TR: From the lost PNW files...Utah: January 2005

[Squirrel99]

The long overdue and saved (unintentionally) for summer TR.
(if you prefer readers digest version of ski pics, scroll down)

spoiler- the entire 10 days featured many shots like this
(zeedashbo featured here)


Read on for the full TR...

CHAPTER ONE
All we could say was.... FINALLY!
The day that we all finally 'went beserk' would be remembered as December 28. After spending the majority of October and November- stranded with towering peaks filled with nothing but rock and dirt- and enduring countless tales of epic powstorms in every other reach of North America, we relented. Baker got a few small dumps in December- but there wasn't much base, and Whistler was barely getting by.

Then, it hit us. We can't take it anymore. We would ski powder- deep powder that is, somewhere on New Years. It could have been the East Coast for all we cared. We were sick of waiting- so if ol' bastard winter didn't want to show up in Washington, we were going to hunt him down.

Yes, after moving from utah to the pnw two years prior, this is exactly how I was beginning to feel as 2005 approached:


After dealing with constant weather like this


everyone was beginning to feel like this


BC-Flow, Girlski, The Polish Midget and I planned intently- focused on the weather maps. Our first reaction was a Red/WH20 trip. But they hadn't quite been getting enough. Then a desperate plea was answered by the world famous Red Baron..."Come to Utah. Seriously. And don't worry about the hype of the next storm- you want the one with the less hype- following it!" SWEET. Utah it is.

We left Seattle after work, picked up the Polish Midget at Alpental and we were treated with the first 8 hours to Boise of driving through this crap


It seemed like all the forces of nature were against us making it to the Promised Land. We had a schedule to meet, and 9am at Solitude was the plan. After a long, much anticipated 14 hours- we rolled into Solitude at 9:15am. With only a Snickers and some heavily leaded coffees and shots of Red Bull- we dashed to the slopes. It was Maggot infestation of Solitude. We ran into PhUnk, Yeti, Treskow, Woodsy, Splat, Yossarian, Kristin, 13, MacDaddy, and more I can't really remember. We were in the mood for nothing but nonstop laps - so pics were not taken today. For a group totaling no more than 15 total ski days amongst us to date, I'd say we'd did a damn good job of charging with the "seasoned since October Utards"

We satisfied our urge and then headed to Park City for some chow.

It was great to be 'home' and grab some garlic burgers. Here, Girlski + friend, BC, and Midget


BC-Flow- after 36 straight hours without sleep- getting loopy for some 'Mitsubishi time'
(the mitsubishi is a special passenger seat dance that morphs with 48 hours of no sleep, a little liquor, and plenty of fresh powder dreams- but only BC can do it right...cue song from Team 13 now!)


Soon he was here


The whole posse happy to be in Utah (and thinking about how good the Bird will be tomorrow). We opt to pass on the New Year's festivities and hit the sack.


We made sure that we were out the door bright and early. We were among the first batch of cars when the POpo opened up LCC


Here, California & Wyoming make their first appearance in LCC. But how can it be that a rippin' skier chick grows up in Jackson- never skied utah
Insert your favorite Girski expletive here as she <gasps> ahhhhhh.


yes- The 'Bird!



We pull up in spot #2 on the Bypass- right behind Will Burkes. Funny, he recognized us from Seattle

Hop on board first tram, meet up with Powstash- and we're off to Hanging Bowl. Deep. Really Deep. Being the gentlemen he is, Powstash allows Girlski to drop first. As always, man. It was a freaking fantastic day- getting a chance to play tourguide at my old stomping grounds and show these guys line after line of phat untracked pow. Again, no pics. Sorry! Too busy making up for lack of snow time in pNw.

Apres at the Keyhole was had by Re, Tara, and the PnW crew. So nice to be back and enjoy the margs after a great day of skiing.

Next day, managed to take a few shots. Front row Collins next morning, but seemed the Holiday weekend had scared off the usual Alta maggot crew. I guess next time we'll have to bring some donuts

Superior- ahh nice to see you again!


Girlski dropping into Ballroom




This weatherman is really hot. Now who do I have to blow to make it snow in Washington? (and I want pre-payment)


BC-Flow coming in hot after dropping some air
view 1


view 2


hmmnn, how many rippin' single skeir boys can I meet at AltaBird?


After a great couple of days, since winter won't visit us- we figure we need to mark the occasion for those back in the pnw. (I wonder how long before this sticker got ripped off by the 'alta pride'?) heh.


