too wet.  Just delightful snow.

Supreme Bowl: you can't tell how steep

but you can tell how deep

We got on the new Sunnyside six-pack (six seater chairlift) around 9:20 to ride up (lifts open at 9:15 and we waited until the line cleared out).  Because the canyon had been closed, and we had been at the front of all that traffic, there were scarcely any people there.  We skied right onto that lift, then onto Supreme four or five times, and then onto Sugarloaf multiple times as well.  It wasn't until nearly 11:30 that any sort of "crowd" showed up, and even then it wasn't enough people for the lifties to have to run the line.

The new snow was too deep for me, my out-of-shape legs and my short little skis so I skied the same runs over and over; each time, however, the snow filled in the ski tracks for continuous refreshes.  Meanwhile H ventured further afield, i.e. off piste.  Each time he would report back that it was fantastic: Challenger, Rock N Roll, the 3 Bears trees, Supreme Bowl, Extrovert, Razorback, Chartreuse ... all of it.  The snow was mid-thigh in Supreme Bowl and blew up over his head as he skied - a day for snorkels!

It was deep in the gullies near Elephant's Butt

And my heated socks were a game-changer: I skied from 9:20 - 2 without having to go in to warm my feet.  In fact, when we did take a midday break, it was because H's toes were cold!  So great.  Our enthusiasm was muted somewhat for the bus ride down as the bus was over twenty minutes late and we got chilled and wet in the incessant snowfall as we waited for it.  But we got seats, and we got home, and my socks got charged and ready for the next day.

one and done

Aaaaaand just like that, it's snowing again.  Those gorgeous, clear, sunny skies clouded right over Saturday night and by Sunday morning, there was a dusting of snow on the ground.  Alta's high was forecasted to be around 11 F, with negative windchills; that, plus no sun meant no skiing for me.  H was undeterred, of course, riding a SRO ski bus up Little Cottonwood Canyon, arriving at Albion day lodge at five minutes until 8 a.m.  It was definitely a little colder, he reported, without the benefit of the sun, but although it was cloudy, it was a weird, bright sort of cloudiness, with sunless shadows (no flat light) and hardly any snowfall.  He skied straight through until catching the 1:39 bus down the canyon: no new snow on the canyon road at all until about halfway down.

Funky light 

Meanwhile, down at the SLC level, it snowed literally all day (temperatures hovering in the low 20s) but total accumulation wasn't more than an inch.  Defintely a weird storm.  Milton and I walked through Dimple Dell, where the only people out were two unhappy looking trail runners and numerous dog walkers.  Dogs gotta walk, no matter the weather!  We also saw a big coyote who paused on the trail long enough to check us out, and then disappeared down into a gully.  Back at home, there was vacuuming and laundry to be done; soups to be made (split pea and a multi-bean); and chocolate chip cookies to bake.  Nothing like a gray, snowy-ish day to get things done.