Koda Causing Trouble

Laura just told me a pretty amusing story about Koda, our five-month old wirefox terrier pup. In every morning, Laura leaves him in the kitchen of her studio apartment with a few chew toys, a bowl of water, a comfy bed and light jazz on the radio. He probably sleeps most of the time before he's picked up by SF Puppy Prep, a well-respected dog obedience and day car service in San Francisco that he spends four hours of every week day with.

Lately, Laura has been coming home from work to a kitchen in disarray; obviously in a different arrangement than left in the morning time. She couldn't figure out how the few items that she had on the table were on the floor. The windows were closed in the apartment, so the wind couldn't be a factor. Koda can barely reach his paws onto the table. There wasn't an earthquake. She thought, "Maybe Koda's tugging at the table cloth and forcing the items onto the floor?" Then, she had a conversation with the girl that has been picking him up for SF Puppy Prep.

She told Laura that a neighbor across the street has seen Koda walking on the table. He's been pushing out and climbing onto the table chairs. After jumping onto the table, he's been picking up the items that he wanted to play with and tossing them onto the floor. The man continued by saying that he's seen Koda sit on the table, as if he was unsure of how to make the three foot leap to get down. In the end, we know that he's been safely getting himself down because the girl from SF Puppy Prep hasn't found him on the table.

We'll need to keep a closer eye on our mischievous pup...

The Streak is Broken at 11 Days

I've skiied the last 11 days and had to take today off. With a new multi-day storm rolling in tonight and knowing that I will ski the next six days, I had to give my body a break and run some overdue errands. I hope that this personal record is broken at some later point this season. Keep your fingers crossed. I know I will.

"The King"

This ski day has been salvaged by "The King". Sean's buddy, Bill, suggested that we head over to the local ski hill, Snow King, and get some more skiing in today. At $19 for a two-hour pass, who could say no?!

Snow King Resort is located only six blocks from the town square in Jackson. Its experience centers around family and reminds me about how skiing used to be when I grew up skiing at Masthope in Pennsylvania, or Ski Big Bear, as it's known today. Everything is simple and not overdone. Lift tickets and cafeteria food are affordable for the average family and not just the rich. The community views the resort as a meeting place and not just another resort owned by a multi-national company. It's too bad that these values have been lost in skiing. I'm sure that I'm not the only one who misses them.

Because of its location in the valley and the direction it faces, Snow King wasn't grabbed strongly by the wind and shown who's boss. There were light wind gusts and snow flurries, but nothing was out of the ordinary. We skiied with the furry of young kids because we knew that mother nature could take it away at any moment. It was a good ending to a less than exuberant day and an unexpected and fond reflection on my early ski days.

Entire Mountain on Wind Hold

What a tease! 12 inches of new snow and no way to access it. Every chairlift on the mountain is on wind hold; all because of harmless 120 mph wind gusts. I guess the winds weren't completely harmless because they caused a white-out on and around the mountain, many car accidents, and my car to feel like it was being lifted off the ground. No joke. The one ski run that I made almost gave me vertigo, as I couldn't tell the difference between the air and the snow and got disoriented quickly on familiar terrain, and couldn't see past my ski tips.

I find this experience a bit ironic because of a conversation that I had over the weekend with my parents. Each one (at different times mind you) asked me, "what kind of weather will it take to keep me from skiing?" My initial response was "I haven't experienced anything yet. The worst weather that I've ever experienced while skiing was when (my brother) Michael and I skiied in -30°F at Pico, VT." Obviously, my new answer is 120 mph winds that cause a white-out and unrideable chairlifts. Its experiences like this one that make me treasure my season pass.

The Beauty of Living in a Ski Town

The beauty of living in a ski town with a flexible work schedule is having the freedom to decide when to make turns. It's this feeling that I try to always be conscience of every day. I feel that it shouldn't be taken for granted because it allows me to do something that I love (and do it often) at a world-class resort. After skiing the past seven days, I decided that it'd be nice to catch up on some work, give my legs some much needed rest, and head to the mountain for just the last hour of the ski day. This is the life!

Bike Gears and Cold Temps

I had an interesting experience tonight with my mountain bike that I think is worthy of sharing with you. It was -6°F tonight, as I rode my bike to a bar. You must be thinking, is he really this... smart? I wanted to do the right thing by not driving, so I faced mother nature head on. Literally. Thankfully, my face was only exposed to the cold weather, light winds and snow flurries.

As I started to ride my bike, I couldn't shift the gears. It didn't matter how slow or fast that I was going on my bike. The derailer gearing system just wouldn't cooperate with me. It was only until I applied alot of force to the quick finger trigger that the gears starting shifting for me.

