Finally getting out and skiing

Bruce Kahn and his daughter Hannah came to town from Australia.  I got to ski with Bruce one day, which is something I really miss.  Unfortunately, Bruce went up to Wyoming, and right as he gets back to Park City, we take off for Sun Valley, Idaho.  Accidentally poor planning.

Today we went out with what became a ski herd of friends.

We started with these guys  (Jim Covaleski, Greg Glynis, Julie "the wife" Joyce, Kathy Covaleski, and Miriam Mason.  I still think Miriam dresses like a ski ninja.

Later we met up with Bill and Loris Benson, and Jim O'Neill and Don Miller from Friends of Animals Utah. It is quite the challenge to try and keep 10 people together on the hill.  With only a few minor failures, we succeeded.

The snow is pretty nice, but you definitely want to stay out of the woods.  There still isn't enough snow in there and the forecast doesn't predict anything soon.  Whine. Whine.

Off to a bad start

I started my new workout today.  You can see it on my blog here.  As always, I jumped in too fast instead of easing into it.

I'm not sure which tore my hands up, the clapping or the towel twisting.  I may have to give this up and go back to CrossFit.

Provo River in Midway

We have friends rolling into town and I know I will do a lot of skiing with them, so I decided to get out for one more day of photography.   Heber City and Midway are two little towns about 20 miles from Park City.  The Provo River runs right through both of them.

I wanted to go find two things that I knew were along the Provo: bald eagles and river otters.  The eagles have been hanging out as regulars, but the river otters were reintroduced a little more than a year ago.

The day went as expected.  I never saw either one.  Just the same, you can always find something interesting.  Today's prize was the hoar frost that was coating every bush tree and blade of grass.

Every plant becomes a piece of art.

This is just one little branch on a small tree. The crystaline structure is beautiful.

and another...

There were several fly fishermen out in the frigid water.  Are they trying to catch frozen fish?

I was talking to one guy about my search for river otters.  He said I would have to be really lucky because they are primarily nocturnal.  I figured I could trust this guy since he was an experienced, licensed trapper.  This was a beaver he had caught last night.  He also had four muskrats.  If you haven't seen a muskrat, the key is "rat".

It was interesting to see these four mounds of snow floating down the river.  Where did they come from?

Hey! Those snow mounds are actually swans. Pretty good disguise.

They did have another headless disguise they used.  I think these look more like glaciers.

Just a quick trip, but an interesting one. 

Another trip to Farmington Bay

I really enjoyed my trip to Farmington Bay last week, so Jasper and I loaded into the Honda and headed back. I was hoping that the cold weather and snow would have brought the bald eagles in, but that wasn't the case.  I did see three or four, but they were all a quarter mile away, out in the middle of the water.

The day would be split into two chunks, ducks and hawks. The first batch were Coots on the run.  They look so funny stomping along the water.

Then I went and found my favorite little Grebes.  They're just so cute.

I had just set up to shoot this group of five Grebes.  I had my eye to the camera...

... and suddenly all I saw was this.  Confused I looked up and saw that a big hawk had just flown over the reeds and the ducks instantly went under water, scrambling for safety.  Little ducks are tasty hawk food.

The nature center had a list of birds that were around during the year.  There were three types of owls, and I was interested in seeing any of them.  This was the only one I found.  His job was to scare the other birds off the tower he was perched on.

On to the hawks...  Most of what I saw were Harriers and Kestrels, but there was at least one Rough Legged Hawk.

This one was hovering for prey, right over the truck.  I shot this through the sun roof.  I was worried about shooting into the sun, but it actually provided some nice back lighting.

My best shots were of a Kestrel.  He was sitting on a power wire with his recently caught mouse.

I got this shot just as he was getting ready to take off.

And now for my sad moment.  I whine on my blog about not having a fast, long lens.  My dream for wildlife photography is the Nikon 500mm. Instead I use a 70-200mm zoom with a 2.0x teleconverter.   I shot this picture of two Harriers fighting in mid-air.  It was pretty dramatic, but I couldn't zoom in enough and the focus was off.  What a pisser.  This is one that could have won contests.

Easier to get in shape

Screw CrossFit.  Those workouts are hard.  I've found something new!

Remember to never dive into a new workout program without checking with your physician first!

Utah Legistlature

Our Leadership Park City group got to make a trip to the big city (Salt Lake) and visit with the state and city government.  It was educational and interesting.

This is our group in the Gold Room of the capital, which is normally used for special events, like meeting with VIPs or signing special bills.  In the center of the group is Lt Governor Greg Bell.  I'm peeking over his shoulder.

Folks we met with include:

• Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker
• Lt Governor Greg Bell
• Chief Deputy Attorney General John Swallow
• Ex-US Senator Jake Garn (first senator in to visit space)
• State Senator Kevin Van Tassel
• State Representatives Mel Brown, Joel Briscoe, and Kraig Powell
• Salt Lake City Councilman Randy Horiuchi
• Park City lobbyist Des Barker
• Park City Asst Manager Diane Foster

It was amazing that these people spent so much time with us, given that it was the first day that the legislature was back in session.  In Utah, the house and senate are part time.  They do a single 45-day session, at which point everything, including a balanced budget (per our constitution) must be completed.

