An Unexpected Care Package

Today, I checked my mail for the first time in a week. Even though the post office is less than a block away from my apartment, I rarely make the time to check my mail. Who wants to check their mail when they know it's mostly junk mail? I don't that's for sure.

I received a nice surprise from Laura’s mom, Anne Ast. She sent me a generous care package that included some of my favorite goodies, like Sour Patch Kids and home made cookies and brownies. With the package weighing over five pounds, it’ll go a long ways and have to be shared with my friends. Anne, thank you again for the great care package. By the way, the brownies are too die for!!!

End of a Visit

Joe’s off and headed back to Manhattan today. It was great having him out here. It was fun skiing with him again and showing him the mountain, which he loved and was totally blown away by. (Who wouldn’t be?! Right?) It’s been awhile since just the two of us hung out, so we took advantage of our time together by catching up, enjoying a few great restaurants and doing our fair share of drinking. I’m really happy that he made the trip out here. Hopefully, his trip home is a lot smoother than the one here.

Here are some pictures for the road:

Snowmobiling in Yellowstone National Park

Today, Joe and I went snowmobiling to Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park. I’ve wanted to make this trip ever since reading an article in "Powder" magazine about ten years ago. There’s been a lot of debate around whether or not this activity should be allowed in the park, so I wanted to make this trip before it was outlawed by Congress.

Our tour was with Hart 6 Ranch, who delivers one of the better snowmobile tours in the area and is ranked up there with Togwotee Snowmobile Tours and American National Park Adventures (ANPA). After being picked up at my apartment in the morning, we were driven to their ranch that’s 45-minutes north of Jackson and served a hot breakfast. Their ranch is in the middle of nowhere, consists of a large log cabin that has several large taxidermy "trophies", and is frequented by snowmobilers and cross country skiers in the winter time. Like the town of Jackson, its population is five times greater in the summer time than the winter time.

Soon after eating breakfast and getting setup with snowmobiling gear, we made the 45-minute drive north from the ranch to the Yellowstone National Park. Once inside the park, Joe and I hopped on our own Arctic Cat T660 Touring snowmobiles. The highlight of the 42.2-mile inbound trip was the roadblock of Bison, who can be up to 11.5 feet in length, up to 6.5 feet in height and up to one ton in weight. Even though they kept us in place for 15-minutes, it was amusing to watch another group of snowmobilers navigate around them. When it was our turn, I just hoped that I wouldn’t be charged by one of these huge animals and gorged by one of their horns. Thankfully, it’s not in their nature to do either action.

It was cool to be at Old Faithful. I’ve heard and read so much about it that it was a small dream come true. After getting there and scoping out the area with its great meadows, short hills and various geysers, we sat down for a large hot lunch and waited the average 90-minutes for the next eruption. Yellowstone kind of reminds me of Tuolumne Meadows, or the high country, of Yosemite National Park with less granite rock and primarily a single type of tree, the Lodgepole Pines.

The eruption consisted of a mixture of boiling water and steam and lasted for just a few minutes. On Wikipedia, it states that "eruptions can shoot 3,700 to 8,400 gallons (14–32 kL) of boiling water to a height of 106–184 feet (30–55 m) lasting from 1.5 to 5 minutes. The average height of an eruption is 145 feet (44 m). Eruptions often occur about 90 minutes apart, but this interval can range from 45 to 125 minutes on occasion… Old Faithful is not the tallest or largest geyser in the park; that title belongs to the less predictable Steamboat Geyser." It was surprising to read that Old Faithful isn’t the tallest or largest geyser in the park. I might have to check out Steamboat Geyser this spring.

The highlight of the 42.2-mile outbound trip was the shenanigans that Joe and I got involved in on the trail. I hoped that the tour would cut us loose in an open field so that we could race around on the snowmobiles, test their handling around corners, and catch some air on small bumps and jumps. This opportunity was never given to us, so we created it. We were able to get the snowmobiles up to 48 mph and enjoyed zig zagging like a Formula 1 race car at the start of a race.