I was wondering what I might've done to the bike that would cause this slow response. Was it due to neglect? A less-than-lubricated chain? Then, I realized that this bike wasn't made to be ridden in temperatures like tonight.

Who would've thought that the bike gears would fail at these temperatures??? I didn't. That's for sure. And, by the way, the Snake River Brewing Company OB-1 pint tasted extra good tonight.

Out of Bounds

Today was my first chance to test what I learned from this weekend's avalanche course. My friend, Justin, and I met up at the resort this morning and headed immediately out-of-bounds to take advantage of the great snow pack and the bluebird day. We knew that the new snow that fell over the weekend had a chance to settle and bond well with the other layers and the mountain face that we wanted to ski wouldn't be windloaded, i.e. it would be less likely to slide and cause an avalanche.

In the 1999-2000 season, Jackson Hole initiated an open-gates policy that was similar to the one found in some Alps ski resorts. The resort puts total responsibility in the hands of the skier. Once you ski through one of the seven gates located on the ski area boundaries and into approximately 2,500 acres of backcountry terrain, it's assumed that you have the right gear and knowledge to ski safely in the unmanaged terrain. It's also known that the avalanche danger is higher here than in the resort and rescues are expensive. So, it's best to take care of yourself and your friends.

After riding the Sublette chairlift, we skiied Hanging Rock to Rendezvous Trail and exited through the gate just below Bivouac and into Rock Springs Bowl, which is named after a city in Wyoming just like the other out-of-bounds areas. Ever since stepping foot into Jackson, I've heard alot about the out-of-bounds skiing at the resort. Rock Springs is definitely an area that is skiied with more frequency than the other out-of-bounds areas because of it's easy accessibility from the resort. Plus, its terrain is filled with narrow chutes, great tree skiing and steep slopes. It's a playground for anyone that can ski it!

And, ski it we did. After getting over the initial nervous jitters associated with skiing out-of-bounds for the first time, we cut through chopped up shin-deep powder in well-spaced trees and then made fresh tracks in knee-deep powder in an open area right before heading back into the trees. Then, we had a field day in an untouched chute that must've been 300-feet long. At its end, we continued our traverse across the mountain by cutting back into the trees to find yet another untouched area. This area was wide open, so we hauled through it and enjoyed the knee-deep powder.

After skiing almost 4,000 vertical feet in a single run and having so much fun, we decided that the same exact run had to be skiied again. The snow, the weather and the adrenaline rush made for a great introduction to the out-of-bounds terrain at the resort. To many more fun, hair-raising and safe out-of-bounds runs...

Super Bowl Bound

Sorry Packers and Brett Favre fans. The Giants are headed to the Super Bowl. It's pretty amazing that the Giants made it this far, especially with their dismal start to the season. Yet again, their defense pulled them through to victory. Given the Patriots dominance, I hope the Giants can put up a fight and ruin the history books for the Pats.

Tonight, Sean and I ventured out of the ordinary and headed to the Silver Dollar bar for the Giants game. It's a locals hangout, so the scene was pretty interesting and 95% filled with Packers fans. I wish that I had a camera and the gall to take a picture of the cowboys sitting in front of us. One of them looked like he literally just walked off a Hollywood set for a spaghetti western film. With his deep bucket hat, handlebar mustache, light-blue bandanna tied longly around his neck, and thin leather suspenders over a puffy denim shirt, his look was priceless.

Out in the Field

After spending the past two nights in the classroom and learning about ALL of the different factors that cause an avalanche, it was nice to head outside and to the Grand Teton National Park for training sessions. I've heard great things about the park, so I was excited to be going there for the first time. The drive from Jackson to the park is about 25-minutes due north and consists of jaw dropping views of the Tetons. The steep, abrupt climb of the mountains from the valley floor and the noticeable vegetation difference between the valley floor and the mountains are spectacular.

Once we parked our cars, we clicked into our Alpine Touring (AT) setups that had skins attach to them. An AT setup is different than a normal pair of downhill skis because of the bindings. AT binding have two functions:
1) To perform like a cross country ski by pivoting at the toe-piece
2) To perform like a downhill ski by locking in place at the heel-piece

AT setups are very useful when you can't depend on chairlifts to get up a mountain and need to hike up one. By attaching skins, which prevent a ski from slipping when hiking, you can effortlessly climb up slopes that are as steep as 70°. The efficiency of this combination is pretty amazing.

Our first training session consisted of pairing up with another student and hiding an avalanche beacon on each other. If you're not in the know, a beacon has two settings: send and receive. When in the backcountry, your beacon should always be in the send mode, except during times of rescue, where it should be in the receive mode.

