Road Trippin': Take 2

I'm frantically running around my apartment (and town) trying to get ready for tomorrow. I just finalized the list of places I'd like to go and it's ambitious. I'm not even sure how long it'll take at this point. Even though I just pulled off a nearly flawless trip to southern Utah I'm pretty nervous about this one. A lot of things need to fall into place correctly. Okay, that's all the time I have for this; pack to packing and stressing!

Road Trip: Southern Utah!

I'm back from a successful trip through southern Utah. While I was on the road I had some time to keep my blog up today. Looking back now it's way too wordy, but it's too late now! They're posted in reverse chronolgical order so I'd recommend scrolling down and starting at 'Road Trippin': Utah' and working your way back up. If you want to skip my blabber you can just check out the pictures.

No time to chat today though. I've got to pack everything up and get ready to head out tomorrow for road trip #2.

Road Trip: Canyonland National Park

(April 28th, 2007)







Before driving out to Canyonlands, I stopped by the auto show to see what the fuss was all about. I'm not much of a car person but the vehicles on display looked sharp. The show started at 7:30am and I had a lot of fun walking around park with my breakfast (a banana and a bagful of Honey Nut Cheerios without milk).

But with breakfast finished it was time to get back to business: seeing national parks. And what is there to say about Canyonlands... well it's a national park. That's not really fair to the park, but I've been spoiled by the other 3 parks. Canyonlands is a really nice place, it looks kinda like the Grand Canyon, only smaller. It turns out that it, too, is formed by the Colorado River, that explains the similarities. But having seen the Grand Canyon, this isn't as impressive as it should be.

However, I still had a great time today. The last 4 days have been -- well, pick a word. Exhausting, busy, strenuous, demanding. I was ready for a slightly slower day. And Canyonlands provided just that. I ended up hiking more here than anywhere else (over 10 miles today), but the hikes were broken up into short 1 to 2 mile hikes. Each viewing point requires a short hike to get the best view, which was perfect for me. A little driving, a short hike, and then sit on the rocks and relax for a bit. And, as a bonus, I scored the last camping site in the park. Don't ask me why the only have 12 sites in the park, but I got here around 10:00 this morning and reserved the last one. My tent feels much more comfortable now that I've spent some quality time with my car.

Sadly, road trip #1 is winding to an end. I'm getting up before sunrise tomorrow morning (5:50am!) to catch a nice view out here and I'll probably make one more stop in Arches tomorrow morning too. After that it's 4.5 hours back to Park City where I've got my million item list just begging for my attention. I'm glad I've been able to take it slowly for a day out here, once I get back to town I'm going to be running at 110% again.

Road Trip: Arches National Park

(April 27th, 2007)







And pulling into Arches, I quickly realize that my "Moab plan" is, sadly, not going to be completed. The campgrounds at Arches National Park have been full since 7:30am (it's now a touch after 4:00pm). Additionally, all of the hotels, motels, RV parks, and supposedly most of the outlying campgrounds are full too. Why? An unfortunately combination of a few conferences and (more importantly) a huge antique car show (that would explain all the old cars with really nice paint jobs). The park ranger gives me a list of "primitive" campsites in the area (no water) and wishes me luck. With my evening plans completely shot I decide to call an audible and see how much or Arches I can see in one night. Even though I'm extremely sore from mountain biking a little afternoon hiking would be a nice break from the noon sun.

So I head out into the park and quickly realize why Arches National Park is so famous. And no, it's not because it's the most beautiful park in the area (Bryce Canyon, for one, is way, way better). That's not to say Arches isn't gorgeous, but it has two other big things going for it. First of all, the park gate is only about 10 minutes from downtown Moab. And downtown Moab has a lot of hotels, motels, etc. You know, places where a family can relax, play in the pool, and otherwise enjoy a vacation. This immediately makes Arches a more vacation-friendly park.

Secondly, Arches National Park doesn't really have much hiking. Everything in the park can be driven to and, as I've already learned, Americans don't want to hike. Most hikes are between 0.5 and 1.0 (round trip), which works out great for me cause I can barely walk and it's late. I decide to check out a few of the smaller loops before going to the icon of the park, the Delicate Arch, for a sunset viewing.



