Stoke City…I need those pants…

Josh and I decided to stay in Moab this weekend to enjoy the things that lazy days have to offer. Like sleeping in, pancakes at noon and reading next to a waterfall. But, we still wanted to gain a little altitude and decided to go for a hike in the La Sal Mountains on Sunday (with the rain coats and trekking poles of course).

Getting Ready to Hike

When we arrived at the start of the hike, it was sunny enough to warrant the sunscreen, which we applied quite liberally to our faces. We had noticed all of the rain clouds when we drove up, but our packed rain jackets gave us confidence that the hike would still be fun. Unfortunately, each loud crash of thunder made the clouds look a little darker and a further hike less fun. Since the metal poles in our hands were making us nervous, we decided to ditch the La Sals and find someplace else to hike.

The Fins at Behind the Rock

Since we had yet to check out an area called “Behind the Rocks,” we decided to head there. After a short drive up a jeep trail, we got out and started a new hike, in the sun. The heat was almost welcome, since we had more than enough water for ourselves, and the pup, Beau, and we didn’t have to worry about the storm. However, as we neared the maze of sandstone fins, we head another thunder crash, from directly behind us. It is a weird sensation when you have nothing but blue ski in front of you, and yet hear thunder, and we were pretty amazed to find that the storm had followed us.
We had 2 choices: either run into the fins to try and find shelter (and hope for a short storm), or run to our car, in the hope that we will make it there before the storm is on top of us. The second option seemed best and the sunny hike ended as soon as we turned around.

Approaching Storm

Since we had been going pretty quickly before, we had to really push with arms and legs to go faster. (Thank goodness for trekking poles!) Too quickly after turning around we saw the first bolt of lighting, and it wasn’t that far away. Since hiking was obviously too slow, it seemed like a good time to try going for a run (my first since surgery 8 weeks ago). Although I was hoping that I wouldn’t see anymore lightning, it wasn’t long before I saw a second, and then a third bolt. They were definitely getting closer, and the storm was right over where we were headed.
Just when I thought I couldn’t run any further, I noticed a pop bottle that I had seen before. I remembered thinking that I should wait to pick it up until the way back, since it was so close to the car. I yelled at Josh to get the keys ready, and ran on a little faster until I saw a familiar blue in the bushes. It probably took two seconds to unlock the car, load up Beau and our gear and jump into safety. Oddly enough, the first thing I thought of when I got in the car, was how Bill Nye the Science Guy had taught me that a car is the safest place to be in a thunderstorm. That was a good show.

Here is another of the Fins. I definitely want to get back there to explore in between them.

As the snow melts in the Wasatch I sit here thinking about the great season we were blessed with.  This tour was one of the high points of the season.  We had a melt freeze cycle which consolidated the snowpack and allowed us to ski some burly lines not usually skiable during the middle of winter.  The line Derek, Drew and I chose to ski is the Southwest facing colouir coming off Sunrise Peak which sits between the Twins and Dromedary.  We accessed this line by climbing up Tanners and traversing on the knife edged ridge over to Sunrise.  Scary exposure, 50 foot rappels, corn and powder skiing.  All in all a great day out in the Wasatch.

Our Route

Drew and I on our way up Tanners

Our route over from Dromedary

Some more climbing…

A view from the top.

Now we get to ski, me making a turn.

Drew skiing some pow on a shaded aspect.

Can you find me, looking like an ant?

The Crux of the line…

Almost down to the bottom after a few thousand vert of skiing the Y-Couloir greets us from across the road.

This winter we were blessed in the Wasatch with an incredibly deep snowpack. Little Cottonwood received over 600 inches of the Best Snow on Earth. This translates into great skiing into the spring and summer months in both the Wasatch backcountry and at Snowbird. We are still skiing as of the end of June and I plan to be making turns in August. Enjoy the photos.

Turns in Mineral Basin April 3, 2008

Broom Closet was good to go April 3, 2008

The Crew rocking BC.com gear at the Bird May 23, 2008

1…2…3… Dropping, into Silver Fox May 23, 2008

Mike and I riding Gad 2, Life is Good May 23, 2008

Wolverine Cirque Looking Good June 18, 2008

Looking down at my line, can you feel the pucker factor? June 18, 2008

Skiing Grannys in Wolvie June 18, 2008

Suicide Couloir Mt. Superior June 19, 2008

John Gilchrist Retail Gearhead Booting up June 19, 2008

JGilchrist Shredding the Gnar known as Suicide Couloir June 19, 2008

Me shredding Suicide….June 19, 2008

Skinning towards Main Chute(skinning on grass is just part of the game) June 26, 2008

Booting up Main Chute June 26, 2008

Skiing Main Chute a little camera tilt action going on June 26, 2008

Early Saturday morning, Sam Deland, Joe Campo and Rob Wykoff piloted the Where’s Karl? RV up Little Cottonwood Canyon to Snowbird for the Xterra Trail Running Race.  

Ascending LCC was solid test of the RV’s gusto, and based on its stellar performance at high-altitude we’re confident that it will handle the hills of the east with ease when it supports Karl Meltzer on his quest to run the entire Appalachian Trail in 47 days.

At the Race, we met up with Backcountry.com’s own Jill L. and her husband, Dominic.  It didn’t take long for Jill and Dom to convince Sam to put on some borrowed socks and enter the race… within minutes, the starting gun sounded and the racers took flight.  

Sam, Jill and Dom were ready to race – they even had enough energy to smile for the camera mid-race!

The smiles didn’t stop when the race was over because all three runners placed extremely well!  Jill took 5th place in her womens’ group, Dom came in 3rd overall and the last minute entry Deland represented with a strong 7th place finish.  

Congrats to everyone who ran in Saturday’s race!  Keep an eye out for the Where’s Karl?  RV in a town near you!  www.whereskarl.com

Located in the middle of Utah’s Great Salt Lake, Antelope Island can be biked virtually year round- with Spring and Fall usually being the best times to explore the singletrack offerings.  We headed out on a gorgeous spring morning to take a spin on the island’s trails.

We headed to the White Rock Bay Loop trailhead and were greeted by an amazing view to the west.

From the White Rock Bay Loop, we climbed to the western ridge line’s rolling singletrack and arrived at Elephant Head.  The view from Elephant Head looking over White Rock Bay is spectacular- bring a camera!

From Elephant Head, we could see the Split Rock Bay Loop to the southwest. It looked good, so we sent it.

Antelope Island is a very cool place to explore, especially when the trails are too wet to ride or you need a change of scenery – our loop took a couple hours with the Split Rock extension – it was 100% worth it.

I found this crazy looking tree with my brother while riding atvs through Mill Canyon about 10 miles outside of Moab. Thought it deserved a picture.

Takin a break from the sun. I forgot to wear sun block on my legs and wore shorts during the hottest part of the day . Wish I had a picture of that sunburn….

Figure the homer simpson graphic pretty much sums up that indecision, especially since Duff is an imaginary beer and I wasn’t drinking, I was just being really, really, smart

By far the best backpacking trip I have ever been on.