Overall, it was a good tour. We got a good taste for the beautiful scenery of Yellowstone and got to see one of the natural gems of our country, Old Faithful. We also got to check out these two cool touring vehicles.

3 for 3 and 1 Runaway Plane

Since moving to Jackson, I’ve had three groups of visitors that all had eventful starts to their trips. In early-February, Aimee and Max arrived a day and a half late after spending the night in Chicago because of a local snowstorm and then a good part of the following day in Dallas because of a snowstorm in Jackson. In mid-February, the taxi van that Laura took to the airport almost flipped over after hitting a high curb in downtown San Francisco. Then, her flight was delayed by four hours because of a tired flight crew, which seems to be the new and acceptable reason for a delayed flight and a cover up by the airlines. Tonight, my brother Joe’s flight was the most spectacular, as it ran off the runway after landing and made the news on CNN.com. Thankfully, no one was hurt in the accident. But, there was a fire seen in or around the engine, so Joe exited the plane through an emergency door and rode down an emergency slide. With several visitors planned for the month of March, I hope that they have less exciting starts to their trips.

Back to Normal Life

Laura and Koda flew back to San Francisco today. Their trip was a great one. Trips like this one tend to go by quickly, but it didn't for us. We did alot of fun outdoor activities, got a good taste for the town, and even made time to hang low and hang out. Best of all, Laura really enjoyed herself on her birthday.

It was tough to see them go. It was really nice having them around again. It's back to normal life.

Dogsledding to Granite Hot Springs

With today being Laura’s birthday, I wanted to make it memorable by taking advantage of this beautiful area. I thought, "Should we go hot air ballooning? Or snowmobiling in Yellowstone National Park? Or snowshoeing in Grand Teton National Park?" There are so many great outdoor options in this area that I knew I couldn't go wrong with this decision. But, I also knew that my decision was made when my friend, Justin, told me about a dogsledding trip to Granite Hot Springs. I thought this trip would be the perfect way to spend Laura’s birthday, as she'd absolutely love the combination of dogs, soaking in a natural hot springs, and the great outdoors.

After being picked up by a shuttle van at my apartment, we drove the 45-minutes southwest to the Jackson Hole Iditarod Sled Dogs Tour kennel. On arrival, we were greeted by over 150 howling Alaskan Huskies of all ages. One of the great things about this operation is that they keep all of their dogs, no matter their age. Most of the dogs are used for their daily tours, while two to three dozen make up a pool for their race teams.

Once we met our guide, he walked us over to our sled. Each guide is responsible for four customers and two sleds. After taking a look at his group for the day and giving us few instructions, he chose me to mush the second sled that would follow his lead. Then, our group was off on the 10-mile tour to Granite hot springs.

Almost immediately, Laura and I found ourselves in trouble. We hadn’t even left the kennel five minutes ago and were headed down a small hill and around a bend. At the bottom of this hill, I unsuccessfully steered our pack of six dogs around the bend and found ourselves off the trail and on a hillside. The dogsled tipped over and Laura slid out of its basket and slightly down the hill. She has a nice black-and-blue to show it. I'm happy that she's going home with this souvenir.

What a start to the tour! I couldn’t believe that we crashed in a matter of minutes. Our guide stopped his sled and came to our rescue. After up-righting the sled and straightening the line, he said, “You wouldn’t be a musher if you never crashed!” It felt good to be a musher... at least that's what I told myself.

The next few miles went more smoothly than this initial incident. Our team closely followed the guide's sled, as we followed a narrow trail that ran parallel to a running stream and through snow covered rolling hills. Laura remained in the basket until she wanted a piece of the action and took the reigns with me. For the second half of this inbound trip, each of us stood on the back of the sled and on a rudder. It was fun working together as a team by properly weighting the rudders to change the direction of the dogs and the drop pad to shave speed of the sled.

Our next adventure on the sled was navigating a sharp turn. Our guide made calls to his team and took him and his team cleanly around the turn at a fast pace. Because our team was following his team, they decided to take this turn early and climb over a three-foot snow bank. Obviously, their chosen path wasn’t the best route, so we went for a little ride.