It was my first time using a beacon, so this lesson was extremely valuable for me. After my first search attempt, which took me all over an open field and eventually to the buried beacon, I got quicker and more precise with my beacon, which is a Mammut Pulse Barryvox. Even though it is a quick learning curve, it's important to practice, practice, practice because, as we all know, it's best to have a task be second nature during stressful times.

The next useful training session was conducting a probe search. A probe reminds me of a camping tent pole that has an elastic cord. They can be as short as 170 cm or as long as 320 cm. It's best to have a probe that's over 300 cm and be graduated, which allows accurate measurements of snow depths.

In this particular lesson, we stood in a line with a probe extended in hand over our "avalanche debris". I've seen many pictures of people completing a probe search over avalanche debris, so this experience was a bit eerie for me. We methodically searched (or at least tried to) for a buried backpack. After a few probe attempts, we quickly got out of line and order and started randomly probing for the backpack, which is exactly what you don't want to do during a real search. I guess it's good that we got this wreck out of our system now. Right?

The next and final lesson was the analysis of a snowpit. Our guide and main instructor, Ron Matous, has a worth of knowledge on this subject because of his 23 years of real-world guiding and avalanche control experience. We cut a pit that was about 6 feet by 12 feet, so we could complete the following stress tests: inclinometer test, layer analysis test, shovel shear test and compression test. To learn more about these tests, you can view my photos and read avalanche.org.

After five hours in the field, it was time to head home and let the day's lessons sink in.

Back to the Classroom

Tonight was the first night of the Avalanche Level 1 Certification course with Exum Mountain Guides. I think I'm going to like this course alot. It's right up my alley with being a nice combination of science and the great outdoors. It was also a good feeling to be back in the classroom; I actually kind of miss it.

As you can imagine with taking an Avy (note: short for Avalanche) course in a ski town, the classroom structure is pretty lax. Instead of being a formal, strict lecture, the instruction style is more like an interactive conversation between the instructors and the students. Instructors loosely follow their notes and obviously depend more on their own related experiences, while students effortlessly chime in with their questions and/or experiences so that the whole group gains from the conversation.

So far, I'm impressed with the quality of the instructors. The life of Ron Matous, who is the main instructor, appears to revolve around avalanches. Besides having impressive mountaineering and backcountry skiing achievements, he can vividly describe and accurately explain the source of any avalanche in the states of Wyoming, Utah or Colorado that date as far back as the late '70s and either personally touched his life or was written about in the local paper. It's a privilege to be learning from someone of his caliber and that lives, breathes and shares all that he knows on this subject so that other people can also enjoy backcountry skiing in a safe way.

In addition to Ron, Jim Woodmencey is a weather forecaster for an Alaskan Heli Skiing company, as well as THE local weather forecaster for the unpredictable and often changing weather of the Tetons. Last but not least is Nat Patridge, who is a co-founder of the well-respected Exum Mountain Guide service and has years of guiding clients on high-adrenaline heli ski trips in Alaska and Jackson.

Dark Chocolate Chunk Oatmeal Cookies

Today, I received an unexpected package from Laura and Koda. They made me homemade dark chocolate chunk oatmeal cookies, where Koda was the official taste tester and quality control inspector for every stage of the batter. Besides being the perfect antidote for a stubborn cold, they are delicious.

If anyone else wants to send me a care package (hint! hint!), my mailing address is:
John McMahon
P.O. Box 14722
Jackson, WY 83002

Not only will you keep me eating well, but you too will become famous!

SCORE: Mother Nature 1, John 0

The last few days have been frustrating for me. I have a cold that has been keeping me off the slopes. I must've caught a bug from this recent coldspell that won't let go of its strong grip on me.

The weather has been brutal lately, as the average high has been 5°F and the average low has been -5°F. Note: you're not misreading these figure. It has been this cold. Just to give you an idea, your throat burns when you walk outside. Hopefully, drinking plenty of fluids and taking it easy within my warm apartment will do the trick and get me back on the road to recovery in no time.

Temperature Inversions

Temperature inversions happen quite often in Jackson. It's an interesting phenomenon because a warmer, less dense air mass moves over a cooler, more dense air mass. An inversion can be simply described as "when a section of the atmosphere becomes warmer as the elevation increases", as explained on csun.edu. In this part of the country, the warm air hovers at the mountain tops and above, while the cold air lays in the valley. For example, today's weather forecast for the ski resort includes an upper-mountain temperature of 30°F and a base temperature of 19°F.