The hike out to the Delicate Arch is one of the longest in the park at 1.5 miles (each way) and is actually a moderately strenuous hike. But the arch, well the arch is worth it. And sunset is a great time to be there, the arch slowly lights up into a brilliant red as the sun goes down. And if you position yourself just right you can get a great picture with the moon hanging inside the arch. I tried to get a few of those, but sadly some light clouds moved in, hiding the moon just a little.

After hanging out with the crowd for nearly an hour I decided it was time to head back to Moab and figure out where I was going to be sleeping. I drove around for over an hour, checking out primitive sites to see if there were any opening. Nothing within 10 miles of Moab. The next cluster were 20 miles further away, down a slow road, and I didn't want to drive out there only to find out there was nothing left. It was time for plan C. I drove around until I found a quite residential street with a couple cars on it. I pulled behind a car, put the back seat down, and attempted to get comfortable in the back of my car for the night. Fortunately no cops came by and I survived my first night in my car. Unfortunately the back of my car is firm and just small enough that I couldn't sleep with my legs straight, so I had to curl up on my side all night.

It's now bright and early Saturday morning and my shoulders are sore from sleeping on them. But since I was forced to spend another night in Moab, I may as well enjoy the reason it's so busy: the Moab Auto Show.

Road Trip: Moab

(April 27th, 2007)







I pulled into Moab last night and was surprised to see that it's an actual town. Well, it's a little tourist destination town, but it's a big step up from Cedar City. I decided that I should check out the town for at least one night and pulled up to a little motel for the evening. As I lay in bed, I started planing out the following day (today): rent a mountain bike and check out Slick Rock; walk around town in the afternoon to soak the touristy atmosphere; and finish the day by driving out to Arches National Park where I'd camp for the evening. Things didn't go quite as planned.

I managed to rent a mountain bike without much of a hassle. I asked if I should bike to the Slick Rock trailhead (about 3 miles away) or just drive over with the bike in my car. The girl helping me with my bike recommended driving out, she claimed it was a hilly 3 miles. Another employee nearby looked at me and said, "Nah he's young and fit, he should suck it up and bike out there!" I was somehow impressed by his speech and decided to pedal out. The first mile is pretty flat and I was feeling good until I ran into a sign that said: "Slick Rock Bike Trail: 2 miles ahead. Fee required." Note the emphasis on "fee required." I didn't actually bring any cash with me, so I turned around, biked back to my car and grabbed some cash.

I was running slightly behind my imaginary schedule so I decided that I'd wuss out and drive up. I cleared out the back of my car and went to take the front wheel off my bike when I realized I didn't know how to get the wheel off. Now I haven't mountain biked in a few years but I feel like technology hasn't changed too much. But I had no tools in my little back that would fit any whole near the center of the wheel. Upset and a little embarrassed, I wasn't sure what to do next. The logical thing would be to go back across the street and ask them how to take my wheel off, but I'm stubborn. So I opted to hop back on my bike and make attempt number 2.

The second attempt started off better, but I soon realized that the girl wasn't kidding when she said there were some tough hills. I was quickly sweating, panting, and moving very, very slowly. After about 10 minutes I realized that I'd actually need some energy when I got to the trailhead. So I reluctantly turned around again, biked back to the shop and sheepishly told them I had no idea how to take care of the bike.

But not all is lost! The girl looked at the front tire and confessed that she didn't know how to do it either! The shop owner came over and said, "Oh someone put the wrong pack on your bike, you're missing some pieces. And it's really hard to get the tire off, I'd recommend against it." Awesome. Glad I learned this here and not on the trail. Anyway the guy showed me (well us) how to take the tire off, but he also threw in a free bike rack rental for the day. Problem solved. With the bike firmly attached to the back of my car I was finally ready to see what Slick Rock had to offer.

Slick Rock is a beast of a trail. At 12 miles long it doesn't sound too bad, but it can easily take 4 to 5 hours to do the loop. And that's 4 - 5 hours of intense riding. In fact, by the end of the run my cheek muscles were sore from grimacing. You grimace as you fly down steep rocks, trying desperately to keep your hands and feet connected with the bike. And you grimace again on climbing back up the impossibly steep rocks, willing just one more pump out of your legs.

