stashes for 'staches

After about a week with no new snow, a small storm rolled into northern Utah Friday night through Saturday.  It didn't bring all that much to the party (Alta got about three inches, just barely more than we got in the valley) but at least gave things a little refresh.  H's morning ski bus was completely full.  It was not a particularly pleasant day up at Alta - yet another one A wouldn't have enjoyed - being cold, windy, socked in/skiing in the clouds with very flat light.  He didn't even stay all that long, leaving on the 1:09 bus.

H must have at least looked like he was having a great time, though, because of the facial hair commentary: upon noticing H's ice-caked mustache, a lifty gave him a fist bump and said, "Looks like somebody's finding some snow!"

Gloomy Alta scene

Meanwhile, down in the valley, A and Milton did their Dimple Dell loop, where we met Chance, the 100 lb. husky mix, who chased Milt a little (he was not quite fast enough to really give M a workout) but mostly leaned against A's legs for butt scratches.  It snowed all day but the flakes were tiny, barely adding up to two inches.

On the homefront, we did some snow shoveling, made five quarts of veggie broth, a braised Indian chickpea stew for the freezer, Mexican hot chocolate cupcakes (with cinnamon and cayenne) and an "orange chicken" dish for dinner, using soy curls.

sidewinder

 On Saturday, it wasn't quite as sunny but still cold.  And windy this time.  I had in mind to go back to finish off the Moab Brand trails; H declined to accompany Milton and me in the face of all that wind.  (He did end up doing a town walk where it was yes, still cold and windy.)  To be honest, about fifteen minutes into a headwind out of the north, I was thinking that H had the right idea.

Heading north on lower Sidewinder

Milton and I drove out to the Killer B parking area off 191, just north of Arches National Park, and hopped onto the paved bike path until we reached the lowest exit of the Sidewinder trail.  The wind was brutal.  My hands were super-cold, despite mittens, and I wished I'd worn a beanie that covered my ears better.  Nevertheless, we persisted, and once we got onto Sidewinder proper, we had some protection from the wind with the cliff walls.  The trail was pretty and red, hard-packed dirt mostly, and it climbed steadily - with a couple of cliffy spots - until we got to the Rusty Spur intersection.

From there we crossed the paved bike path and made our way to a big intersection: Bar M loop, Lazy EZ and Deadman's Ridge.  When we turned onto Deadman's Ridge, we were mainly heading south and it was much, much more pleasant with the wind at our backs.  I'd hoped to knock off the whole trail segment (3.4 miles) and I think we got most of it, although at one point we must have turned wrong and finished up on Bar B instead.  Still, it's a great trail to walk (way too technical for me to ride), with rolling ups and downs and varied terrain.  From Bar B we segued to Killer B, and thus back down to the car.  We'd seen no one the whole time.

The wash between Sidewinder and the paved bike path

After getting cleaned up back at home, H and I walked to Josie Wyatt's for a beer and managed to run into a friend there.  Dinner was again soup and the evening's entertainment was exactly what it had been the night before (different KZMU radio shows though).

Stats: A and M hike: 6.34 miles; H town walk: 4.00 miles; A and H roundtrip to JW's: 2 miles; soup: green chile stew.

PS - I didn't take any other photos so here's a quick run-down of the rest of weekend: additional hikes/trail runs: A and M 4.8 miles, H 4 miles; additional town walks: 1.5 and 3.48.  Two more soups: red lentil and then again back to regular lentil.  We like soup.

pritchett

Per usual, behind on posting after a long Moab weekend.  At least I'm consistent.  We got out of Dodge (SLC) Thursday afternoon before the MLK Jr. long weekend.  Traffic was light heading to Moab and the roads were clear and dry, because it has been a not particularly snowy January thus far.  (The commuter in me delights in this; the person who likes to shower and drink water and do laundry and keep the trees in my yard alive is slightly stressed by it.  We've still got a lot of winter ahead, though.)

