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Arizona, April 2012

troy — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 23:07:51 +0000

The girls and I took a trip down to Phoenix for the annual Marks Clan Seder. It was another fine dinner - this time with Jane’s savory beef brisket. Before dinner, McKenna Jane played with Grandma Jane, giving Dara and I the opportunity for a single-track ride together. The weather was crisp and the trails surprisingly empty for a Saturday - everyone must have been catching the AZT300 on ESPN.

Dara, Phoenix Mountains.

With only clouds and no rain experienced on our ride, I was surprised to find the SNOTEL weather station, near home in Flagstaff, reporting 15″ of new snow at 9,700 ft. I began scheming a Sunday/Monday trip into the mountains. By Sunday afternoon we were back home and I was packing my ski gear. The only one interested in a night trip into the mountains was 9 year-old Sazi dog.

Sazi near Reese Tanks.

McKenna really wanted to come, but I told her that she needed to develop her ski skills. “I have an idea”, she said “maybe you can carry me!” With laughter I told her just how fun it would be to go winter camping but that time was not now. She seemed fine with that.
Sazi and I started hiking around sunset. The views and stoke were red-lined.

Left to right: Reese Peak, Bear Jaw Canyon, Abineau Peak, Reese Canyon, Abineau canyon (big avalanche chutes) and Humphreys Peak (highest point in AZ at 12,635) hidden in clouds.

Painted desert and Little Colorado River drainage that feeds into Grand Canyon

Sazi doing his stoked snow-roll-dance next to splitboard and pack.

We hiked for about an hour before there was enough snow to start skinning (uphill skiing) with my splitboard. Temps were around 25 degees F., and we felt quite good. We also “felt the spirits” of the Kachina Peaks, standing our hair on end.

Spirits.

Our goal for the evening was a place I call the tree-cave (aka - the Hanta Hotel). I choose a new route and became disoriented, finding myself near Abineau Canyon, rather than Reese Canyon. From there it was either steep country up or a long traverse back to the mellow route. I chose up and when we got into steep icy slopes, the choice revealed itself as unwise. I became tired, lost my focus and slipped several times.
Danger.
By 12:30am we made it to the tree-cave. I’ve done this tour in 3.5 hours, tonight it took 6. Alfredo and leftover brisket dinner.
Sleep.
Up and skinning by 7:30.

The storm from ~24 hours ago left beautiful powder that faceted overnight.

Electricity was created by combining gorgeous views, calm air, warm sunshine, chocolate, and the anticipation of snowboarding powder.

Doyle Peak, 11,460 ft. Fremont Peak, 11,969 ft

Abineau Canyon chutes.

From the top of Abineau Peak (11,838), we eased into Bear Jaw Canyon, while keeping my brain on snow-stability. It was a go and for about 1,000 vertical feet and 30 seconds I became a powder spraying superhero riding a snowboard rocket-ship through the universe.

Batten down the hatches - powder spray ahead!

Snowboard and Sazi tracks.

They say every superhero has a weakness - mine became a thick crust over powder in the 10,500-10,000 foot range. From 10,000 to 9,000 the snow became soft again from warm air/sunshine. Below 9,000 there was not much snow and we began the long hike/traverse out of Bear Jaw Canyon back to Reese Canyon and our truck.

Reese Tank. Old Reese homestead foundation?

Stats.
Elevation: 4000+ vertical climb
Distance covered: ~12 miles. Sazi dog likely covered closer to 20+.
Time: 19 hours April 15/16, 2012 - 6:30pm to 1:30pm (4 hours of sleep at the tree-cave)
Time spent as superhero: 30 seconds

Snow and Sun - Spring 2012

troy — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 02:57:27 +0000

Two weeks ago Flagstaff received 2+ feet of snow, with the peaks above town getting 4+ feet. The sledding/skiing/snowboarding was quite spectacular, and the bike riding not so much.

The sun came out and and after two weeks of 60 degree highs, the bike riding is getting quite good. Dara and McKenna demonstrate.

Spring Ideas

troy — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 01:51:24 +0000

Got my first custom mountain bike frame bag built by Big Dave at Nuclear Sunrise Stichworks.

The frame bag is fully custom, fits great, was designed/built fast, and priced great. Satisfied. Need a custom frame bag fast? Talk to Dave.
So what to do come April… The AZT race or a few days at the OPUS Hut? Anyone?

Or just go back up to the innerbasin.

More hiking/boarding. Less driving.

2 days in the ib

troy — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 23:56:53 +0000

Got to borrow a HD video camera…
Larger sized popup recommended.

The Sacred Peaks

troy — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 04:12:23 +0000

This is a short video that briefly discusses the controversy of using reclaimed-water for snow-making at Arizona Snowbowl. The Kachina Peaks cinematography is the best I have seen.

