December Snow

      We've had some decent snow over the past couple weeks and we're doing our best to get out and make some tracks.  Today Sandy and I went over to the resort for the morning after the the most recent storm finally calmed down.  The snow has been great for the resort and even better in the backcountry.  Later in the afternoon Mako and I went out for a few turns on the pass.  She could have used a snorkel to get down with the snow about snout level on her the whole way.  She'll sleep well tonight.

Ski Season!

Last weekend we skied at Grand Targhee for opening weekend and there was a lot more snow than expected. There isn't any snow by our house, but at least it's been snowing up high. Here's a video of Sandy in her hot pink ski pants showing off her alpine skills.

Crossing the Tetons

This past Saturday we woke early and set out on a 22 mile hike up and over the Tetons.  The hike starts down Teton Canyon, which is on the way to Grand Targhee Resort, and slowly meanders up to Alaska Basin.  Sandy noted that the basin really looks more like Utah than Alaska, but it was still pretty.  That took us up to Hurricane Pass at 10,500 feet, a gain of about 3,500 feet over 12 miles.  Mako didn't come with us, but we noted many watering holes that she would have been all over.

At the top of the pass we had an amazing panoramic of 'Les Trios Tetons' and it was roughly half way.  From here we officially entered the west side of Grand Teton National Park and you could tell.  The trail was a built like a highway as we descended into the canyon.  A few more funds were directed into the park rather than the national forest.

The last 5 miles seemed to be the longest part of the trip.  We lucked out with a beautiful smokeless day.  There was only a little bit of a haze from the nearby fires, but nothing in comparison to earlier in the week.  We ended the day with a couple delicious greasy sandwiches fron the 'Knotty Pine' here in Victor.  It was an awesome day.

Here are a few pictures of our latest adventure.

A 10 Day Drive

Alright!  This one took a while to put together for a few different reasons, but it's a video of the trip my Dad and I took from AK to ID last month.  It was quite the trip and we both had a blast.  As you'll see in the video, we drove down in my little two seater truck and used the trip to explore a bit of Northwestern Canada.  I wish Mom could have met us somewhere along the way, but hopefully this will give her an idea of what we were up to.

Thanks Dad for taking the time to travel with me and a thanks to Mom for letting him go!  Get your popcorn out for this one, it's 9+ minutes.  Cheers!

Wydaho hikes

September is almost half-way through, the leaves are starting to change, and there is a nice chill in the air when the sun goes down.  We've been hiking around our new area exploring the mountains before the snow comes.  Some hikes have been on the west side of the Tetons (Idaho) and others are on the east side (Wyoming).  One of the hikes was to Windy Cave which took us through Grand Targhee National Forest and Mako dabbled in spelunking.  Included is an 'action' video of Mako the Spelunker.  Another adventure took us up a trail on Jackson Hole Resort where you could see a fire burning north towards Yellowstone.

Here are a few of the pictures.  Enjoy!

Victor

It's been about two weeks since I arrived full time in Victor and lots has happened. I have a couple projects in the works that I'll try and post soon, but in the mean time here's a shot from Taylor Mountain and String Lake.

 We've been trying to get out and explore when we can. Two weekends ago we hiked up Taylor Mountain off the pass and had great views of the Tetons even with the smoke from far away fires. Then this past weekend we borrowed some inflatable stand-up-paddle boards and headed into Grand Teton National Park. There we paddled around the shallow clear waters of the this little lake. It was an awesome way to spend our first anniversary together.

 Cheers!

SoCal trip 2012

Thank you to Amy and SS for letting us enjoy the sun in Southern California a  couple weeks ago.  We had a great time and enjoyed playing tourist for a change.  Here are a few pictures from Vista to Mission Bay to Joshua Tree.

A Ski Video

Here's a video Mako and I put together this morning.  It's a little tribute to all the ski videos we've watched along the way, plus I wanted to ski down the driveway.
 

Beautiful Days and Nights

The sun was out for the last couple days this week and the days are getting longer.  It almost feels like spring except for the 4 to 5 feet of snow in our yard.  Here's the best pic of the set.  

The solar flares that have been in the news lately did not disappoint last night either.  The aurora shots are right from our front porch even though I had a hard time getting the tripod set up due to it punch through the snow.

Time Lapse

On my daily commute I see the Turnagian Arm in all sorts of shapes and colors, but the past few days the sun has really made it beautiful.  I've been wanting to piece together some stills for a time lapse and today was the day for a test run.  This is a five minute lapse with pictures taken every 5 seconds and I pieced it into a 24 second video.  

Gray Day

With lots of snow on the ground, Mako and I headed down the road to Portage for a short ski.  We didn't go far, but it was a great reason to use the new lens on an overcast day.  Here's some of what we saw....

At the road to Byron Glacier

Deep snow

Turnagain Arm

Turnagain Arm

New Lens!

The new lens and filters are awesome! Thank you Shiu-Shin! I can't wait to take it outside, but here are some early indoor shots.  The one with Mako is with the 10x filter.

2011 Slideshow

A little delayed, but here are some of 2011 finest.  A lot happened and there are tons more, but this at least gives an idea of the good times last year.

February Nights

January has come and gone already, but we were lucky have have some amazing snow with the cold temps.  2012 has been busy between the skiing and work, but we did have at least one relaxing night awhile back.  Here's Sandy watching Mako watch TV.