Winter in Pritchett Canyon

Friday morning was gorgeous, with clear blue skies.  It was also quite cold, in the teens Fahrenheit, and so Milton and I waited until after 10 to go for our hike.  It had warmed up to the almost upper-20s F by then.  We left H behind to deal with some work stuff (although he did manage to get out for a town walk) and drove out the Kane Creek road to the OHV trailer lot, just after the pavement ends.  Once we were in Pritchett Canyon proper, I let the dog off leash - we had the place completely to ourselves, with no worries about 4-wheelers coming up on us.  

Look. At. That. Sky.

My plan, such as it was (not really much of a "plan"), was just to walk about an hour or so to see how far we'd get and then go back.  We followed the road on the way out and since there wasn't any wind, it was actually pretty pleasant in the sun.  To make things interesting, we stuck to the wash on the way back.  We saw literally no one until we got back to the car: some folks had parked right next to us so Milt was able to introduce himself.

That afternoon, H and I strolled to Woody's for a couple of beers and then strolled home.   Dinner was soup and the evening entertainment was reading on the couch to whatever excellent radio show was on KZMU.

Stats: A and M hike: 6.67 miles; H town walk: 3.89 miles; A and H roundtrip to Woody's: 1.5 miles; soup: lentil.

more bettering

 Undeterred, H was back up at Goldminer's Daughter by bus (SRO again, red snake all the way up) by 7:30 Sunday morning.  It was again poor visibility and snowed all day, with the added bonus of being extra cold: single digits at the start -- to be exact, 6 F -- and "warmed up" to 13 F by the time he called it quits.  (Yet another day I wouldn't have enjoyed.)  The snow was good and ski patrol is continuing to get more and more terrain open.  He did some skiing off of the High T as there's finally enough coverage there.  

More importantly, he got three separate facial hair compliments.  "Sweet 'stache, dude" and "I remember you from yesterday - I recognize the mustache" in the lift line; and best of all, during a lift ride with a girl and a guy, the girl said she liked his mustache.  No way of knowing if they were a couple ... but I'm guessing that guy starts growing his own crumb catcher tonight.

Coming down off the High T

The canyon road wasn't nearly as messy this time.  The 2:09 bus was there and waiting when H went out for it and it was a straightforward trip down canyon, getting him home about three hours earlier than the day before.

As for Milton and me, we weren't quite as productive.  We did our Dimple Dell walk again and, before that, M chased and wrestled with a new dog friend (Cooper) in the ball fields behind an elementary school.  Then it was changing sheets and laundry (both doing and putting away), and making a batch of chickpea salad for lunches, and meal-prepping overnight oats for breakfasts.  But when I got out all the ingredients to try to make bread, I just ran out of steam and read my book instead.  The bread will be there next time.

bettering the snowpack

 Now that the Christmas/New Year tourists have gone home, we've gotten a couple of nice little storms in the mountains.  Not overproducers by any means, but enough to grant some soft turns and some stuffed canyons.  Case in point: it started snowing Friday night so it was standing room only for H on the Saturday 6:30 a.m. bus.  Roads were fair, and he got to Goldminer's Daughter in about an hour.  It snowed all day, cold, with poor visibility, but with 16" in twelve hours, the skiing was about the best it has been so far this season.  

Starting to stack up over the lodge entrance

He was at the bus stop for the 2:09 p.m. bus, which didn't arrive until 2:35.  Then they couldn't get back out of Alta because there was a car stuck at the top of the driveway, blocking traffic.  Then the bus got a little stuck.  Then they got diverted to the bypass road (which is protected from avalanches, unlike the main canyon road).  Because of the red snake, it took them 1.5 hours to go less than a mile on the bypass road.  They got to Snowbird Center at 5:17, which filled the remaining space on the bus (too bad for Creekside hopeful bus riders).  The lower they went in the canyon, the clearer the roads were and they got to the mouth of the canyon at 5:54 p.m.  Another day, declared H, upon his return home nearly twelve hours after he left, that I wouldn't have enjoyed skiing.