The entire trail is on large rocks, and getting up and down them can be impossible. On average you probably stop every 2 or 3 minutes to get off your bike, push it up a rock, and hop back on. There were a couple of rocks that I could barely push my bike up. Some of the steep pitches have a small crowd hanging out around, catching their breath and watching veterans try to get all the way up the top. One of my attempts ended in near disaster as I fell backwards off the bike (yes, that's how steep it is). Fortunately I managed to get my feet down first and one of the locals complemented me on my stylish "downhill dismount."

I didn't take many pictures at Slick Rock, as you really don't do it for the views. That's not to say it's an ugly place, you just don't have much time to take your eyes off the constant onslaught of rocks, any of which could quickly turn an awesome day into a hospital day.

But I survived in one piece and made it back down to Moab with plenty of time to cruise Main Street before driving up to Arches. Moab is a nice town, pretty much like any other tourist town. However, allow me to complain about something else: 7-Eleven. I am a huge Slurpee fan, so much so that I can't get some knock-off brand at your local corner store. Coming back from Slick Rock I was hot, sweaty, and just dying for a Slurpee. Had they held a Surpee auction in town I may have paid three digits for a Coke Slurpee.

But alas, there is not a single 7-Eleven in all of Moab. How is this possible? Park City has a ton of 7-Elevens and it's below freezing half the year! My friend Peter from Canada claims that Winnipeg, Canada is the 7-Eleven capital of the world. Again, it's freezing most of the year there. In Moab it's over 80 degrees today and most of the summer it gets up over 100. But is there a 7-Eleven to be found? Of course not.

In an attempted to drown my sorrows in cold goodness I ended up getting two scoops of chocolate ice cream and a "berry nirvana" smoothie. Both were excellent and temporarily placated my desires. But make no mistake, I will be stopping at the next 7-Eleven I see. But for now it's off to Arches National Park.

Road Trip: Bryce Canyon National Park

(April 26th, 2007)







I'm glad I stayed another day. Zion National Park got my heart pounding, but it's not nothing (visually speaking) on Bryce Canyon National Park. But I'm getting ahead of myself. I left off last time having just happily set up camp at Bryce Canyon. That night (last night) I learned something new about Bryce Canyon: it's much higher in elevation than Zion NP (over 3000 feet higher, in fact, at over 8100 feet). This means, of course, that it's much, much colder at night. I wasn't exactly prepared for last night's frigid 23 degrees ice box. Despite pulling on nearly all my clothes and burying myself in my sleeping back I woke up this morning stiff, sore and still a little cold. It's a small price to pay for not planning much in advance.

Anyway, back to Bryce Canyon National Park. As I already said, it's a stunning park. All hikes starts at the top of a plateau and from there you hike down among thousands of spires and peaks (they're called hoodoos). Coming around nearly every corner I'd stop in my tracks, pull my camera out, and snap a few shots. I felt compelled to do so. In fact, I managed to kill my battery in my camera in just a few hours (this is probably a good thing -- I had already taken way too many pictures). Looking through the pictures now they all pretty much look the same. But I promise you that even a 10 minute hike down into the valley below will get your camera finger itching.

Speaking of 10 minute hikes, it was in Bryce Canyon that I (re-)realized that we (Americans) are fat and lazy. Perhaps it's just the European wanderlust, but during my two days of hike I've seen more Germans, Italians, and French on the trails than Americans. By the time I was at the end of the Bryce Canyon Hike (about 5 miles from the parking lot), I was surprised when I ran into someone speaking English. This does have some advantages. I was approaching one couple that sounded like they speaking German so as I snuck past them on the trail I let out an "Entschuldigung!", German for "excuse me." They didn't respond and seemed a little startled so they were either not German or just surprised to hear someone speak German to them. Either way it was fun.

But aside from quick moments like that it's sad that more people are flying nearly 1/2 around the world to visit America's beauty than we Americans are. And I know there are Americans in the park, I see them at the visitor center. But they seems deathly afraid of stepping foot onto the trails. I've seen several Americans pull up to a vista, leave the car running, dash out for a quick view and a picture, then run back to the car. Just turn the car off and enjoy the view for a minute, please!

Back near the end of the Bryce Canyon hiking loop I ran into 3 Americans, no more than 100 feet from the beginning of the trail. The woman bringing up the rear was dressed in a black leather jacket, tight black jeans, and 2 inch thick heels. As I walked by she tells me, "If they had told me what we were going to be doing I would have wore more appropriate shoes!" I didn't know what to say. She's in a national park. Wouldn't you expect to walk around, at least a little bit?