Laura realized that this situation could go very wrong, so she jumped off the back of the sled into the small powder field of the turn. With one less person on the sled, the sled went faster. At this moment, I found myself about to go down the snow bank and wondering what happened to Laura. So, I held on for the ride. I was able to go down the snow bank, stay on the sled, and stop it so Laura could run to the sled and get back on it. We made it. And, the dogs were ok.

Shortly after this wild episode, we were soaking in the hot springs and enjoying the breathtaking views. We were also laughing over this morning’s incidences. After spending an hour in the hot springs, we were served a gourmet four-course lunch, which consisted of: a cheese and vegetable platter; minestrone soup with warm French bread; barbequed trout seasoned in herbs and a side of creamed mushrooms; chocolate fondue with pretzels and assorted fruits. This lunch that was served with hot apple cider made the day that much sweeter for us.

On our way back to the kennel, we enjoyed the bluebird day, the company of our guide, and mushing the lead pack of eight dogs. We also enjoyed a food coma and the lingering warm and relaxing effects of the hot springs. Unfortunately, our guide was feeling a bit different than us, so he thought it’d be fun to take the sled off trail into powder and experience the most grueling part of the day. We broke trail and mushed through tightly-spaced trees and over short, steep hills. We were sometimes running beside the sled to lighten the load, while at other times were pushing the sled up hills. At this moment, it was clear to me why dogs are considered the strongest pull animal pound-for-pound. It wasn’t the speed that I was hoping for after the relaxing lunch break, but it made for a really fun ride once we got our mushing legs back under us.


Overall, this tour was awesome and a great way to spend Laura’s birthday. It was a lot of fun experiencing a new activity together on a beautiful day in a breathtaking area. I think everyone should go dog sledding, especially the dog lovers among us.

Koda and His New Threads

Koda has been strolling around town in style. Thanks to my Mom, his chocolate colored sweater fits him like a glove. And, he doesn't mind wearing it. Laura and I believe that he waits for us to put it on him before he wants to go outside here in Wyoming.

As you can see in the photo above, he's also a big fan of his new Muttluks, or his little boots. Originally, I was against the idea of him wearing them. I figured that he'd be fine because I haven't seen any dogs wearing them in town. Then, I learned that terriers are susceptible to getting uncomfortable snow balls stuck in their paws after we went hiking with him. It's a good thing that my girlfriend knows better than me.

While on the hike pictured above, we had a little scare. To give you a brief history, Koda does very well off-lease when he's playing with other dogs, especially ones that come when they're called by their owners. It's when he's left to his own will that he gets himself into trouble.

When walking on this beautiful trail that's close to and runs parallel to the Teton mountains, he climbed over a short snow bank and started trudging through the snow. At first, this action seemed harmless and entirely adventuresome. Then, he walked further from the trail and in the direction of a stream.

After a few unsuccessful calls to him, I started walking towards him in the knee-deep snow. Then, I started running after him once he began to slide on crust covered snow towards the stream. At this point, it was clear to me that he couldn't stop himself. Thankfully, I reached him just in time to grab his tail, as he was just a few feet away from a four foot drop off into the stream.

As my Dad said, this type of behavior is exactly what we signed up for by getting a terrier that is naturally willful and adventurous. With his young age, it's only the beginning...

NEW MUSIC !!!

Today, I received my third care package. It was from my friend, Ben, and included some new music that we've been talking about over the phone. With Ben being my friend that's possibly most into music, which says alot with the friends that I've made along the way, I trust his recommendations and am excited to listen to:

• Sigur Ros' "Takk"
• LCD Soundsystem's "Sound of Silver"
• Andrew Byrd's "The Mysterious Production of Eggs"
• Pheonix's "Its Never Been Like That"
• Stateless' "Stateless"
• Belle & Sebastian's "The Life Pursuit"
• The Shins' "Wincing the Night Away"
• John Mayer's "Continuum" (I know what you're thinking. He's gotten a bad rap and is supposed to be a phenomenal blues guitarist.)
• Kings of Leo's "Because of the Times"

Receiving new music is the best. I find that it's a great way to filter through all of the unknown and not-so-good bands. It also allows me to be smart with my money and only buy music that I really like.