I did enjoy my day, though.  Milton and I slept in until 7:15, did about four miles through Dimple Dell, where we saw a hawk, three fat bikes, one cross-country skier and one of M's dog friends, Aya, a Norwegian elkhound who is about the cutest and sweetest dog I've ever met.  In addition to that, I made two soups (lentil, for the freezer, and avgolemono for dinner), InstantPot black beans (for the freezer), a batch of brownies, a peach crumble (using summer CSA peaches) and roasted and mashed a squash for the dog.

stayathome

After a week of gloomy, unsettled but ultimately unproductive weather, Northern Utah got a decent storm system starting late Friday night.  This was ideal for those of us (read: me) who didn't want to drive in it.  We got several inches in the valley and Alta got 21" by the time it was over - enough to make an absolute mess of the canyon roads with avalanches both natural and mitigative, leading to road closures and nightmare traffic with plenty of doofuses sliding off.  H dithered back and forth about whether battling the bus crowds and hours-long commutes would be worth it for some decent turns.  Ultimately, he decided he just couldn't face the hassle and opted for a stay-at-home weekend.

Gray day

Saturday morning, Milton and I ventured out into the snow for a 3.2 mile walk.  We'd gotten maybe a couple of wet, heavy inches at the point, enough for neighborhood kids to grab their sleds and their helmets (kids wear helmets sledding now - good idea!) for the small, neighborhood park hills.  Other than that, not too many people were out and about.  Milt got pretty wet but it wasn't too cold, and we kept moving, so he didn't get chilled; he always enjoys a brisk towel-off when we get home. That afternoon I made chocolate chip cookies and a wholegrain soda bread with raisins, plus a tomato-chickpea stew for dinner.  It was definitely a baking and soup kind of day.  H did have to shovel our sidewalks, confirming the wet, heavy inches we'd gotten.

No coyotes here!

By Sunday morning, the storm had moved on, leaving the sun to valiantly try to break through the remaining clouds.  Leaving H back at the house to work on his bike ride tracking spreadsheet, Milton and I set out for a Dimple Dell loop.  The streets were clear and drying but the sidewalks were a mixed bag, depending on what time folks had managed to get out to shovel (or not).  We had just started into Dimple Dell from Granite Park when I saw a large, off-leash dog trotting along the trail ahead of us.  Wait, no, that's a regular sized coyote - who disappeared into the scrub oaks at the bottom of a hill.  I decided that we should not ourselves venture into those scrub oaks and we hied it out of there, completing our loop on sidewalks instead.  We did still clock five miles.  The rest of the day was pretty lazy.  H made us homefried potatoes with peppers and onions for lunch; I made a coconut-turmeric cake and also some vegetable noodle soup for dinner.   We often feel guilty when we're not Out Doing Things on the weekends but sometimes it's okay to rest.  Sometimes you need it.

the week in skiing (3)

 Monday H was back on the full early bus, scoring a seat this time.  It was cold, windy, snowing a bit off and on with subpar visibility.  Again, there were delayed lift openings as ski patrol worked to clear potential avalanches (the avalanche danger is very high along the Wasatch Front right now, with the wind-driven new snow unstable on top of the old base layer).  Again, it was really busy with all the holiday tourists.  H took the 2:09 bus down but the drive was snow-covered and quite slow: it took them almost an hour to get to the mouth of the canyon.

Meanwhile: A went back to work.

Last run of the day

On New Year's Eve day, the storm system had moved on, leaving bright blue skies and bitter cold in its wake, or as H texted me, "Mostly sunny and cold AF."  More specifically, the thermometer at the bottom of the Supreme chair was at 0F for most of the day - brutal.  On the plus side, the visibility was quite good and it didn't seem quite as crowded, seeing how most people spent a lot of time in the lodges, trying to warm up.  H took the 2:09 bus down (much faster trip with clear roads) and at 4 p.m., he reported his toes still being numb.

