Weekend in Jackson

It was a little tough going, but I made it. After leaving work late on Thursday I managed to run out of gas in middle of nowhere Wyoming, lose control of the truck about 30 times on the windy, icy crapper of a winter drive that is I-80, and get pulled over sans ticket at 2am just as I was rolling into Jackson. Upon arrival I discovered two very drunk Melvin brothers rolling in their vomit and peeing on themselves. Just great!

Thankfully, Garrett was quite sober and was able to ski the next morning. We skied inbounds and side country on Friday and I was favorably impressed by Jackson Hole. There is enough awesome skiing to be done in the Tetons to keep one busy for a lifetime. The next two days were bluebird backcountry in the park and we got the goods. Saturday we skied Turkey Chute off the back side of 25 Short down into Avalanche canyon where we made a late day lap in beautiful mountain splendor. Sunday we skied some great north facing couloirs and fun pitches off the north side of Wimpy's. Everything was deep, stable, and so much fun! I have really been getting some amazing days in the backcountry this season and these were two of the best!


Garrett getting the pop out of his turn in the Jackson Hole gate access backcountry.


Garrett points out the line to Minor Melvin.


This skin track redefines "earn your turns." There is a definite one to one correlation.


Did I mention that I think the Tetons are gorgeous!


Passing the skis down to the entrance of Turkey Chute.


Graham gettin' his fix while Garrett and Brian look on.


Even the hard part is freakin' awesome!


Graham playing the little spoon next to my tracks on the last lap of the day.


Me, Brian Melvin, Garrett and Graham after a wonderful day in the Tetons.

Tuesday Trivia #6

It's pretty exciting when space debris reenters and is recovered. There is lots of good science to be done and reentry models to be updated. In October of 2007 ULA launched the WGS SV-1 satellite and the Centaur upper stage that carried it to it's final orbit has subsequently reentered. One part of the Centaur survived its fiery descent through the atmosphere and was recovered. When did it reenter? What part? Where did it land? Link in a picture of the part. Happy internet researching!

Thanks for playing Trivia Tuesday. Please put you answers in the comments. I will try to post these weekly at noon mountain time. Answer three trivia questions correctly and I will mail you two dozen cookies of your choice anywhere in the world.

Tride Rocks!

I met up with Kyle Dickman and friends at the amazing Lexi's house in Telluride on Friday night. We had a little comped tour of the inbounds action at Telluride on Saturday and hit up the backcountry on Mustang Ridge above Ophir on Sunday. Kyle and I had zero beta on where to go backcountry near Telluride, but we managed to stumble on one of the best spots I have skied yet in Colorado. Got to love having a good nose for the pow!


Kyle Dickman got this great shot of me in the backcountry near Ophir on Sunday.


Kyle sussing out the line in the beautiful San Juan range.


Kyle seems to be enjoying his turns, 'cause darn it if he didn't earn 'em!

Tuesday Trivia #5

Black holes have been the subject of much hoopla in the astronomy community lately. Earlier this year, two embryonic stars were discovered just a few light years away from the super massive black hole that lies at the Milky Way's center. It is thought that these stars were born in place rather than forming elsewhere and being "sucked in" by the black hole's gravitational field. Theoretically it is possible for the stars to have formed in more traditional stellar nurseries and moved toward the center of the galaxy, but this theory has been discounted. Why?

Thanks for playing Trivia Tuesday. Please put you answers in the comments. I will try to post these weekly at noon mountain time. Answer three trivia questions correctly and I will mail you two dozen cookies of your choice anywhere in the world.

Tuesday Trivia #4

Sorry about the lack of a trivia question last week. I have been super busy.

We are launching a rocket tonight with a satellite that has an interesting event in it's past. What is this event? I know this sounds super cryptic, but when you figure it out it will be obvious.

Thanks for playing Trivia Tuesday. Please put you answers in the comments. I will try to post these weekly at noon mountain time. Answer three trivia questions correctly and I will mail you two dozen cookies of your choice anywhere in the world.

Jason: Your cookies will be along shortly. I am still working on gluten-free-high-altitude baking. I am loathe to release a substandard product from my kitchen.

The aforementioned event:

Yep, thats a $500,000 satellite that got dropped.

Vail Ice

I always think frozen water is so aesthetic.


Dane climbing.


Me Climbing.

Went up to Vail on Saturday and climbed some ice. It was a beautiful bluebird day and definitely in the realm of "type one" fun. We hung some topropes on some super fun ice and dirked around with the whole place to ourselves.