THINK SNOW!!

Going out to Snowboard Patrol today. Getting out about 3 times a week right now. Haven't done any trips for over a month. Just boarding here keeps ya sharp, the snow has been soft during the day and stiffens up in the evening.

Try to find some time for a run out to the mountains soon. There's plenty of snow out there.

I put a new link to Jeremy Jones on my blog links, check it out. The best big mountain snowboard rider in the world. The guy rocks in Alaska in some videos, just punch in his name on u-tube or check out this trailer.

Teton Gravity Research :: TGR TV :: Video Viewer:: "Lost and Found: Teaser 2"

March Maddness

Spring Storms

I have 12 years of snowboarding and winter travels, with more and more winter backcountry travel, along with a fair share of backcountry mountain biking. My wife and I have done several mountain bike trips to the Marble, Crested Butte area of Colorado, awesome rides. Someday I want to do a winter travel trip to this area. I bought a book a while back, Dawson's Guide / Colorado Backcountry Skiing by Louis Dawson, check it out.

I have been using my sled to access areas, scouting terrain for snowboarding. I mentioned earlier about learning to ride the snowmobile, it takes time to master riding in the mountains. If I get myself into a tough situation I want to be able to handle it. My plan was to ride with riders that were more experienced than myself. It really has paid off. I had the chance to ride with 2 different groups this past January, both trips were total powder fests. We got feet of snow not inches. It was a great challenge, with some great boonedocking in the trees. I found some potential snowboard slopes on each trip.

Boarder Patrol / Sneakin up and getting the wave off.

Ski Patrol / Board Style

Snowboarding under the lights.

Arctic Cat 660 4 stroke Turbo / Wide Track

Training

-2 Degrees

Cold Smoke

Wyoming > January 09, the Story

Dang, I dig this powder!

The trip started out at 12:30AM Monday morning with an all night drive to Wyoming, 990 miles. Arrived Monday afternoon, got settled in.

Day 1. Fueling up Tuesday morning in town and ready for the 2 feet of fresh powder from the storm over the week-end. The morning started out with a refreshing temp of -20 degrees. Glad I brought my serious cold weather clothes. The sleds were a might stiff, but popped off after a few pulls. The sun was out and the snow was great. It was cold smoke powder, and deep.

The climbing Mountain Cat, M8.

The 900 RMK Beast.

An afternoon lunch fire,

The sun was out and the temp stayed cold all day.

The sleds ran great and we found good snow.

The gang after a good day in the mountains, ready for a burger fest.

Sometimes ya just gotta roll the critter to get unstuck.

Day 2, found temps about 35 degrees warmer, at about +15 degrees. With it came some fresh snow. Now it is shaping up to be some serious deep powder. We went into an area with some awesome powder and began descending through the trees. We entered several openings in the forest where we would explore the area and then regroup and move on to another untracked opening in the trees. The whole time it is snowing and making for an epic day and getting deeper.

Deep...

Yours Truly, riding the Dragon.

This is what mountain riding is all about, boonedocking and cold smoke powder.

Lunch fire while it kept on snowing.

Using a pine branch grate to get the grilling done.

Deep in the woods, the sleds were snow covered during our lunch. With snow all day, our tracks from the morning were pretty much covered and it made for a challenging ride up the mountain through the woods to the trail back to the trucks.

The winds had been blowing hard all day, 50-60 MPH, so it made for a true mountain experience. That is what draws me to the mountains, it is the rawness of the weather. It is interesting how the weather can be raging up in the mountains and 6 miles back to town it is a toned down weather experience.

Day 3, as we drove up toward the mountains the clouds were hanging over the peaks, giving us the clue that we would be in for even more snow. The mountains did not disappoint us, the winds were howling at over 40 mph and the snow was falling. As we rode up the trail, with the snow swirling we made our way to an area that we had ridden in on day 1. As we dropped into the valley it was apparent that we were experiencing incredible deep powder conditions.

This was truly an epic day to top off an epic 3 days of backcountry snowmobiling.

Yeah I found the powder and we had a great mountain experience. Everyone came home safe and we pushed our powder sleds to their limits. GOOD TIMES!!

It is riding with mountain snowmobile riders like I have had the experience to ride with on 2 trips in January that help make me a better rider and able to access some of the snowboard mountains I want to reach. Anybody who wants to use a snowmobile to access backcountry mountains to snowboard, needs to take the time to learn to ride through the trees and ride in the powder and climb with your sled. You will get stuck and you will wrestle your sled, you need to have the know how and skills to get moving again and to know the snowmobiles capabilities so you can have a good time and get back to the truck at the end of the day.

These snowmobile trips will lead to me returning with the snowboard and snowshoes to these areas this spring for some great backcountry boarding. This is the on-going ground work for future adventures.

Wyoming > 09

Wyoming > January 09

I'll have a story and more pictures up later. It was a great trip with much powder. Found a couple mountains for later snowboarding trips. Have a good week-end... later.