Furthermore, an inversion "occurs in the vicinity of warm fronts, and also in areas of oceanic upwelling such as along the California coast. With sufficient humidity in the cooler layer, fog is typically present below the inversion cap. An inversion is also produced whenever radiation from the surface of the earth exceeds the amount of radiation received from the sun, which commonly occurs at night, or during the winter when the angle of the sun is very low in the sky. This effect is virtually confined to land regions as the ocean retains heat far longer.", as stated on Wikipedia.

Besides low lying cloud formations in Jackson, temperature inversions are responsible for severe thunderstorms, tropical cyclones, tornadoes in the midwestern US states, the polluted air of Los Angeles, and the rolling fog of San Francisco.

GO GIANTS!

As some of you know, the NY Giants won their NFL playoff game today against the Dallas Cowboys. It was a close game and came down to the wire. In the end, it was the Giants' defense and a few dropped passes by the Cowboys that made the difference in the game.

Since I don't have cable TV yet (or even the basic TV channels because I couldn't find a clear signal with a set of Rabbit ear antennas), I watched the game at Sidewinders Tavern with a Snake River Brewing Company Pale Ale and a mixture of locals and tourists. To my surprise, there were plenty of people routing for the Giants and bringing the obnoxious New Yorker charm to the few Dallas supporters. I was happy to be at the right place.

The Green Bay Packers are the only team that now stand in the Giants' way of making the Super Bowl. Go Giants!

70 inches in the past 10 days!!!

It keeps on snowing and feels like it won't stop. What a feeling! I truly am living in a skier's paradise.

I love La Nina snow years!!! "The La Nina phenomenon, the so-called evil twin sister of El Nino, which also affects global climate, [brings] more than the usual amount of cold and snow", says Dawn Walton of globeandmail.com. There have been fresh tracks (aka untouched fresh snow) every day for the past 10 days, which included two overnight, 14-inch dumps. And, there's light, slightly chopped up knee-deep powder where there aren't fresh tracks. These conditions have made the first two weeks of 2008 memorable for all skiers experiencing them.

I'm off to the slopes for my 21st day of the season. In the meantime, keep praying to the snow gods for me. And, think snow!

Riding in Style

In my short time in this world, I've learned that knowing the right people always pays off sooner or later. The start of today's ski day reinforced this belief. Thanks to Sean's co-worker, we rode in style to a chairlift that was halfway up the mountain in a snowmobile drawn sled with seats and saved ourselves crucial time on a 14" powder day. It was definitely a first and probably not a last because the right people wouldn't have it any other way.

Also, I got my car back today from the body shop! Even though it wasn't too bad depending on my friends and the local bus system to get to/from the mountain for the past few days, it's nice to be able to come and go as I please again. When I picked up the car, I felt like I just bought it because the accident happened so long ago and the car looked great. My initial thought was, "Where should I drive it? Anywhere will do." Needless to say, I'm relieved to have the whole accident behind me now.

Avalanche Training Course

I took the day off from skiing to give my legs a much needed rest from the daily abuse of skiing the steeps and trees of Jackson Hole. The past few days have been so intense both snow- and ski-wise that my legs feel like jelly today. Besides, I've gotten my money's worth in the past five days by skiing hard in constant knee-deep powder that these memories alone will last me to until at least tomorrow. Right? I knew you'd agree with me.

Since I had some free time today, I decided to run a couple of errands in town, including registering for an Avalanche Level 1 Certification course that's offered here next week by Exum Mountain Guides. This course will prepare me to ski in the backcountry, where the terrain is not managed and your safety resides solely in your and your friends' hands. In particular, I will learn how to predict avalanche dangers, read and understand the interaction between the different snow levels of a snowpack, and, most importantly, find avalanche victims. Because avalanches should never be taken lightly, it's important to arm yourself with as much knowledge as possible to make sure that you don't get caught in one.

You must be wondering, why would I ever want to ski in the backcountry and put myself in danger? Well, there are alot of good reasons. Most importantly, it can be safe and fun when it's done right. It's also great being in the great outdoors with a handful of close friends and feeling like no one else is around you. Then, there's the beauty factor of the Teton Mountain Range, which has some of the best mountain views in the world. Lastly, I'll become a much better skier. And, in the end, isn't this last fact the point of it all?!?

Off to the Shop

Today, I begrudgingly dropped off my car at the body shop to get the remaining work completed on it. I'll be without my car for at least three days and at most five days. During this time, I'll have to depend on the local bus system, which I'm never a big fan of no matter the town, my roommate, Sean, my mountain bike or my own two feet to get around town. It's not the end of the world; I'm just not looking forward to it.