As most of you know, I'm always on the hunt for new music. Feel free to send me music recommendations or even new music. This latter act will not only make my day, but will make you really famous! Trust me.
 

A New Appreciation

The past two days have been fun skiing with Laura, her sister, Krissy, and her brother-in-law, Bucky. We tore up (aka skiied well) the double blue square runs, the blue square runs, and the green circle runs. They're relatively new to the sport, so it's great watching them ski and make progress at it. It was almost equally as fun taking them on each chairlift and sharing all of the great views of the mountain and its surroundings with them.
By skiing with them, I have a new appreciation for the mountain. It has reaffirmed to me that the mountain is difficult to ski and is one of the most beautiful places in the world. Also, it has further proven to me that I chose the perfect mountain to ski for a season.

Life is good and made even better when sharing it.
 

I Can't Stand the Anticipation...

Laura and Koda come out to visit today. I can't wait to see them! Their visit is one of the reasons why I'm up at 7 am blogging away.

It'll be a full day before I see them. I need to clean up my apartment this morning, so it doesn't look so much like a bachelor pad. It's actually not that bad, but I've learned along the way that girls definitely expect (and deserve) a different level for cleanliness. Once my place is in order, I'll work for a few hours so that I can continue making the people at Langtech happy with my deliverables and paying the bills.

Laura's sister, Krissy, and brother-in-law, David, get in this morning. They'll be here to Monday with their two Dobermans, Ruby and Aries. It's going to be wild to see Koda play with them (and the pups), as Krissy is as crazy about dogs as her sister. I'll entertain them this afternoon by cruising around with them at the local ski hill, Snow King. It would've been nice to ski "the village" (aka Jackson Hole in Locals terms") with them, but the $55 price of a half-day ticket scared us away. Yet again, I'm baffled at how ski resorts find it acceptable to charge this much for THREE HOURS of skiing and only 28% less for this ticket than a full-day ticket, where you can ski for more than 50% of the time. Does this math add up? I don't think so.

Anyways, my rant is behind me. After skiing with them, I'll get on the road for a 90-minute drive to Idaho Falls, Idaho, where I'll be picking up Laura and Koda. It's gonna be so nice to see them, so I can't wait for this part of the day...

Earning my Turns

I got up this morning at 4:45 am to go skiing. It would've been a normal time to rise for a ski day if I was driving from Long Island to upstate New York or Vermont or from San Francisco to Lake Tahoe. Obviously, neither was true.

My plan was to go backcountry skiing on Teton Pass with my friend, Carl. Teton Pass is an impressive mountain pass that snakes through monstrous, steep peaks. I met Carl at the Stagecoach bar that's located at the bottom of the pass so that we could carpool to the pass parking lot. Carpooling is essential because "skiing the pass" is so popular that the pass' parking lot gets quickly full.

To my surprise, we weren't the first people to arrive in the parking lot at 6 am and were greeted by howling winds. The winds must've been between 30-40 mph with gusts up to 50-60 mph. Both of us wondered if hiking and fighting these winds for 60-minutes was a good idea for a less than 10-minute run of fresh powder. So, we decided to head back to our warm homes... Nooo, I'm just kidding. We buckled into our boots and headed up the bootpack of Ascent Ridge on Mount Glory at 6:15 am. A "bootpack" refers to a backcountry trail that was created by people hiking in their ski boots.

I won't lie. It was a brutal hike because of the strong winds, hiking solely by headlamp light at first, and sometimes breaking trail in knee-deep, wind blown powder. Although all of these elements were fighting against us, it was great watching the sun rise and the town of Jackson come to life as house lights were turned on in the early morning. After 60-minutes of hiking and approximately 1,500 feet of elevation gain, we decided that the summit of Mount Glory would have to be reached another (and less thrilling) day and to ski "First Turn", which is appropriately named for its location just above the first turn after the pass parking lot.