Complaints about Americans aside, Bryce Canyon is probably the most beautiful hike I've ever done. So I'm two for two with national parks. It's still relatively early so I'm about to climb into my car and make the 4 hour trek over to Moab tonight. Tomorrow is going to be fantastic, I'll be trying out mountain biking on the world famous Slick Rock trail.

Road Trip: Zion National Park

(April 25th, 2007)







I should just go home now. I don't think it's possible for things to get any better so it's going to be all downhill from here. I just spent the day hiking in Zion National Park and the place is stunning. The park consists of two large canyons, Zion canyon being the most popular. Having never been here before I wasn't sure where to go so I meandered through the visitor center, looking for ideas. One hike immediately popped out: Angel's Landing. It is generously described as "Strenuous. Long drop-offs and narrow trail. Not for anyone fearful of heights. Ends at summit high above Zion Canyon. Last 0.5 mi (0.8 km) follows a steep, narrow ridge; chains have been added."

Yes, I have a semi-debilitating fear of heights, but the hike sounded awesome. So I made that priority #1. As the shuttle approached the Angel's Landing stop, the driver pointed out the peak that we'd be climbing up to. It almost looked unreal, I wasn't exactly sure how one would even get up there. But, with two bottles of water filled, I felt ready to go. The first 1.5 miles are strenuous, but doable. About 15 minutes into the hike I realized important item #3 that I didn't bring with me: a hat or any type of neck cover for the sun. It was close to 90 degrees and my head was already feeling it. It was a sign from the hiking gods though, as I almost immediately stumbled across a San Diego Padres baseball cap. With my head properly covered, I felt like nothing could stop me.

Until I got to the last 1/2 mile of the hike. At first I though this sign was kind of funny, until I got to see the cliffs myself. Sadly, I didn't take any pictures on my ascent up. I was too terrified to stop and get my camera out. I do have this shot as I'm about to head down. As you can clearly see it's less of a hike and more of a death wish. At it's narrowest the trail is about 3 feet across with 1200 foot drops off either side. I talked myself out of making the final ascent at least 3 times, but in a brief moment of insanity, decided that I'd at least start and see how it felt. It was terrifying.

Put into historical perspective: when I went bungy jumping I think I had about 5 minutes of time (before the jump) where I sat around pacing, heart pounding and knees shaking. Sky diving? Probably 10 minutes, as the plane ascended to 12,000 feet. This hike? A solid 35+ minutes of sheer terror. I've never felt anything like it before. In fact, I almost can't believe that this hike is even open. In a lawsuit happy country like America I can't believe the government doesn't feel afraid to keep this hike open.

But it was worth it. Well worth it. The view from the top of the hike is awesome. The sun was shining and I was happily hugging the rocks at the top of the trail, elated that I had made it the top, but concerned that I still had to climb back down. Fortunately the trip back down is much easier. I felt more confident and I think I may have even enjoyed it.

Nothing could be worth while after Angel's Landing, but I took a couple more short hikes to make sure I got the most out of my one day at Zion. I was still fired up as I got in my car and left the park. So fired up, in fact, that I made a wrong turn on UT-9 and ended up going 30 minutes in the wrong direction. My two hour jaunt over to Bryce Canyon National Park quickly turned into a 3 hour trek. And instead of arriving at 8:30 (just before dusk) I pulled in at 9:30 in the pitch black and got to set my tent up in the dark.

So here I sit, at Bryce Canyon National Park. I drove in the dark so I have no idea what I'll be treated to tomorrow. I was so excited to write about Angel's Landing that I'm siting in my tent, typing on my laptop. I'm half hardcore outdoorsman and half hardcore geek. And right now I'm 100% happy. Can't wait to do it again tomorrow.

Road Trip: Cedar City

(April 24rd, 2007)








I'm not sure exactly how todays road trip started. I'm quickly running out of days before my lease ends and it feels like there's a ton of stuff to take care of and not much time to do it. You'd think I'd be a little better at it by now, but this happens every time I move. Packing up your life and fitting it into the back of your car is about as easy as it sounds.

