The 4 Corners Tour - first days

On Mon 21 Feb Howdy dropped us at SLC Airport, where we picked up our car, a Dodge Nitro 4WD, for the start of the next stage of our adventure. We were originally going to rent a compact, but after seeing the result of a slide off the road in snowy conditions while driving with Pam, Susie was adamant we get a 4WD, and ferreted out a good deal. She was right, as a few days later we were very happy to have the 4WD under our bums.

First stop was Moab, about 5 hours sth of SLC, home of adventure sports, mountain biking, 4WDing, gateway to Canyonlands and Arches NPs, and an artists hangout as well. On arrival we had a few hours of daylight, so headed out along the Colorado Rvr to walk out to Bow Tie and Corona Arches.

On our return to Moab we checked into our bloody delightful B&B - Cali Cochitta - run by David and Kim. Lovely people, and David served up killer breakfasts each morning.

Next day we headed out to Canyonlands, stopping off at Needles Overlook, which hangs on the rim of the cliff line which defines the Canyonlands NP, then descended into the bottom of the NP to the Needles area. After stopping off at the visitor centre and collecting a map we headed off for a couple of walks. These trails took us through some stunning country, by towers of  red rock and beautiful canyons, but the combination of a lateish start, and a misread of our position on a not very accurate map which meant we thought we were going the wrong way when really we weren't, and a consequent decision to backtrack, in turn meant we ran out of daylight. Result: A very cold night sitting on our arses waiting for the dawn. The temp got down to -6C, so, while we were never in any real danger, it was BLOODY COLD! We snuggled up close and thought warm thoughts. Once we had enough light to walk by, it only took us 15 mins to reach the car, warm up, and head back to our comfy B&B and a warm bed for a few hours. Shitty thing was, we paid $90 to freeze our backsides off out in the desert all night! But we learned a good lesson.   

After a "rest" day in Moab to catch up on lost sleep, we headed off into the San Juan Mountains of Colorado for our next adventure!

Hollandaise Sauce - David @ Cali Cochitta B&B, Moab

Homemade Hollandaise Sauce

4 egg yolks
2 T. fresh lemon juice
1 T. water
1/8 tsp salt
Pinch of cayenne pepper
2 pinches of freshly ground white pepper
16 T. (2 sticks) melted butter

In a heatproof bowl set over a pot of barely simmering water, combine egg yolks, lemon juice and water and whisk constantly until the mixture begins to thicken, then continue whisking about 1 minute more; remove bowl from over pan as soon as mixture thickens.  Add salt, cayenne pepper and white pepper.  Using a stick blender with aerator attachment, blend mixture while slowly pouring in melted butter in a thin stream until incorporated, about 2 min.  Taste and adjust seasonings.  Cover and keep warm over very low heat until ready to serve.  Makes 2 cups.

Back at Snowbasin, and... POWDER!

On Tues 15th we headed back to Huntsville and Snowbasin, arriving "home" about 1:30. The day was still young, so we thought, "Let's go skiing!" A bit windy and the snow was hard packed, but we got in 5 top to bottom runs between 2:15 and 4. Not bad.

Next day: windy with almost all lifts on wind hold. Only 2 lifts open and crowded. We got in 3 runs and bailed out. That afternoon, it started snowing, and didn't stop. By next morning it had dumped 5 to 6 inches of fluffy new snow on the mountain, and it was still coming down.

So on the morning of Thursday 17th, Susie and I headed up to the mountain with Pam and Howdy for our first REAL POWDER day. And let me tell you, when it gets like this the locals, and everyone else, turn feral. There are no more polite "after you"s, in fact when the lifties opened the gondola there was almost a stampede, skiers and boarders running for the first gondolas. As the locals are fond of saying, "There are no friends on powder days!" There was about a foot of new snow on the mountain and we mad some new tracks and Howdy kept taking us to more steep untracked stuff. Stuffed at day's end aint the word!

It kept snowing Fri night, so the powder was deeper next day. And even deeper on Sunday - UP TO OUR KNEES! So did Susie and I perform? Hell no!  After sorta getting the hang of it in 3 to 4 ins of soft new stuff on the 18th, we thought we could handle it. Naah. When it's up to your knees it becomes a different ball game, and while both our skiing, in general, has continued to improve, we still suck in deep powder. Pity. Lying in bed at night, I can picture myself carving beautiful turns through untracked knee deep fluffy snow, but the reality is very different. Suffice to say I planted my head in a number of different places on the mountain over a couple of days. On my very last run on Sunday (Susie had retired to a double shot latte!), Pam took me out to some deep untracked stuff on Beaver Slide to try to get a decent shot of me in powder. Alas, to no avail. The last instruction was "Ski down to Howdy." See below! So there's a lot of hard work to do before we're proficient in powder, and it's hard work, but lots of fun!

Somebody miscalculated on the 20th, the day with19+ inches of new snow.

Pam says we didn't do too bad in the 18th (she will work on us some more when we come back in March):

Sun Valley - where me and my mate Nat ski.