12.5 hours later- we return to a dry Seattle. Next up- Buster and Zbo get ready to make their Utah pilgrimage. Hmmmn...I wonder if the Bossman will let me use my about to expire Delta credit to fly back tomorrow morning???

Part Two to be continued.....

[Squirrel99]

Bossman to Squirrel, "So what days do you want off?"
Squirrel, "ahhh, (looks down at feet on floor) Tomorrow through Friday"
Boss, "Okay."

Sweet! Next thing I do is call Delta to use some old credit I had. They still have seats left and I only have to pay $50 to get a ticket. I'm on my way back to Utah after not even being home for 24 hours. As I stumble onto the 5am Delta flight from SeaTac to SLC, I spy Buster just a few rows over from me. I'm laughing, can't believe my boss said yes and I'm flying back...

We land in SLC and the ever so gracious fellow hospitality guy- Woodsy is waiting- ready to speed up to BCC for us. Arriving at Solitude, we quickly change and get our asses out to Phorn. The maggot crew is over at Summit so we quickly drop some pow turns. They are 3 minutes behind us- but as all of us PNW'ers were last season, Buster is impatient- I tell Woodsy, "Please go show him some Powder, NOW!"

Zbo drove in from WA last night and is riding with PhUnk, Lumpy, Treskow and others. We end up having another freaking great day. It was a blast to finally get to ski with PhUnk and Treskow- and the mixed Solitude/Alta crowd. I gotta give props to PhUnk for wading through neck deep snow because Zbo was a dumbass and dropped his goggles off the Honeycomb lift mid day! Heh

Here's one of PhUnk taken by Zbo-


More pics from Solitude and Honeycomb Canyon courtesy of Lumpy-

Zbo the entrance


The dive


The exit


Squirrel


Zbo after a few beers with the Bro's


Next day, a day that will live in infamy from now on- starts out EPIC in all caps. Baldy opens at the Bird. We are on first tram and are first up Baldy. No tracks. It's deep- really DEEP. And it's buffed out underneath, like the wind had groomed the entire face. We start maching down the ridgeline- I can't see a thing- some of the fastest pow I've ridden. Here are some shots from the two times we decided to stop and take pics.



Zeedashbo- if you can find him again- and ahem...demonstrating the ultimate "point" before it was hip!


He's somewhere in here


Zbo again (cue Alpha Blondy)


Same shot, but not cropped


The 'Bird always treats Squirrel just right




Later in the day
Zbo


Squirrel enjoying another treeline in the Keyhole




Site of the carnage
Zbo drops grey rock and comes up a bit short, shitty way to end one of the deepest days EVER. But he's back- and I look forward to ripping some super deep and sick lines at Stevens this season with ya!


While Zbo was healing (MUCHO PROPS AGAIN- to all the Maggots and Maggettes that offered their help and/or stopped by LDS), I bounced around between the Bird and one day at Pow Mow. If you see the Green WA state sticker in the bus this season, you'll know who slapped that one up there.

Stopped off in Park City one night to catch the latest Baker Boy steeze appearing on Main Street


"uhh, this place is lame" Nice attempt, but there's only one Boot Pub


Zbo, till we ride again this winter, in the Stevens BC, yo. Pimp daddy-o


Again, great to meet up with all the Utards. Thanks to Woodsy, Lumpy, Treskow & Kristin, PhUnk, Shin, Tara (non-maggot), Re, and anyone else I'm forgetting- sorry. The powder has tainted my fragile mind!

[Woodsy]

bravo bravo
yee ha.
fun days.
glad it could be.
great to get to know all y'all a little better.
funny how the large crew dropped in on Buster & I later.

[natty dread]

Hell yeah. Thanks squirrel, I needed that!

[hop]

woooord!

[Blurred]

Props for hanging on to this one and waiting til July...wait, August to post it. God shit mang!

[girlski0912]

Shit that was THE roadtrip of the season last year. Those shots of the Bird made me smile....IT NEEDS TO BE WINTER! That's right, only one month till SA!!!! Very nice TR Squirrelly!

But what to you mean that we skipped the festivities on New Years???? I thought that we all decided watching me stick a searing hot needle into my toenail to drain out the blood so that I could ski the next day was MUCH better than some silly ball dropping in Times Square? I feel so lied to....

[Jumper Bones]

w000000000000000000t!!!

NICE!