Anyway, nothing was going right this morning. The list of things to do kept getting longer and every time I tried to get something done I'd run into more problems and end up adding more things to the list. I wasn't in the greatest moods and during lunch I decided that it was time to forget about everything and just get out of Park City. Southern Utah is waiting for me and I'm supposed to be having fun!

Sadly, a hasty departure is pretty much guaranteed to mean I'll forget a few important things. So far it looks like all I've forgotten is a pillow and my hiking shoes. I'm not sure how my feet are going to handle hiking in my casual shoes, but it's a small price to pay.

With Park City in my rearview mirror things immediately brighten up. I've driven through several state and I have to say Utah is quickly becoming one of my favorites. The drive south along the Wasatch mountain range is beautiful. Snow dusted peaks gradually give way to the red Earth below them, creating a stark contrast as you move south.

The drive to Zion National Park (my first destination) is nearly 5 hours. Since I didn't leave until after lunch I decided I'd stop after about 4 hours, spend one night in a cheap motel, then push on to Zion in the morning. Which is how I arrived at Cedar City, Utah.

Looking at the map, Cedar City is 4 hours south of Park City and appears to be one of the larger towns in southern Utah. Having spent a night there I'm not sure of that anymore, there's nothing there. I pulled into a cheap motel around 7:00pm a little hungry and saw a faded sign for "Pancho and Lefty's Mexican Cantina" which promised the best mexican food in all of Cedar City. With a name -- and a claim -- like that, I felt compelled to give them a visit. After checking in (and discovering that the motel had free wireless!) I made the trek to Main Street to try and find this Pancho and Lefty's.

I passed back and forth through down town about 4 times (I told you it's not very big) and couldn't find any Pancho and Lefty's. The closest thing I could find was Lefty's Hideout, which I decided would be my backup plan. It turns out that Lefty's Hideout was pretty much the only option as most restaurants close between 8:00 and 8:30! I could already tell that this town was a happening place. So I trudged back to Lefty's only to find out that it was Pancho and Lefty's but they had to change the name for some reason that the waitress didn't understand. Also, it was 8:45 at night and I was the only person in the restaurant. Secondly, a big sign out front said this place was a cantina, but there was no bar to be found. And thirdly, this was the absolute worst mexican food I'd ever eaten. I won't go into details, but it was an adventure.

About halfway through my meal, as I'm quietly cursing my fate for choosing chimichangas because the waitress recommended them, I realize something: I'm in the middle of nowhere Utah. Tomorrow morning I'll wake up and can go where ever I want for as long as I want. Can life get any better than this? No, I don't think it can. So I happily finished my meal and warily asked the waitress where I might be able to get a beer and watch the basketball playoffs. Her response:

"Well the Playhouse is pretty trashy." (No kidding! I drove past it twice and was convinced it was a run down strip club. With a name like "The Playhouse", a big sign out front that says "pool - dancing" and the windows conspicuously drawn closed, how can you blame me? Moving on...) "And I heard the 900 Club wasn't doing very well." (True again! Drove past there and all the lights were out.)

"Are those the only bars in town?" I ask. "Well there's Celebrity's, which is off Main St. Last time I was there someone got drunk and fell down the front stairs. They had to bring an ambulance. So I guess if I had to pick one, I'd probably choose Celebrity's."

What a glowing review. I ended up going to The Playhouse, mostly because it was the closest. And, just my luck, there was a pool tournament so there were actually patrons there. Well, 8 guys, to be exact. And they were all smoking. I can't remember the last time I was in a bar where anyone was smoking, let along everyone.

But I was there, so I watched some pool and enjoyed myself. The highlight of the evening was when too locals nearly got in a fight because one guy thought the other was being too distracting while the first guy was shooting his shots. After things calmed down a bit the next half hour was filled with gossip (didn't know a room of 8 could create gossip) as people quietly argued over who was in the right and what should have been done. Entertaining all around.

Sadly, this is Cedar City and in Cedar City the bars close at 11:00pm. So it was back to the motel where I enjoyed a night of cable TV and wireless Internet. My last night of luxuries before a week of camping. :)

Road Trippin': Utah

Now that the ski season is done I can do -- well pretty much anything I want to do. And the first thing I want to do is spend a week in southern Utah. I'm in Cedar City, Utah right now (the first pause sign in the map above), about to head out for a couple days of camping in Zion National Park and Bryce National Park. From there I'll head over Moab for a few more days of hiking, mountain biking, and all that good stuff.