On Thurs 10 Feb we arrived in Sun Valley, Idaho. There was a big competition back at Snowbasin over the weekend, so Howdy and Pam and a bunch of their friends decided to dodge the crowds by coming up here, and Susie and I tagged along as the token Aussies.  Our sight-seeing route

Pam, Howdy, Rob and Susie on a sight-seeing trip north of Sun Valley

The mountain is fabulous - 3100 vertical feet top to bottom on the longest runs, and the slope is completely unrelenting. No little easy bits to give your legs a rest, and their grading of runs is a tad different to home. Most of the green runs would be blue back home, blues tending to black. Haven't tried the nasty blacks yet, if ever! Sample ski day at Sun Valley (select Terrain at upper right)

Panoramic view

The scenery around here is worth the trip on it's own, and there are lots of older skiers here, probably because it looks like you would need a fair bit of cash to live here. They all ski well, though. We talked to one older guy (73) going up a chair who had lived  here for 20 years who had been a ski instructor in the sixties, alternating between here and Thredbo. He loves the place - says the summers are even better than winter, cos there's fly fishing, hiking, mountain biking, road biking all in abundance, and he does it all. He has one artificial hip, one new knee, and had his right hand in a cast under a sock after breaking it in a x-country skiing fall. No worries - just keep on doin' it!

Met a local lady who asked me if I knew Nat Young. We were chatting and she figured out Susie and I were Aussies somehow, saw the Ripcurl jacket I had on, and immediately said, "Oh, you must know Nat Young." Huh? Um, not personally, but I know who he is - why? Turns out he spends a large part of most years over here skiing, owns a condo here, and is fairly well known to the locals. Figures.

The condo we stayed in included access to the resort"s Lodge and Spa Pool. This was no average spa - being about 15m in diameter and 3m deep in the centre. It was pure bliss sitting or floating in the hot water and  taking the occasional sip from our margaritas. We had 4 days at Sun Valley before heading back to Huntsville and Snowbasin.

Practice, practice

Started cold (-14C) and sunny this morning and fast became overcast and cold. We skiied with just Howdy today and practiced lots of quicker turns and more control on the steep stuff. Howdy found some still largely untracked powder for us to try and we coped - just - in the steep stuff. Susie claimed Stack-of-the-month so far on the last run of the day with a launch off a cat track which surprised her with it's presence. Left a ski on the track and slid 50 metres on her chest before stopping. Unhurt. Sadly, Howdy and I missed the whole thing!
Off to Sun Valley tomorrow for 5 days.

Powder Hounds? Well, maybe not quite.

Today was our 4th day on the mountain and our first day of powder. There was a dump of about 4 inches of new snow last night, so we were up bright and early and in the first few gondolas to head up the mountain.  It wasn't deep powder by local standards, but enough to test our fledgling powder techniques.
So how did we do? Well, good and bad. Pam and Howdy led us out to some beautiful fluffy untracked stuff, and in the not-too-steep stuff we had a ball, making new tracks in the virgin snow and looking back up the mountain to admire our handiwork. But then they started taking us to steeper terrain and our technique (especially mine) started to find us out. I had too few turns, too much speed, and not enough control, which on a couple of occasions resulted in me revisiting my "Snowman" persona. Susie came down slower, but with more control. While I was collecting snow and bits of trees, she was quietly negotiating her way down the mountain, as she always does, with a big grin on her face.
Even though we only did 6 top to bottom runs this morning, I was far more shagged than I've been on any of the other days when we've done 9 runs on the groomers. Susie, as usual, was totally unfussed and ready for more!
Here is a link to our first 5 runs, recorded with Pam's GPS MyTracks App on her cell phone. Be sure to zoom in and click on Terrain and Satellite to see some interesting land features (the background picture was in the spring, but we really ski on snow!). OUR TRACKS

And now some video:

 

Robert

 Susie

Howdy in the Sisters

ooooops!

Our first 5 days

We arrived in SFO about midday on the 1st. Used Bart (Bay Area rapid Transit) from the airport to the city and checked into our great little boutique hotel at about 1:30. Neither of us had slept on the flight, but we thought it best to stay awake until local night time, so off we went from our city centre hotel down to Fishermans Wharf by cable car. We climbed up to Coit Tower, walked around the pier area, clambered through the innards of a WW2 submarine, then arrived back at our hotel just in time for the complimentary California wine tasting. Two glasses, we were flying! A quick dinner at a local Irish pub, and it was nighty night for us.

Woke up late next day, and headed down to the Bay again to catch a tour to Alcatraz. We did a self guided audio tour which was absolutely terrific, being talked through the prison by former guards and inmates. Then we hired bikes at the Pier and pedalled around the bay foreshore to the Golden Gate, across the bridge to Sausalito. We caught the ferry back to the city with about 50 other bikes and their pedallers. A fun afternoon which had us back at the hotel around 6:30. After dinner at a local, and cheap, and good, French restaurant, we hit the hay.
It was a pity we only had a day and a half to explore, because Susie and I both agree we could really get to like SFO. Beautiful city, bay, friendly people, lots to like.

Next day travelled to Salt Lake City for the start of our ski overdose. Howdy, our great mate from Huntsville, met us at SLC airport and an hour later we were chatting to Pam, his wife, and staring up at our favourite ski mountain. Wooohooo!!

So far we've had 2 days on the mountain, split by a day off yesterday when we went to watch H and P's niece in an ice skating comp. Susie and I both surprised ourselves on the mountain, skiing top to bottom (2500') without a stop right from the start. The locals say the snow is a bit hard, no new snow having fallen for a few days, but to us, it is AWESOME!

Susie at Snowbasin

Robert at Snowbasin

A useless but interesting fact. The main streets in most large towns/cities in Utah are impressively wide, with 3 lanes each way plus a parking lane and a turning lane in the middle.  I commented on this and Howdy informed us that it's because the Prophet Brigham Young (that's the guy who had 27 wives) declared all main streets had to be wide enough to turn his horse drawn carriage around. Those carriages must have had lousy turning circles, but the roads are impressive - beats the hell out of George St, Sydney.


Tomorrow, just for a change, we think we might go skiing. Sorry to hear you guys have been sweltering in the heat back home since we left.

That's it for now. cheers,

Rob and Susie