Apr 8 Easter and Grand Finale on Baldy

Hard to believe that this was our last day of skiing in Utah for the 2012 season. Time sure flies when you're having fun! We started the day at 2:50 am when the alarm went off for us to head to Snowbird for the sunrise Easter service on top of Hidden Peak (the tram summit). Who the heck set the alarm for 2:50 instead of 5:20?? Back to bed and up again at 5:20 to get to the Snowbird tram by 6:00 am. We arrived on the peak at 6:10 am in darkness except for the full moon to the west. Multiple fire pits were blazing and hot chocolate was being served. No sign of the Easter bunny up here!! We watched the sun rise over the Uintas to the east and listened to an inspirational "mountain top" sermon with our "attitudes of gratitude."

Here's how the day started:

After "church" we headed back down the canyon for a nap! This was going to be our rite of passage day on Mt Baldy and we needed to be well rested. By 12:25 pm we were back on the mountain at the top of Sugarloaf lift hitching our skis to our backpacks and readying for the mile hike to the summit of Mt Baldy. Marc Chrusch, a friend and co-worker from Heublein who is now a Salt Lake "local," was guiding us up to the summit so we could ski down Main Chute. I asked him for advice for this little adventure. He replied "don't f--k up"! Hmmm, that was reassuring.

We summited Mt Baldy in under 40 minutes - a piece of cake compared to Tuckerman's in NH! Here's proof that we were on the summit:

Now it was time to put on our skis!! Skiing along the ridge we arrived at the cornice above Main Chute. Fortunately it is a low snow year so the drop into the chute was only 3 feet but the "landing" was close to 50 degrees in slope and looked very firm. I volunteered to be the first to die!! Over the edge I went landing on both feet - half the battle is just getting in and I'd made it. Now I was hoping Marc and Mike would give me enough "space" to not take me out if they screwed up.

We all made it safely down the chute! Yeehawwwwwww! The adrenlin rush is addictive - we just might have to go to Jackson Hole next year to put Corbett's Couloir on our "been there, done that" list too.

In the photo below, Main Chute is the chute furthest to the right on Mt Baldy.

Ski bummin' in 2012 has been a blast. We look forward to our return to NH on Tuesday and re-uniting with all of our friends! Thanks for all of your good wishes for our adventure. Mike and Jean

Apr 7 Grand Finale Picnic!

So back in 1985 a group of us were skiing Snowbird on a bluebird spring day and we had the picnic of a life time on the shoulder of Little Cloud bowl. Of course that was in the day prior to digital cameras so I would have to be back in NH to scan in the photos from that memorable day. We all were sporting bathing suits under our ski clothes and after a few bottles of wine several bikinis emerged along with some bare chests and a few moons from the guys. Well, in honor of our last weekend of skiing in Utah for this season, Marie (who was part of the 1985 gang) suggested that we again picnic.

Although it was a bluebird day, the temps were not quite so springlike, but the wine, appetizers, sandwiches, strawberries and chocolate were incredible. We set out our spread just through the first gate on Rock and Roll heading into Devil's Castle (need we say more???).

Here is a shot of Marie who came prepared for a repeat of the 1985 event.

A few more photos of the gala picnic:

Apr 3 Grand Finale Giant Slalom

Today was the Alta Town League final race. The grand finale was held on Stimulation off the Wildcat chair - a mere 40 degree slope that was solid ICE! What the frig am I doing here at 8 am in the morning?? If I didn't think that I would puke in the starting gate I would have done shots of Jaegermeister at 8 am along with the rest of the racers. Needless to say I provided great entertainment to the racers waiting to race after me. When I finally shoved out of the starting gate (the starter probably thought I had stroked out it took me so long), I took the first gate OK and then said bull sh-t I like my body in one piece and proceeded to ski out of the course, miss the next 5 gates and then jump back into the course on the "flat" half where everyone was hooting and hollering as I careened towards the finish! I was thrilled to be in ONE piece!! Fortunately we had several youngsters that were awesome on the team and "Heather's Mom" team finished 11th out of 24 for the season. I think I will retire from my racing career.

Here are a few shots of the day.

Apr 1 Rockin' Red Canyon

A short distance from Bryce Canyon is Red Canyon where biking is allowed throughout the canyon. We arrived about 10:00 am and saddled up in the midst of snow flurries. Slight confusion in the brain about flurries without skis underfoot, but we managed to naviagate the rock moguls and flurries successfully. The only two people in this canyon made it feel like we were the lone lost survivors of the dinosaur age. The red rocks were GORGEOUS!

Here are some shots of our trek.

Mar 31 Beautiful Bryce Canyon

Since skiing had gotten crusty, we decided on a last minute whim to head to Southern Utah, specifically Bryce Canyon, with our mountain bikes in the car. Booked a room at the Stone Canyon Lodge in Tropic, UT, for the night and we planned to bike in Red Canyon the next day, April 1.

Unbelievable how beautiful southern Utah is! Away from the masses of SLC and out into the wilderness. Bryce Canyon was gorgeous! We arrived late afternoon and stayed until sunset - hiking down into the canyon floor past Thor's Hammer and feeling like we were hiking back millions of years. We're thinking next trip should be with an RV (see photo) so we can visit everyone of the Utah parks, especially Escalante.

Here are the some of the scenes from Bryce Canyon - too bad pictures can't capture the splendor.

Mar 30 Wildlife Quiz

Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake is home to amazing wildlife (Mike and Jean not included)! See how many species you can identify in the photos below.

Mar 30 Bikin' Bison!

Since our days in Utah are limited and spring fever has set in, we decided we better check out the Great Salt Lake today. No better way to do that than to drive out to Antelope Island with two mountain bikes in the car. As soon as we opened the car door you knew immediately the Great Salt Lake was salty! Smelled just like we were at the ocean only with snow covered mountains in the background - the best of all worlds. Sand, beach grass, and water salinity between 25-33 percent! The ocean salinity is only about 5 percent or less. No fishing in these waters, but boy can you float!

Looks alot like BVI!

Even sailboats at the marina. Love how you can ski in the morning and take your Hobe out for a sail in the afternoon.

We encountered amazing wildlife today. The most incredible were the bison grazing along our bike path. Check out the next post for a wildlife identification challenge!