My road trip is only a day old and I'm already having a great time. Cedar City is one of the larger cities in southern Utah and I think one night here is more than enough time. I'd love to tell you about the great time I had last night, but I'd rather go hiking, so the stories will have to wait until I get back to Park City next Monday.

Happy Trails!

Freddy Adu

In case you don't know him, let me introduce you to Freddy Adu, the future of American soccer. When I learned that the 17 year old phenom would be playing for the local MLS team (Real Salt Lake), I new I had to see at least one game. Tonight was my lucky night. Sadly it wasn't all that great. As you can see from the picture, soccer isn't exactly a big draw in Salt Lake. I think there were about 500 people in the stands (which makes me wonder why the city of Salt Lake agreed to pay $15 million dollars to build a new stadium for the team).

Also contributing to the small turnout was the incoming snowstorm. Now that the mountain has closed, Mother Nature has decided it's time to bring the snow. This is our second storm in a week and we're looking at 10 to 18 inches of snow overnight! And here I though I was going to be outside enjoying the sun this time of year. Oh well. It certainly made for an interesting night of spectating, especially since the game went into overtime. They actually had a double header tonight, with the Real Salt Lake reserve team hosting the Fiji national team. Sadly I was frozen solid and decided against hanging around for the second game. However it was a ton of fun to watch the Fiji team run through their warm up drills wearing some sort of parka jump suit. Needless to say, they didn't seem prepared for the 33 degree weather.

The other highlight from the evening was slightly reinjuring my dislocated finger. How did I pull this off? I came face to face (or shell to finger, I suppose) with a very tough shelled peanut. As I attempted to pry the nut into submission, I felt a little something give and now my finger is sore again. Awesome.

And before I go I should mention that Thursday is National High Five Day! Need a little high five'n inspiration? Glad you asked.

Coming Clean

Since my original post about my new toy there have been a few questions about the picture of the board. Why the weird photo? Was there something special about the wheels? Was I going for an artistic shot? Well yes, actually, there is a story behind the picture. Sadly, it's more a story of shame (for me at least).

Buying a new skateboard is pretty fun. You get to pick a bunch of new pieces, put them together and make your own, one-of-a-kind ride. The first step is picking the deck (the piece of wood you actually stand on). Most skateboards are aimed at the teenage market, so they designs on the deck are not quite my taste (skulls, crossbones, graffiti text, all that good stuff). I finally found one that I kind of liked, with a cool yellow and black star pattern on the bottom. Going along with the theme of bright colors I went with some sharp red wheels. Everything looked good together and I was happy. Did I feel kind of weird, basing my choices on aesthetic value? Not really, I know that looking good is like nine-tenths of skateboarding.

Anyway, the guy at the shop is putting the board together for me. The final step is to stick some grip tape onto the top of the deck. Grip tape is basically like sandpaper, it helps keep your feet stuck on the board. The standard color is black. You can get other colors, but you have to pay extra. I felt that my yellow, red and black pattern was loud enough; a solid black top was really my only option. However, they were out of black tape! "Lucky you," the dude says, "I can upgrade you to a different color for free!" That sounds great in theory, but the only tape they had was camouflage. Camouflage! Could that go any worse with the rest of the board? I think not. I've spent the last two days trying to convince myself that the camouflage tape somehow looks good, but it's a losing battle. I'm not happy with it and at some point it'll have to be replaced.

But for now I'll make do with what I've got. Two days of boarding so far and only one fall (one fall down at least, I've fallen off a ton). As a professional instructor do I feel like I should be wearing some protective gear? Absolutely. But as a beginner trying to look cool I know that an oversized helmet and ungainly body armor just looks lame. And I won't be looking lame.

By The Numbers

With the season nearly over, I think it's time to break things down by the numbers. Yes, there are a lot more numbers I could have picked, but these are the first 10 I thought of. And I think it's long enough as it is so, without further ado:

One: Dislocated finger! My first ever dislocated joint, too! Sadly, it didn't happen while snowboarding. I put my arm out to block a pass during a basketball game and the ball caught the tips of my fingers. I looked down at my hand and the last joint of my index finger was pointing straight backwards. I freaked out and quickly popped it back in place (I can still hear the little *click* sound it made when I popped it back in). The x-rays say that everything is in the right place (which is obviously good), but it's still pretty sore two weeks later. My students were the most disappointed, though. Showing up in the mornings with a big splint on my finger immediately prompted questions like, "Did you hurt yourself doing a backflip!?" Next time I'll just lie.

