Straddling State Lines

Brandon and Adam, wishing they had skins

Better Than Expected

Got up into the mountains early this morning. Took the S.A.V. and was able to access some upper elevation terrain. This allowed for some drier than anticipated snow. Skied a S/SW aspect that was a little wind buffed, but they were fun/fast/smoove turns. About a foot of new on a frozen crust, but only felt the bottom a couple times. Felt much deeper in sheltered areas.

moon at sunrise.

first light.

Parked here.

sunrise.

Upper G.C. Canyon

illuminated aspens.

Looking over towards the Gut.

red crags.

turns at the bottom.

skintrack and my shadow.

valley fog.

glad to have the Trabs back. Nice and light, yet they ski so well. Thanks to Mark at Wasatch Ski Distribution as well as randogear
for getting me back on another pair of Freerandos. They are bomber.

cool view/angle of a skin track.

a fun morning.

It was fun to go back to the area where I started earning legit turns. For some reason it had been a while.

Test Run:

We're still at my parent's place, so I took the Verdicts/Freerides out in some single-digit temps up Monte Cristo. They moved the gates up canyon a bit, and I was able to park near some skiable terrain. It was late in the day, so I just skied the short shot seen in the left of this photo in front of the pines:



The slope had seen some wind-loading, and I noticed some minor shooting cracks. Also heard collapsing in the snowpack. Not a whole lot of snow at this location, however, and what was there seemed to be anchored by sagebrush.
North Facing, ~7800 feet.
The skis/boots/bindings toured well, and skied better. Looking forward to some steep & deep lines with this setup.

A jet makes some tracks:

Mounting the Fritschi Freeride Plus

Got some Freerides the other day from the good folks at RandoGear.com, and I put them on some last year's 180cm BD Verdicts that I picked up last summer & have been waiting in the basement. I will be skiing this setup with some older Garmont Adrenalins. I've mounted a few pairs before, and it's fairly simple. With a little patience and some step by step instruction from WildSnow.com, the job is manageable. For the low-down on the process, including a downloadable template look here.

^First, I enhanced the midpoint on my boots for easy viewing.
^Next, I drew a long center-line extending thru the midpoint of the ski.
^ Then I placed the boot, placed in the binding & accurately adjusted, on the skis- carefully aligning the boot midpoint with the ski midpoint. Mark the fore/aft location of the screw holes.
^Now place your printed toe-piece template on the skis, aligning with marked location. Ensure the location, center punch, then drill. Mount toe of binding, and determine correct location for heel-piece.

Place heelpiece template, mark, center punch, drill.
ensure all holes are correctly placed with a dry-mount. then:

Mix up some epoxy, then dab a little in your holes. Securely fasten the binding to the skis.

The finished product.

Test Run for the S.A.V. (Ski Approach Vehicle)

Don't get too excited; it's not really for sale, that sign is just the door
I rigged up to keep Alta in the crate:

I was pretty happy with how the whole rig worked. We cruised up the Swan Flats Road and skinned up to the Garden City ridge and found the meadows to be quite brushy still.

Laurie skins up thru the pines:

frosted needles:

New Skis 11-4-05

Got some new skis today from my buddy Ken at randogear.com. They are the SkiTrab Freerando and are just over 5 lbs for the pair. Can't wait to get the Dynafits mounted and get into the mountains. Snowed in town last night. It will not be long.