West Mail Cabin

It was a ski filled weekend and my legs are feeling it.  The highlight was our trek off Teton Pass on the south side of the road up a small canyon.  We wanted to ski something north facing since the sun was hot and high yesterday creating a crusty layer on top.  We followed a skin track along West Mail Cabin Creek that went around a couple ridges and placed us squarely in front of our prize.  With Mako in tow, we went up the side of the hill to ski an beautiful open ridge line.  The snow was deep and Mako snorkled her way down the slope for a fun day in the mountains.

Here's our afternoon...
http://youtu.be/15wW4VCPE6o

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!