One: Student lost. I still haven't forgotten the first week of the year, when I managed to lose a student and break a girl's arm on her first run ever. Fortunately, I haven't lost anyone since. Unfortunately, more bones have been broken...

Two: Clients' wrists broken. But only two total, which really isn't that bad (or at least that's what I keep telling myself). I've already talked about this before, but the obvious truth is that snowboarding is dangerous. The not-as-obvious truth is that learning to snowboard at the end of the season is very dangerous. The snow turns to ice (especially in the morning when beginners are first getting on the snow!) and any fall can easily lead to a broken bone. Every time a student falls I cringe and hope that everything is okay (and people fall a lot when the learn to snowboard, so I've been doing a lot of cringing).

2.5: Pounds of chocolate I've eaten since Easter. Maybe it's just me, but why does every winter holiday seem to involve gluttony? It starts with Halloween (candy) and Thanksgiving (no explanation needed), continues through Christmas (chocolate advent calendar, anyone?) and New Years, and finishes strong with Valentine's Day and Easter. I mean, I was sitting alone in Park City for Valentine's Day, yet somehow I still ended up with sweethearts and chocolate.

Three: Working days left! There are so many reasons why I'm ready for the season to be over. Don't get me wrong, there are still reasons why it's still fun to teach, but they're overshadowed by my overwhelming desire to not be teaching right now. More than anything else, I'm hoping I can survive three more days without anyone getting hurt. I keep saying this, but you have no idea how easy it is for someone to go down right now. One the plus side, five inches of slush make it pretty much impossible to get any speed at all, so it's hard for anyone to get out of control.

Four: Days worked in the rain. Two points here. First of all, four days out of an entire season is pretty good. Compare this to say Seattle, where four days of rain in the mountains is just a bad week. So I won't complain about working in the rain one day a month. And secondly, it's actually kind of fun. Well, at first it sucks. But after 30 minutes or so everyone is soaking and it's not too cold (or else it would be snowing). At that point there's really nothing you can do but laugh at the situation. I guess more than anything else it's just a break from the norm. It gives us instructors something to else to think about and new ways to torture each other (for example, trying to dump water on other instructors while you're on the chairlift).

Six: Days left! The ski season ends next Sunday and I'm still not convinced that we're going to make it. Out of the 13 chairlifts on the mountain, 4 are currently running. And each trail is half-way closed right now. That is, the snow has all been pushed to one side of every trail so that there's enough to ride on. The main trail down to the first time chair lift now has a small stream running through that must be navigated across as well. This is a stark contrast to last Thursday, where at least the whole trail was open. It'll be interesting to see what this place looks like come Sunday. I promise I'll get my camera out there one of these days.

1 - 9: Park City Mountain Resort's basketball record. A few of us joined a local basketball league and we've been getting our destroyed pretty much every week. But we've all had a great time (aside from the game that we had to forfeit because one guy on our team kept insulting the refs -- good times!). The playoffs start on Thursday, I think we're going to be a dark horse.

92: Days I spent on the snow, according to my seasons pass. Sadly, with only six days left I don't think I'll be breaking the century mark this season. But I'll get close. And I think I can count the number of free ride days I had on two hands. That's really been the biggest problem for me this year: working full time as a snowboard instructor is physically and mentally exhausting. So after working 5 or 6 days in a row, the last thing I wanted to do is spend my day off on the mountain. All I really wanted to do was sit in bed and vegitate. If that means I'm not very hardcore, well so be it. Next year I'd like to work maybe 3 to 4 days a week and have some more time to enjoy snowboarding. C'est la vie!

200: Days until opening day next season. Even though I'm totally ready for a break from snowboarding, I'd love to spend another winter in the snow. This is the first winter I've ever spent completely surrounded by snow, and I love it. Speaking from experience I can safely say that it's way, way better than a winter of rain.

Alright, that'll do for now. I'm sure that in the next couple of days I'll think of a million other 'by the numbers' stats that I wish I had used here. Maybe I'll do a second post later this week. But for now, I'm off to enjoy my last three days as a professional snowboarder.