[PeachesN'Cream]

yeah... damn... that was THE trip. well, the part that i was on at least.

it's just now august. the PNW winter is 4 months away. i had my first ski dream a few weeks ago. it's memories of trips like this that keep you itching for the winter to come back.

so much of the ski "thing" is about being on the hill and being in that moment where it's just you and the snow and your line and how you put it all together. however i'd be foolish to not to acknowledge a very large slice of the ski "thing" being about the journey there (driving all night, living on red-bull and a good friend riding shottie) and the whole shared experience (pole clicks after an epic line, being stoked for your friends pushing it and progressing).

it's trips like these that make you realize how lucky you are to have such great friends to share such fan-fucking-tastic journeys with.

thanks for the reminder squirrel, way to hold your cards and play em at the right moment.

can't wait for winter to come back around!

[Powder Seeker]

Thanks for the well needed stoke mag

[powstash]

seeing that shot of Superior with snow makes me wish it were winter again. Oh how I love winter.

[Xover]

seeing that shot of Superior with snow makes me wish it were winter again. Oh how I love winter.

go back to pounding nails and installing windows sucka

refreshing tr sq99
thanx
too bad we didn't hook up on that trip
if Murphy's rules out this year, I'll be making alot of trips to the PNW

[Below Zero]

Well put together TR. Great read and good pics! Nice!

[Squirrel99]

go back to pounding nails and installing windows sucka

refreshing tr sq99
thanx
too bad we didn't hook up on that trip
if Murphy's rules out this year, I'll be making alot of trips to the PNW

X, we got couch, we got donuts, eh! Make a trip w/Powstash so you can ski Rustler's big brother, Upper E @ Xtal before the new lifts run amock there in 2007.

thanx for comments everyone- I only wish I had more 'epic' type pics from these trips- especially the first part, but we were too focused on skiing to take many pics.

[Ville]

Great pics! only couple of months and it's winter again \o/

[Tap]

awesome stoke, man

[baseWeldr]

Stokeblogger!! That was a nice break to read through that, while its hot out, lookin at utah powpow action pics, and the dumping pics, and the other pics, yeah, that was nice...

[Zeedashbo]

word dude. nice to relive the epic pow and not the beat down incurred later. by the way is that my launch on the left side of that baldy pic right above the trees? and i know it hurts, but i don't forsee any utah in my near future, i'm scared of the rocks there.

[Monique]

Nice TR as usual, worth the wait for the powder porn and the visuals to go with all the stories about BC that night. Next time I say I won't go will ya smack me up side the head or something until I change my mind? BTW the picture in chapter one with GS, a friend and BC isn't The Polish Midget. Who is it?

Will Burkes remembered the Seattle crew? Oh, that's nice. As much as he travels, he must be a really nice person to remember the Seattle crew. Bet he's looking forward to seeing us again this fall. meh

[girlski0912]

BTW the picture in chapter one with GS, a friend and BC isn't The Polish Midget. Who is it?

Will Burkes remembered the Seattle crew? Oh, that's nice. As much as he travels, he must be a really nice person to remember the Seattle crew. Bet he's looking forward to seeing us again this fall. meh

The Polish Midget was taking the picture. The REAL Midget was in the picture.

And Will Burkes didn't remember the entire Seattle Crew...more like just one member of it. Ass puckering shock is just one of those emotions that you can't hide.

[Squirrel99]

word dude. nice to relive the epic pow and not the beat down incurred later. by the way is that my launch on the left side of that baldy pic right above the trees? and i know it hurts, but i don't forsee any utah in my near future, i'm scared of the rocks there.

Yep, that would be your rock!

[bcrider]

Awesome TR!!!

[Monique]

Ass puckering shock is just one of those emotions that you can't hide.

I'm gonna guess the poor little lad will pucker out of fear the next time he sees my smilin' face. (What about DO NOT MESS WITH MY GIRL GS do these guys fail to understand?)

[stump832]

Sweet TR Squirrley. Brings back fond memories of those pow days.

about 3 months til alta opening

[Buster Highmen]

Bleary early plane lurching, ash mouth crunchy eyed. And there in the aisle is Squirrel angling for his seat. Too funny.

That trip featured prominently in my 04/05 memories. What a gas ripping around Solitude with you doods and doodettes. Day 1 with Sq99, Cletus, Woodsy, phUnk, z-bo was coowell. Special thanks to Woodsy, Tresckow and Kristin for blowing me away Day 2 when we skied that tree area off the summit lift. Etched into ye auld cerebellum is an image of Kristin blastin out of a clutch of trees, powsmoke trailing into a landing where she dissappeared and submarined past me.

A few days later, got to rip around Alta with Re, Natty, Truth, phUnk and KStall in a series of face rending storms. When the wind howls, howl back at it.

I hope I can swing a trip out there this winter again.