The snow was incredible at the top of our run. It was light, untouched and really fun to ski through. After making several turns-that-you-dream-about turns, we weaved our way through the trees until we reached an open bowl. Even though the avalanche danger was moderate, we skiied closely to the trees and not in the openness of the bowl. We eventually made our way to the bottom of the run, aka Teton Pass, and gave each other high-fives.

While walking back to the car, I had such a great feeling of accomplishment. With overcoming the elements, watching the world come to life, and getting another taste of the backcountry, I can't wait to start another day just like today.

Bragging Rights

It was a beautiful bluebird day, where the temperature was a warm 36°F and the visibility was great. It's been rare to see every bump and contour of the slope while skiing this season. As a result, the mountain skis totally different when you can see its every feature.

Sean and I had a late start today because there was no reason to rush. Yesterday's warm spell of 43°F! melted the top layer of the snow and made it bind like concrete with the lower layers. It's as unpleasant of a ski surface as you can ski. Thankfully, the mountain received three inches of snow last night that turned the crusted, hard, top-layer into a soft skiiable surface with a supported base. This type of snow is alot of fun to ski because you can just haul and ski as fast as you want to on it.

With being competitors, we thought it'd be fun to race each other on the Nastar course for bragging rights. For those of you not in the know, Nastar is a national race program for recreational skiers and snowboarders. They have side-by-side race courses at most ski resorts in the country that are layed out in Giant Slalom style, where there are about 15 gates that are spaced out by 20-30 feet.

I have some racing experience, so you could've said that I had the advantage. But, Sean always skis fast, so I would've given him the advantage. Either way, we were both at a disadvantage with our powder skis, which are harder to get from edge to edge due to their wide widths and don't have the response of race skis.

After paying the combined two bucks, we headed to our respective start gates and waited for the countdown. Sean had a better start than I did, so I was immediately in catch up mode. Then, I applied too much pressure to my downhill ski as I was making a left turn, which caused me to shave some speed. Thankfully, I saw Sean make a similar mistake and was able to blow past him as I tucked the final seven gates on my way to victory.

It was good to win. It's been awhile. But, it's even better when you beat a friend. I have bragging rights until I win again... Ummm. I mean when we next race.

Taking It to the Next Level

I had a revelation while skiing today. Lately, I've been jumping off cliffs and losing my balance in the air, which causes me to take a nasty spill on the landing. Sounds like fun, ey?! It really isn't, but you only get better by pushes it. Right? Anyways, I couldn't put my finger on the cause of my problem because the time in the air was a blur with the snow quickly rushing up to me.

While watching a skiercross competition on TV the other day, I noticed that the skiers moved their hands forward and down while they raised their knees to their chest on jumps. Besides being an aerodynamic position, this stance made them balanced in the air and gave them full control of their skis on landing.

In the photo above, I mirrored this stance on this takeoff and nailed the landing. During my flight, time slowed down and I was able to spot the landing. It was a great feeling and my best cliff drop of the season so far. More to come!!!

Thanks to my friend, Max, for capturing this moment. It's a great shot. I love the light and my silhouette among the sky and trees.

A Close Encounter

I have my first visitors, Aimee and Max. Aimee is a good friend from high school and Max is her husband, who I've gotten to know quite well over the past 10 years. They're avid skiers, who have access to their cousin's beautiful second home. Jackson is known for its high rollers, as many movie stars and C-level business executives have amazing houses here. This house was no different, as it was a classic (and well-furnished) log cabin that could easily sleep 16 people and had a great view of the Teton Mountain range and the ski resort because it sat on the side of a butte. (By the way, a butte is a hill that rises abruptly from the surrounding area and has sloping sides and a flat top.) I'm hoping that I can figure out a way to house sit; I think I could handle it.

On my way to pick up Aimee and Max for their first ski day, I had a close encounter. As I was driving up the butte and around a bend, I was greeted by a moose that was running down the hill towards me. Ever since being hit by the deer, I'm always on the lookout for animals that want to lovingly meet my car.

As this moose ran towards me, I realized that there wasn't anything that I could do to get out of the moose's way. The road was narrow and the snow banks were high. This 600-pound animal would have to decide whether or not it wanted to take me and my car head on. Thankfully, it trotted happily into a nearby driveway and I could get on my way. What a nice and relaxing way to start off a day, right?!