It's funny how quickly my perspective has changed about transportation, as a car owner. While living in San Francisco for just shy of four years, I didn't own a car and literally rode my bike everywhere when the weather cooperated with me. I viewed cars as a luxury, not a necessity. (Actually, I saw them as a hassle, especially when trying to park it in the heavily populated Mission District.) Now that I own one, I feel kind of lost without it.

Thankfully, the skiing conditions have been amazing! It was sunny for most of the day too, which doesn't happen as often as I'd like. Today, I skiied with Sean and a few of our new friends. Because of the conditions, we felt a little bit more adventurous today. (Note: Click the photo to the right to see huge rocks snowed in and an old Tram tower. Plus, pay attention to the great contrast in colors. I love this photo.)

The highlight of my day was going big, i.e. trying to ski something difficult, right under a chairlift. I find it the most rewarding when you do something skillful under a chairlift because you have an attentive crowd that will gladly share their opinion with you. You'll either win them over or be the laugh of their day.

In this particular moment, I chose to catch a good amount of speed before I launched myself off of a 15-foot rock. I knew that the landing would be very soft with 1-2 feet of fresh snow, so I had no problem with taking this approach. After hitting the lip of the jump, it felt like I flew through the air for a couple of seconds, which was probably a half a second in reality. Unfortunately, I got in the back seat during the air, which forced me to weight the tails of my skis and lose my balance. On touch down, I took a nasty tumble that consisted of at least one cartwheel. In the photo below, my friend, Bill, is going off the same rock.


Even though it didn't work out as planned, it was all worth it. Whether it's at work or play, you really learn alot about yourself when you put everything on the line and are calculated. Graciously, the chairlift crowd gave me props (aka their support) for trying to pull off this ambitious cliff drop.

Day 17

Yesterday was incredible. It was more incredible than Saturday all because I finally got back my ski legs and took control of my big powder skis. My roommate, Sean, and I skiied alot of knee-deep powder in the trees and even jumped a few 10 foot rocks. With receiving 28 inches in 72 hours, today should be no different. Pictures to come...

Enjoy your Monday!

It is a POWDER Day!!!

14 inches of snow fell throughout the night and 8 inches are expected to fall throughout the day. Today will be an incredible day! For all of you that are dying to head up to Tahoe (note: Kirkwood, a ski resort on the south shore of Lake Tahoe, has received 48-60 inches in the past 24 hours. And, it's still snowing there!), I'll be sure to make some turns for you today.

Here's a little taste of our snowfall:

Tomorrow will be a Powder Day!

These type of nights are what all hardcore skiers wait for in their ski lives. The expectation of a big powder day makes the air in a ski town electric. As rumors fly around the ski resort, no one knows whether we'll receive as little as 6-7 inches or as much as 1-2 feet of snow tonight. Obviously, being the optimist that we are, we all hope that the final amount is closer to the 1-2 feet mark.

Needless to say, the ski resort will be a playground tomorrow. Everyone will be wearing a smile on their face and be covered in fresh, light snow. Everyone will also be creating lifelong memories as they do what skiers do best, making the most of the present moment.

T-11 hours to first chair...

5,876 : 20 : 4 : -1

Do we have any cryptographers among us? Has anyone gotten too caught up in the "Da Vinci Code"? If so, tell me the meaning of the numbers in this blog posting title.
...
Still thinking.
...
Stuck yet?
...
OK, the torture is over. Here's your answer. The numbers represent respectively:

• The miles that I traveled during the holidays.
  
• The total days that I was away on my trip.
• The US states that I stepped foot in while away.
• The temperature that I was greeted by on my return to Jackson.

The highlights of my holiday trip include:

• The day trip into NYC with my mom.
• The sleepover that I had with my niece, Katie (kT, notice that this is my first shout out to you! You're famous just like me!!!) and my nephew, Ryan, which included sitting down with my brother, Michael, and fixing my external hard drive.
  
• Teaching Katie how to cook my famous marinara sauce and home-made garlic bread and having her be my sous chef along the way.
• Watching an unbelievable number of English Premier League soccer games. Go Arsenal!
  
• Playing touch football on Christmas Eve day with my boys, Kuntz and Richards, and some of their friends. (If you were wondering, I stole the show with six touchdown grabs.)
  
• With Laura, watching Koda, our 4-month old male wirefox terrier pup, off-lease in a fenced-in dog park and then a non-fenced-in dog park play with other dogs and not stray from us, all the while being an instigator to all dogs no matter their size. (I must say that I'm most proud of the end of this statement because I too have a little Napoleonic syndrome in me.)

Even though the past three weeks have been great and well spent, it's really good to be back in Jackson. It's especially good because I know that I won't be leaving anytime soon.