The Sacred Peaks from Kent Wagner on Vimeo.

Five Decembers

troy — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 19:55:12 +0000

Looking back at my snow diaries, I remember that the past four Decembers have included good snow. By good snow, I mean good boarding/skiing without hitting too many rocks (this IS Arizona). Here’s a sample.

Dec. 2007

Dec. 2008

Dec. 2009

Dec. 2010

And Dec. 2011 makes it five Decembers of good snow.

Just like much of the western US, we have a shallow and weak snow-pack.

Head’s up! Use your head and make it home alive. There are people that need you. Here’s mine.

LCR with Four Season Guides

troy — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 23:45:34 +0000

I had the distinct pleasure of accompanying Brian Siebert on a late summer scout-trip into the Little Colorado River (LCR) Gorge. Siebert is a longtime friend and guide for Four Season Guides. I had always wanted to see the LCR and Brian needed to scout it out for a bigger trip later in the fall - so when he asked me if I wanted to accompany him on the scout trip, I made it happen.
First we picked up our permits from the Navajo Reservation then made our way to the top of the Hopi Salt Trail. Because it was raining and our route took us to where George Mancuso and Linda Brehmer were killed by a flash flood, we set up our first camp near the rim and waited for the the weather to pass. In the afternoon there was a clear spell, so we took a little hike and found some nice petroglyphs.

On day two the storm was letting up so we made our way down the Hopi Salt Trail - an old route that the Hopi use to collect salt in mines near the Colorado River. The route had some decent cliff exposure.

And pictographs.

We left the route for some bush-whacking up the Little Colorado River shore.

We made camp high out of the main flood-plain of Big Canyon. Thanks to Four Seasons, I scored a new tent - really looking forward to using this in the snow…

Even though the water of Big Canyon was brown and cool, Siebert convinced me that a skinny dip was in order. Glad he did.

The next day the LCR was a big muddy flow with all the storm’s water making it down off the rim.

On the hike out Siebert got all jiggy and I was treated to some Led Zeppelin melodies.

Brian and is wife, Ryanne are expecting a little baby any day now!

I think it is going to snow on the birthday…

life goes fast

troy — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 19:57:15 +0000

Do You Realize - that you have the most beautiful face
Do You Realize - we’re floating in space

Do You Realize - that happiness makes you cry
Do You Realize - that everyone you know someday will die

And instead of saying all of your goodbyes - let them know
You realize that life goes fast
It’s hard to make the good things last

You realize the sun doesn’t go down
It’s just an illusion caused by the world spinning round

Images of Fungi and Plantae near Flagstaff, AZ, USA, Earth.
Words from Animalia - The Flamming Lips.

illu5i0n5

troy — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 17:24:19 +0000

“We’re here to awaken from the illusion of separateness”

“All spiritual practices are illusions created by illusionists to escape illusion.”

“It’s all real and it’s all illusory: that’s Awareness!”

“As long as you have certain desires about how it ought to be you can’t see how it is.”

“The question we need to ask ourselves is whether there is any place we can stand in ourselves where we can look at all that’s happening around us without freaking out, where we can be quiet enough to hear our predicament, and where we can begin to find ways of acting that are at least not contributing to further destabilization.”

“It’s only when caterpillarness is done that one becomes a butterfly. That again is part of this paradox. You cannot rip away caterpillarness. The whole trip occurs in an unfolding process of which we have no control.”

“You and I are the force for transformation in the world. We are the consciousness that will define the nature of the reality we are moving into.”

All quotes attributed to Ram Dass.

Fire Season in AZ

troy — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 14:10:05 +0000

With the rains we’ve had, the trails are getting grippy-fast and fun again… also, our human-caused fire season is just about over. It has been an interesting season. Over 4th of July weekend, Flagstaff had firework stands for the first time in my 11 years of residing here.

Interestingly or ironically, this comes 1 year after the Schultz Fire just North of Flagstaff, and less than one month after the largest wildfire in Arizona state history, the Wallow Fire, burned over 500,000 acres including approximately 1/4 of the Apache 200 mountain-bike route. It may be quite sometime before that route is ride-able/enjoyable again…

Schultz fire zone - summer 2011 - one year after the fire.

Harvesting burned, but useable trees one year after the Schultz Fire.

Remember the fire started by the city of Williams, AZ 4th of July fireworks? It burned anywhere from 0.6 to 100 acres depending on which website our emotions would like to believe.

Now we can also remember the Eager grass fire sparked by their 4th of July fireworks show. This happened just a couple weeks after the largest fire in AZ history threatened to burn the town…