Meanwhile: A went to work.

That just looks cold

And on the first day of the new year, and the last day before H had to go back to work, it was back to being cloudy and windy with really flat light.  Not quite as cold as Tuesday, but with no help from the sun.  He noticed that it did seem less crowded: all this past week, the lodge's cafeteria area had been filling up by 7:30 a.m., but not so much so on 1/1/25.  When he got home, he declared that of the now thirteen days he's skied, A would have enjoyed none of them.

Moody Superior across the parking lot

Meanwhile: A didn't have to go to work, so she and Milton did a 3.25 mile walk, vacuumed, took down Christmas and made black eyed peas, collard greens and cornbread for dinner.

the week in skiing (2)

 And then the Christmas vacationers arrived in-force.  At 6:30 a.m. on Saturday morning, H scored one of the last seats on the then-SRO bus up to Alta.  They got to Goldminer's Daughter/Wildcat Base area at 7:25, where it was snowing hard; by 9:45, the lifts still weren't open (usually 9:15).  The winds had loaded up the snow requiring widespread avalanche control, which meant delays in opening.  Plus all the vacationers meant massive lines.  By 11:10, only Collins and Wildcat lifts were open and H had only managed to take ONE run.  In the clouds and the wind and on the hard snow, and on only one trail (Mambo).  So he cut his losses, jumping on the 11:39 a.m. bus.  He wasn't the only one calling it quits: he said the locker room was full of locals/regulars packing up and heading out.

Meanwhile, A walked twice with Milton, did some take-home work, food-prepped for Sunday and made vegetable broth, green-chile stew and chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting.

Look at the lines.  Jeez.

There was some new snow overnight and H's early bus was completely full, SRO, when he got on.  "Dang tourists," was his text to me.  People were out in line early over an hour before the lifts opened.  Still, the lines got super long at Collins - it was almost before they got Sugarloaf open and 1 p.m. for Supreme - and by 10:30, he'd only managed two runs.  He fought through it, battling the lines and the hard, wind-packed snow, until the 2:39 p.m. bus.  He was rather hungry by the time he got home.  The afternoon's quote: "Of the ten days I've skied so far this season, you would have liked none of them."

Date-walnut

Meanwhile, A did a long walk with Milton, finished her take-home work, made a date-walnut loaf cake  (a little overbaked but yummy when you get a date) and finished the vegan lentil-veg Wellington for dinner (time-consuming but not difficult, and pretty tasty).  

Vegan Wellington

the week in skiing (1)

As he usually does, H takes the week between Christmas and New Year's off to go skiing.  On Boxing Day (12/26), he hopped on the early bus (6:30 a.m., which is not actually the earliest bus, if you can imagine) and went on up to Alta.  The bus was not full.  It was snowing hard when he arrived at Wildcat Base/Goldminer's Daughter Lodge but it tapered off by the time the lifts started turning and was just windy.  And flat light.  The snow was not great, as the first decent storm system had not yet arrived in the Wasatch Front, and there was a definite uptick in "doofuses" a/k/a Christmas week tourists.  Alta finally has the Supreme lift open and he did a couple of runs there but the conditions are thin at best.

Meanwhile: A went to work.

That is some FLAT light

On Friday (12/27), H was back on the fullish early bus.  It snowed all day at Alta, but the snow was variable - sleet-y, graupel, big wet flakes).  It was windy on the Sugarloaf lift, which meant the Supreme lift got busy, despite the thin cover there.  He noticed lots more tourists - folks must have been traveling on Thursday.  H got two mustache compliments and a third guy admiringly commented on his [very] old school Columbia parka.  He left a little early, catching the 1:09 bus down canyon, and there was only one seat left; he figured folks were hoping to avoid the red snake of stopped down canyon traffic later.  The roads were well covered with snow and slush to Tanner's Flat, and then wet but clear from then on.

Meanwhile: A went to work.

Yay snow (but ugh visibility)