The main points of interest with everyone were:

• What important things are you working on now?
• What's most important for Park City and Summit County?
• What drove you to politics?  What is your motivation?

I won't go into all the details, but it was a wonderful opportunity.

Wait for it....

I went over to Deer Valley for a few hours of skiing this morning.  Some people complain about skiing in flat light because you can't tell where the bumps and drops are.  I would have been quite happy with flat light.  I just wanted to make sure I didn't run into a tree or lift tower.

They promised that it was supposed to clear up, and sure enough it did.  You can still see lots of clouds down at the lower levels, but it top it was gorgeous.

I try to stay out of the trees when I am skiing alone, but I found a physician to ski with for a run and we ducked in.  With the 5" of last nights snow, everything off the groomed runs was wonderful!

And you really had to look around to appreciate it all.  The tops of the tall aspens were glazed with frost,   beautiful against the suddenly clear blue sky.

And this pine really got nailed.  I have to guess that some of this was from snowmaking, but I'm not sure. 

Even with the big storm, we are still way behind on snow.  Tree skiing is hazardous and there are still little trees and shrubs popping up on the groomed runs.   Please send more, but thanks for what we got!

By the way, as long as the light is good, iPhones take a decent picture.

Is this how hot tubs should be?

Here is a picture of a neighbor's hot tub.  I am pretty sure that they work better if the tops aren't blown open for four days of a snow storm.

You might find yourself asking two interesting questions:

1. Wouldn't it be easy to walk down and close the cover, especially since these people live in L.A. most of the time?  It might be open for weeks.
2. Is this the same neighbor that delayed your house's construction and cost you thousands of dollars for your driveway easement, even though it had no effect on them?

Quite the coincidence.  The answer to both is yes.

Always a good idea to think twice before screwing over a neighbor.

A big game of snow roulette

We finally got that huge snow everyone out west has been waiting for.  On Saturday the local resorts reported between 20 and 28 inches of new snow.  Sweet!

Now the question is where to go skiing.  Hindsight is 20-20, but here is what happened on Sunday:

• Little Cottonwood Canyon had a major avalanche and the risk of a lot more.  Alta and Snowbird didn't open until about 1:00, and then only about half the resort.
• Everyone that would have gone up Little Cottonwood went up Big Cottonwood to ski Brighton and Solitude.  That meant a huge traffic jam, no parking, and a million skiers and boarders..
• Canyons was in better shape, but still had a lot of avalanche risk.  They opened the middle of the mountain, but left the left and right sections closed until about 11:00 and 1:00.  So, there were long lines and a lot less choice.
• Park City and Deer Valley managed to open just about everything almost immediately, even though DV was the one who reported 28".

We rolled the dice and went to the Canyons because they tend to have the best glade/tree skiing.  Bummer.  It was nice but I wish we had wandered over to DV instead.  You just never know how the day will play out until ti's over.

Going to Canyons did create a great new game, ripe for betting.  If you read my last post, you saw these little solar lights they put right along the road.

Sure enough, after the first good snow, lots of them were down.  I counted as we drove by and I saw 39 of them down.  When we left the resort later in the day we saw a work crew digging them out of the snow and putting them back up.  Now we have a benchmark to see if we can beat. 

It's about damn time!

A few days ago they promised us that our dry spell was over and that the snow was coming big time.  Yeah, sort of.  Mostly it hit the places to the north of us like Snowbasin, Powder Mountain, and Jackson Hole.  Places like Canyons reported 16" over the last  three days, but I have to call bullshit.  I skied there yesterday and there wasn't a time I couldn't clearly see my skies.  We only had 3" at our house, and we live at 7400 feet, which is about 600 feet higher than the base of Canyons.

Today it got better.  It's still coming down a bit warm, but at least it's piling up.

This is Deer Valley Drive, one of the most important and frequently plowed roads.  Not looking so hot.

And of course, this is the first weekend of the Sundance Film Festival, so thousands of people are walking around town trying to get to movies.  The ones that aren't walking are either standing around in the snow, waiting for a bus, or driving around in circles looking for parking spots that simply don't exist.

This lady was my favorite for the day.  She couldn't be bothered to clear the 6" of snow off her roof.  When she came to a stoplight, most of that snow slid right down onto her windshield.  That much wet snow isn't moving for something as flimsy as a wiper blade, so she was out cleaning her car in the middle of a 5 lane road with cars slipping everywhere.  Fortunately she got back in unscathed.  I wish I had gotten a picture before she got the bulk of the snow off.

This may be tomorrow's good laugh.  On the road to the Canyons ski area, someone thought it was a good idea to put hundreds of these dainty little solar lights. Notice that they are right on the edge of the road.  Anyone want to guess where the snow plows push thousands of pounds of snow and slush?

We will probably ski there tomorrow so we can see how they held up.

Yeah snow!!!!!  We love you.  Keep snowing!