What a hiatus it has been for the Mountain Lessons blog. There have been a lot of changes in the last 6 months… new house, new state, new job, new stressors and responsibilities. While I’ve not been out and about any less than usual, it’s been tough to find time to share. I don’t think that you want to hear fishing stories anyways.
For those not in the loop, we’ve moved to Salt Lake City, UT where I’m in training as an ER doc and where we’re going to have much better access to skiing, riding, and pretty much all of the things that we like to do.
November started off with a bang here, with late October snow laying a base at upper elevations that made a few spots skiable. Main Chute came in early, and five laps later I was ready for this year’s next couloir. What an ingrate.
But the riches faded quickly, and we’ve had little new snow. Alta proved just as outdated as the other resorts around and closed to uphill traffic a solid two weeks before their opening date and in one fell swoop, reduced the skiable terrain here to around two acres.
So we went further afield this weekend, to Moab. The La Sal mountains above Moab got more snow than did the Wasatch in October, so we hoped to find more skiing there to keep the ski-belly full. While the coverage was better, the snow hadn’t weathered well. It was still worth the trip to check out the range, and I hope to return in the Spring when the scary Colorado-style snowpack turns to corn and makes the range skiable again.
Thankfully, this state provides, and when the white pow isn’t deep, the brown pow sure is. We gave up on skiing today to ride Moab’s world-class once more.
The drought is due to break shortly after thanksgiving, as is my 75-hour-per-week month in the ICU, so December, here we come. More soon.
One comment
Thanks Patrick!