Another Care Package

I received my second care package today. This one wasn't exactly a surprise or for me. My Mom has become in love with Koda without even meeting him. One of these days, she'll be smothered in person with his relentless and unconditional kisses. He's good like that.

As some of you know, my Mom is an unbelievable knitter. She's been knitting for as long as I can remember. When I was younger, I even wore some of her homemade sweaters. And, she just made me this beautiful homemade Irish-style knitted blanket.

Back to Koda's care package... It included a chocolate colored sweater that has a V-shaped neck and bottom and a cable stitch on the back. With the temperature being a bit colder here than in San Francisco, this sweater will keep him from freezing his little butt off next weekend.

"The 'Bird"

I feel like a broken record. It was another deep powder ski day. This time around was at Snowbird, where there was chest deep powder in some spots. It was pretty ridiculous. Thankfully, Utah has the lightest snow in the world, so this amount of snow was skiiable.

I skiied by myself today, so I was picked up by a shuttle bus service in Park City. The 45-minute drive went by pretty quickly until we hit a long of traffic at the mouth of Little Cottonwoood canyon. During the night before, Snowbird and the other resorts in this canyon received over two feet of snow, which caused the canyon road to be closed in the early morning for avalanche control. As we waited 30-minutes for the road to open, I was entertained by a howling and indiscernible coyote in a nearby open field and read one article after another about the Giants' unbelievable Super Bowl win in USA Today.

When we finally got to the resort, the tram line was long. Everyone was in full gear to get their own share of deep, light powder. It was the classic powder day at a resort that's well-known for their great snowfall. I spent most of the day finding and weaving my way through the large bowls, steep chutes and narrow trees of this world-reknown resort. This resort has so much exciting and thrilling terrain that I think it would be another great mountain to spend a full winter season at.

I feel like the snow keeps following me and I can do no wrong this season. It's been just enough that the skiing has been out-of-this-world, but not too much where I can't get to my ski destination, which was a common problem for the winter of 2005-06 when I was a weekend warrior at Kirkwood in Lake Tahoe. I've lost track of the number of powder days. It's pretty amazing to think that powder days have become the norm and the expected, especially when the infrequent inch or two back east would be a field day for me.

Manning and The Giants Do the Unthinkable

As you know, they pulled off the all-time upset of the NFL by beating the undefeated New England Patriots. The Giants defense was able to put pressure on Tom Brady, the Pats' quarterback, shut down his wide receivers and place a choke hold on their running backs. And, Manning took over Super Bowl 42 and created the best Super Bowl play of all-time with David Tyree.

As my friend, Harry, who's a diehard Miami Dolphins fan, put it, "[I'm a] Giants fan for life. It's like Christmas!" I think everyone in the country was routing for the Giants and for the Pats to end their season 18-1. This win is that much sweeter for me as a Yankees fan.

A Wise Groundhog

As some of you know, Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow this morning, which means there will be six more weeks of winter. With this prediction and the relentless La Nina effect, I'm looking forward to the rest of this winter season.

Today, I'm heading to Salt Lake City for an extended weekend. Sean has good friends down there that we'll be able to crash with as we ski The Canyons tomorrow, Snowbird on Monday and Alta on Tuesday. I've never skiied The Canyons, so I'm excited to add this one to my list. Snowbird is one of my favorite resorts. And, it has been awhile since I was last there, so I'm looking forward to testing my new bag of tricks here.

Let's not forget the Super Bowl where the New York Giants will be playing the New England Patriots. I predict the Giants will ruin the history books for the Patriots by winning by 4 points. Go Big Blue!

144 Inches in January!

The month of January is historically a dry one. Obviously, it has been anything but that, as 144 inches of snow fell through the month. According to the Bridger-Teton National Forest Avalanche Center, this amount is well above the 33-year average of 85 inches for the month. It also snowed 23 of 31 days in the month.

The snow fall was incredible. 3 days with 12 or more inches. 13 days with 6 or more inches.

Life is good! I definitely picked the right year to ski here.