Spring in Utah

Hi guys-
Seth and I hear what Quinn is saying...we are pretty excited about warm weather here too. It has been a long time since we have had a proper summer--Seth especially. In the spirit of summer in the desert, Seth and I have taken the money collected from selling the ole' Subaru up in Alaska and bought a Eurovan Camper! It is great. A 1995, with 107K miles, and it is running great. We had it inspected, and as soon as we fix the oil pan (it is missing a few bolts) and get it lifted a few inches, it will be a lean (well, not that lean) mean camping machine! We are going to try to head down to Moab this weekend and try it out. We have been mountain biking a bunch, and went on a great ride yesterday on an island in the Salt Lake.

We have some other good things going on too in our lives. Firstly, I am pleased to announce that Seth is the 2008/09 recipient of the WEST Fellowship, teaching k-12 students science issues in the west, along with his own research, all while getting funded for his next year of school. It is a great mixing of science, his research, and not having to be cooped up at the University doing science with only scientists. Secondly, I started my new job today. I am working for an environmental consulting firm in Salt Lake as an Environmental Planner with a Water Resources Focus. I am pretty excited. I had a great first day. I think it will be a great experience. It is my first professional job in the private sector, so it will take some getting used to, but I think it will be a good thing for me to do for a while. And right now it is 21-39 hours a week, so I am easing back into the work week.

Anyways, that's all from SLC. Oh, our garden is underway, and we spent the weekend (our first at home in 6 weeks!) getting our yard all pretty and planting some more veggies.

Miss you guys,
Love Hils

A shout out to a great winter / It's time to put the canoe in the water

2:30 AM + Gap jump + Bon fire in the gap + Northern Vt shinanigans (Note Chrissy's contribution in the lower right corner)

I'd like to give a shout out to one hell of a winter.  West to East, it seems as if everyone's gotten their fix.  Snow's going quick around here, though top to bottom skiing can still be scrounged up at a few resorts.  

Been working in the veggie garden and transfering next winter's fire wood which leads me to say, "I'm throwing in the towel".  It's time to put the hiking boots on, put the canoe in the water, and smother the skis with a loving load of summer wax.  Peacy weace winter time, we'll see you in 6 months.  

Back on the DL

Dudes, the injurious 07-08 season couldn't wind down without one more to add to list, not too mention my debt of medical bills. Just came from the doctor, because my knee just hadn't gotten any better. Turns out I have a torn ACL! This resulted in my rag-dolling down Corbet's, minutes before the photo at the Coombs' memorial. I just thought I had tweaked it a bit, but who knew these weren't necessarily painful? I had no idea, and am in complete shock. I have reconstructive surgery scheduled for next Wednesday. Narcotics, crutches for a couple weeks and a whole lot of PT later, I should be back to being able to ride a bike on the road by July 1. This chugs.
On the bright side, my new ligament from my hamstring will be stronger than the old and I should be 100% healed in 6 months. By Nov. 1 when the snow starts falling I will be ripping it once again with you all. Any veterans of this feel free to send your advice.

Epic on both ends of the spectrum

Spent a recent week camped at Hermit Lakes with good friends from Bolton Valley.  Had the pleasure of skiing many days with Fithian and one superb day with More Cowbells.  Weather was picture perfect.  Bluebird for 5 days in a row, corn set up from the summit to the parking lot.

Day one had us hiking in and getting a quick lap in on Hillmans.  Day two it was off to the summit, the eastern snow fields, and many laps in the bowl.  It also provided an opportunity for More Cowbells to ski a bold line through and off of a 15 footer in the headwall's ice flow, making it (by far) the line of the day.  Lots of cheers from lunch rocks on that one.  Day three, well, we'll get back to that.  Day four the winds picked up and firmed up the bowl pretty well.  Good thing we knew the caretaker.  We headed to a slide on Lions Head called the 69 Slide (yeah, 69 dude) and raged it for several laps.  Real nice stuff...got a pretty good sunburn though.

 

So, back to day three.  9:45 AM: I'm standing downhill of lunch rocks with several friends, looking forward to that morning's objective, Left Gully...corniced at the top and as wide as a football field the whole way down.  Sun block is going on, skis are being strapped to packs and we're within minutes of headed up the lip.  9:50 AM: We hear Look out!  9:50:05 AM: A bicycle wheel shaped piece of ice that had broken off up on the sluice ice flow was headed downhill at a rate of speed that I've never comprehended before.  With about enough time to glance over my shoulder, i saw the ice bulge hit my friend Adam directly in the face.  He was knocked out imediatly and was rag dolling down the hill below me about at the same time I relaized what the hell was going on. 

Adam had left a trail of blood over the 50 feet he'd slid down and was now laying motionless, bleeding heavily, in the bowl of Tuckerman Ravine.  Among the group that had gathered for the Left Gully excursion were 5 Bolton Valley ski patrolers.  We split up and got to work.  One went to the cache at lunch rocks, three went to Adam, and I clicked in (poles still strapped to back) and stright lined the lower headwall for Hermit Lakes.  The three the were tending to Adam struggled to get him to respond, his eyes had rolled back in his head, and his face had essentially been split open from between his eyes to this chin. His nose was missing.

 

I reached Hermit Lakes, let Chris and the snow rangers what was going on and grabbed the O2 tank.  I and one of the rangers ran (literally) back to the bowl where we found the evacuation progressing with great speed.  Adam was dressed, wrapped in a blanket, and was secured in the litter.  We met up with the group as they were making their way down at the connection cache (right where you pop out of the trees).  We got the O2 flowing, continued to try to make contact with Adam, all the while not stopping the downhill progress.  We made it to Hermit Lakes where a snowmobile was waiting.  It took just over an hour to transport Adam to an ambulance from the time of the accident.  

Adam has since been released from the hospital.  He's still in pretty rough shape, but the fact that he's alive had us all pretty amazed.  I was pretty sure I was going to see a good friend die that day.  He's going to need reconstructive surgery and ongoing brain scans to ensure a complete recovery, but again, just the fact that I can call him on the phone is simply a miracle.  

The trip was Epic on both ends of the spectrum.  The skiing and conditions were unparaleled.  And the accident provided me with an experience that I'd yet to have.  

All three photos were taken by my friend Tim Goodrich.  Check out his work at www.timgoodrichphotography.com.

To all the Hood Rats & Hoochie Mommas

What's up all? Just wanted to say that this has been an incredible year to be on skis...west or east. I probably had my best year since my year in Alta...it actually may top our senior year and the year in Alta all-in-all. It sounds like everybody had an excellent year across the board...with a few injuries. Jackson & Utah got pummeled this year, Colorado had a big year and New England had its best year since our senior year. I'm amazed at how much snow is left in the Green Mtns, even here in Southern VT. Even Mr. No-Luck, Neck-deep in Campaign Shit Balzbaugh got in some good days in the Whites. Dude you better not be pulling this 6-7 day work weeks next year too.
Anyway, had a great time meeting up with Quinn, Fithian and the Bolton Valley crew in Tucks last week. We got to ski right from the summit sign on Washington. Hoping to get back up there for another early May ski in the Whites, if any east-coasters are around. Was hoping to post some pics from the Whites, but slow 35mm processing is clogging up the gears. Quinn, hope your buddy who got hit with the ice block on Lunch Rocks is doing better man.
I'm guessing western areas will have hike-to skiing until at least June or July. Tucks may go into July too.
Later Green