Month: November 2020

My buddy Michael and I did our first substantial skinning session of the 2020-2021 season today.  We started up the Summer Road at Alta and went up near Catherine Pass to Point Supreme.  We went nearly to the very top but it was very thin and dangerous up there so we didn’t go the last couple hundred yards. Here’s a little body cam video from Point Supreme.

I’m thrilled to say that all the mountain biking this summer has really made a huge difference in my fitness and ability to take on vertical like this at over 10,000 feet.  Unfortunately I had the wrong socks, and my touring boots are not fitted well and I ended up with nasty blisters on both feet. That needs to be resolved.

Did my 2nd backcountry tour of the season after work today.  These after work sessions are fun, but I don’t have a lot of time.  Between getting there and getting the gear on and such, I have about an hour or so of climbing I can do before I have to transition to downhill skiing before dark.  Still good to get out. I got up to the top of Albion and by then it was getting dark and very cold.

On the way up I saw my friend Snuggles, the porcupine!

I jealously watched all the pow videos from this past weekend.  I was going to go up, but had no snow tires and the road restriction was in place.  So today after work I drove up to the top of Little Cottonwood Canyon as fast as I could and did my first skinning of the season.  I got about a mile up Grizzly Gulch before it started getting too dark to feel comfortable about safely skiing down.  It was a good warm up.  Lots of snow for this time of year.  Hopefully that means we are in for a great season.

On the way back down I was treated to a fantastic sunset. At that point I thought to myself, “I need to do more evening tours!”