Mount Millicent with Greg

On April 30th, Greg and I planned a big tour around Brighton ski resort.  The resort closed a couple weeks ago, so we had had first tracks pretty much all day.  It had snowed about 12" of light powder the night before.  The snow was great until the sun came out of the clouds for just a few minutes in the early afternoon.

Our goal was to do 6,000 vertical feet in preparation for climbing Mt. Adams and Mt. Hood in two weeks.

Our first lap we went down right next to the Millicent lift.

Our second lap we went a little higher up on Mount Millicent which required us to take off our skis and hike up the crusty slope.

We started down at the Gazex

There were huge cornices all around Patsy Marley and Mt. Wolverine.  Here is a picture of someone on top of Patsy Marley.  How big do you think that cornice is?

The same person skiing down

At the top of Millicent

The snow turned from perfect 12" powder to 8" of wet junk after only 20 minutes of sun.

Greg had a pretty good crash down the steepest section we skied all day:

Ouch!

One roll

2nd roll

3rd roll

Patsy Marley to Mt. Wolverine to Mt. Tuscarora to Cathrine Pass to Sunset Peak

On April 15th I was able to get in a really fun tour.  I woke up around at 5:00 AM and got a pretty early start.  I was planning on going up around Cardiff pass and skiing a few laps around there.  After I got to the parking lot and got my boots I met another group of people who were coming back down.  They informed me that there was an inch of dense snow on top of a bullet hard crust.  They had gone up a couple hundred feet in elevation and decided to turn back since it was so bad.  I changed my plans, got back in the car, and headed to the upper parking lot.  Ever since I first went up Patsy Marley I have been wanting to follow the ridge between Patsy and Mt. Wolverine.  I didn't think the snow would be any good, so I thought I might as well go somewhere pretty.  I have been fascinated with that whole cirque ever since I went up there earlier this year.  

I didn't actually get started up the mountain until around 7:00.  It was a pretty cool view when the sun came up over Twin Lakes pass.

The views from the ridge to Patsy Marley are amazing.

Here is a view of a portion of the ridge to Mt. Wolverine as viewed from Patsy Marley.

The view back down the canyon from Patsy Marley

Looking back at Patsy Marley from the ridge

The cornices were huge!  If you look close you can see my tracks along the ridge.  I took out my 240cm probe in several spots and probed to make sure I wasn't stepping onto a cornice.  The snow went from maybe a foot deep on the windward side to deeper than I could reach with my probe just a few feet away.  I was really careful to stay on solid ground, but I wanted to get closer and closer to the edge to see the monstrous cornices.

I am certain that some of those cornices were 40 ft thick or more.

Patsy Marley is the peak on the right

Here is the view of Mt. Superior from Mt. Wolverine

Here is Devil's Castle on the left and Sugarloaf on the right

The panoramic view from Mt. Wolverine

Mt. Wolverine on the left and Mt. Tuscarora on the right from Catherine Pass

Here is the view of the ridge leading to Sunset Peak on the left from Cathrine Pass

There were some pretty big cornices up there too.

At one point I was too afraid to continue on my skis.  This picture doesn't show it very well, but there were some pretty steep drops on both sides.

The view from Sunset Peak.  You can see the ridge that I followed from all the way to Mt. Wolverine.

Mt. Timpanogos in the background

Looking down towards heber

Alta ski patrol was kicking off some of the cornices on the ridge to Sunset Peak when I was headed down.  With them watching I felt comfortable to ski this line off of the ridge.  I think it was one of the best 20 seconds of skiing I have had all year.  I tried to make my tracks look good.

Here is roughly where I went.  I tried to trace it in Google Maps.

Mace's first Real Salt Lake game

Mace and I went to the Real Salt Lake game on April 13th.  We parked at the Sandy City Hall and rode a shuttle bus to the stadium.  Mace was so excited that we were on a bus AND that we saw a bus on the way.   He let everyone know by repeatedly saying "skoo buh" (school bus) and "hop hine" (stop sign).

We sat on the 2nd row.  

It was cold!  Mace wore his snow clothes.

About halfway through the game I was worried Mace was getting to cold and decided to go home.  The shuttle buses weren't running though.  We had to run through the rain for a mile and a half back to our car.

Patsy Marley with Kyle and Greg

On the 12th of April, Kyle, Greg and I went skiing up Patsy Marley in the evening. Kyle was back in town for his brother's wedding.  

Here are Greg and Kyle heading up the ridge from Twin Lakes pass to Patsy Marley.

The visibility was pretty bad most of the time.  The picture below is one of the times we could see more than a couple hundred feet.

It was pretty cool to see one of these just below the 10,525 foot summit of Patsy Marley.

Kyle and Greg making the last few steps to the top.

Kyle navigating through the cornices just below the peak

I can't believe how well Kyle skis after being in Guatemala with the Peace Corps all year.

Here is Greg

And Kyle again

Black Eye Update

So, I wanted to take a new picture of Mace's black eye tonight.

As soon as I got the camera out, Mace started saying,"cheese!" 

He is so stinkin' cute!

I couldn't decide which picture I like best!

Mace hasn't been feeling too well lately.

Tyler took him to the doctor today.

He has another ear infection.

Poor Boy.

Mace's Black Eye

Last Friday, I got Mace out of the bath and put him on my bed. He loves hiding under the covers to avoid getting his diaper put on. At one point he looked up to see if I could see him. When he saw me, he quickly tried to hide again. That is when it happened. . . . Mace whacked his eye on the window sill. I felt so bad for him. He is so tough, he only cried for a few minutes and hasn't complained since!

It didn't look too bad right after he hit it, but I was pretty sure it would bruise. 

Here he is two days after hitting it.

He is going to teach that window sill a lesson next time he sees it!