Lots of skiing this season. We felt like we had to do a lot before the baby and I were too big to do anything... and Greg is obsessed, so it's not to hard for him to want to go either. In fact he is up skiing as I am writing this. He's gone with Tyler a lot the past month and they've had good and bad snow, but always seem to come home with awesome pictures. Tyler has a sweet camera that takes like 6 frames a second. It's way fun to play with!
Here's some of his photos of Greg.....
Here Greg and I are skinning up Silver Fork.
It was a beautiful day! Sunny and warm, unless you were in the shade then it would drop like 15 degrees. We found amazing snow and amazing views all morning. Loved it!
This is one of my favorite photos of the day. The Wasatch are amazing and the panorama worked this time! Yeah!!!
On our first run we found this hill that hadn't been tracked yet. Therefore, Greg was like a kid at the candy shop, so excited, ready to burst at the seams. When I told him that he should go first... well, I think that gave me the wife of the year award. Here are his tracks and I am that little black dot near the top of the hill.
Stansbury Mtns
Yes, it's time for the yearly Stansbury mountain post. Last year when we took snow shoes up the canyon we thought how fun it would be to go up and camp and Greg could ski. Well, now that I am also in to skiing, it made for a unanimous vote to go spend a couple days up there.
This is me skinning up the 5 mile road to the campground where we set up the tent.
Beautiful weather. We, well I was working on my tan while Greg set up the tent.
With our base camp set up we put on the skis to explore the area and find some hills to ski down.
Deseret Peak in the background. An amazing mtn with that sweet couliour streaming down the side of it. If we were intense/hardcore skiers that's where we would've gone, but being 3 months pregnant and not wanting to inflict any bodily injuries we decided against it and found some really fun gentle slopes to cruise on.
Greg cruising down... We were the only people up there and the only ones for a while because Greg had to break a fresh trail the whole way. So first tracks up and down the mtn.
Gotta love Black Diamond gear! Works great, we love our skis
Getting back to camp we put things away and started dinner. We could see stars!!! The first time in a long time because it had been so smoggy in the valley. By then I was starving and nauseated but of course nothing sounded good and by the time we had made the pasta I couldn't eat. I tried to force down some of it, but payed for it all night long. Bad stomach cramps and nauseated all night. The morning we got up and Greg offered to head down. I was hoping if I could get some oatmeal down that it might help and we could get one last ski run in before we headed down for some afternoon obligations we needed to get to. I also knew that we wouldn't do this type of thing again for a very long time so I declined and headed up the canyon again. It was a little rough, but we were reward with a beautiful morning and another great couple runs.
Greeted by a beautiful sun rise and Deseret Peak glowing in the background.
Our skin track and two ski tracks from the previous day.
Greg on his way down!
Our lone tracks. The greatest part of the whole thing is that it hadn't snowed for 4 days prior. It had been cold enough and with no other people we had 4 inches of powder, untouched. That doesn't happen very often, especially here in Utah.
Looking back at the smog... I so did not want to go back down into that. Nasty!
Greg being the awesome guy he is offered to take both packs down. One on his back and the other on the sled. I had both day packs... we made for a sight to see to the few people heading up the road. Luckily the road wasn't too steep, but it was steep enough that we could ski down at a nice speed. I stayed behind to make sure the pack wouldn't flip and of course it would fly off a bump in the road and almost take Greg out and flip over, pretty entertaining ;-) We safely skied back to the car and drove out of the canyon and into this....
I hate smog! Such a difference 250 vertical feet make. Gross.
Cedar City/ St. George
Ready for some warmer weather and some collage basketball we took off to visit Greg's parents down in Cedar for a while. While we were there we were able to watch 3 basketball games, bike 3 different days on 3 different trails, go on a couple hikes, and go to the park with Nate and Kile's kids. Getting away was great. Didn't have to worry about work or school and slept in every day! Ron and Karin are great hosts as well and we are always grateful for invites to hang out.
We were able to ride 3 trails down in the St. George area. The first one was the "must ride classic... Gooseberry Mesa" and Greg and I will confirm that it is definitely a must ride classic! Such a fun ride with beautiful scenery. Unfortunately we didn't get any photos but the terrain was not like anything we had ridden before. Slickrock, dirt, sand, up and over mounds of sandstone, etc. Really fun. Can't wait to get back out there.
The next ride was one that we've done before, The Bear Claw. That was is always fun.
The 3rd we rode was the Barrel Roll. It was a good one, not a favorite, but the scenery was amazing and it was a good workout. This one I think I felt the baby move for the first time! It was right after we went up a pretty good hill and I had to stop to catch my breath. We were looking off the cliffs when, wow a punch to the side! I don't think he liked me bent over the handle bars and breathing hard ;-)
Here are some photos of the Bear Claw
We also took off on some hikes with Greg's mom. One of these was up a sweet slot canyon that not many people know about. The lighting was pretty on the rocks and the air was pretty darn cold, especially when the breeze would pick up.
The next day Nate and Kile showed up with their kids. Luckily we had some good weather and went to a really fun park and played hide and go seek, some softball, and had lunch. Here's Greg playing catch with them in front of the house.
Cardiff
What an amazing DAY!!!! I love days like these. Blue skies, warm in the sun and magnificnet views! Can't beat that, unless of course your there with your significent other and I was!
3-4-5 hours or a whole day of one on one time with your spouse, where you're doing something you both love, getting outside, enjoying the sun, and don't have anything pressing to get home to. I have to admit that is one thing that will be difficult for us when this little man pops out ;-) I hope we will still get some one on one time without the screaming child in the back ground. haha. K, I know that he won't be screaming... the whole time, but I have been around a lot of kids, moms, dads, and I have seen enough and been there enough to have a realistic view in my head of how things change. I'm excited and a little nervous to see how things play out, but as you all look at the blog you will see what happens and if Greg and I can still pursue some of our "irresponsible activities" and rush home to relieve the babysitter of our little one. Most of the time we plan on putting him in a kid-pack and hauling him up the mountain, down the canyon, on the raft, or where ever with us! Hopefully he enjoys it as much as we do.
On the far ridge there was a huge avalanche, if you click the photo you might be able to see it better. It was pretty impressive to see one like that, it made us feel very small and was a good reminder of where we were and how everything could change within a couple of seconds.
Mallary skiing down 15 inches of powder.
This was a shot that I called Greg from work at 6:45 am and told him to go out and get a photo of this sunrise. It was incredible... like a fire had been lit behind the clouds. Another perk of my job, I see a lot of sunrises!