A New Toy







With the snow all but gone I've decided it's time to learn a new board sport. Well I guess it's not entirely new to me, I skateboarded a few times when I was a kid. But "skateboarding" didn't involve all that much standing on the board; instead it consisted of attaching a child's car seat (with bungee cords!) to the board and cruising around on my butt. I was a cool kid.

But I'm ready to try again. So this morning I got myself a board and gave it a go. Being a snowboarder (a professional snowboarder, none-the-less), skateboarding should be easy. Sadly, it's not. I stumbled all over the place and felt like an idiot. But the good kind of idiot. Tomorrow I'm going to head over to Park City's skate park where I should really have a chance to hurt myself.

Happy Easter!






Just wanted to take a second out of my busy Sunday to wish everyone a Happy Easter! It's only 11:00am but I've already re-learned a bunch of things, like trying to run errands is always a bad idea on Easter Sunday. That doesn't mean I won't keep trying, though!

Next Sunday is closing day at Park City. It's always seemed like the season would be over "soon," but now that the day is actually coming I'm not sure that I'm ready for it. I've made all these abstract plans for what I'm going to do next, but now it's time to start making them official. Well, I guess I've still got a week to get it all figured out.

Alright, I'm off to enjoy the sun. Hope everyone is having a great Easter weekend.

On Tap

So yes, the season is in fact almost over. The mountain is shutting down April 15th, which leaves me with 14 more days of snowboarding. More importantly, my lease expires April 30th, making this is my last month in Utah. So what's up next? Not surprisingly, I'm not entirely sure, but the current plan looks something like this:

1. Enjoy Utah: I've got a place to stay and nothing to do from April 16th through April 30th. I want to get the most out of Utah during that time. Everyone (and I mean everyone) keeps telling how beautiful southern Utah is and how great the hiking, biking, and exploring is down there. So I've got half a month to find out for myself. And I'm already excited about it. As much as I enjoy the snow, I'm ready to spend some time outside climbing around in the sun.
   


2. Road Trip #1: My lease ends May 1, I've got a car, and I plan on using it. Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona is my target area. Do you have any ideas on things I need to see while I'm out there? Let me know! I've got 16 days of traveling because on May 17th I need to be in Las Vegas...
   


3. Vegas, Baby: The weekend of May 18 should (and will) be great. A good friend from San Francisco is getting married and my best friend in the world is having a bachelor party! This weekend will probably be the highlight of my trip.
   


4. Road Trip #2: After Vegas I've got 10 days to get back to Seattle. That means a trek through Nevada, California, Oregon and Washington. By this point I'll probably be sick of my car and might end up making a beeline for Seattle because...
   


5. Wedding #2: Ten days had better be enough time to recover from Las Vegas, because it's time for the wedding. I'll be seeing friends that I haven't seen since high school, it should be another great weekend.
   


6. ???: After June 1st it's all question marks. I have no idea where I'm going to go, what I'm going to do, or how I'm going to do it. But it will get done. Am I little scared? Yeah. But I've lasted nearly a year living on the edge, I don't see any reason to stop now.
   

Pond Skimming!







One of the most anticipated events of the season took place last weekend: Pond Skimming. It's a yearly event at The Canyons and the premise is fairly simple. Step 1: Get dolled up in your costume of choice; Step 2: attempted to ski or ride across a 100 foot long pool! Out of the 85 contestants, only 5 or so actually made it across. But getting across isn't really the goal, showing off and having a good time are paramount. Fortunately it was sunny, warm, and a great day to hang around the pool. I took a few pictures, and even captured a couple of contestants in motion: Wile E. Coyote, Pac Man, and Disco Stu.

I've added it to my list of things to do next year. I would have gone this year, but I have my excuses! Most important, though is that getting my boots soaking wet would suck. I didn't really feel like spending the next two weeks in wet boots. Next year, though, I'll be ready.

End of Season Woes

Teaching the last few weeks has been much harder than it should. It's like a perfect storm of bad things coming together. First and foremost is the weather. While I don't have anything against snowboarding in sunny, 60 degree weather, it's absolutely horrible on the snow. Last week we had slush that was over four inches thick! It's like trying to snowboard in the sand. And underneath the layer of slush is rock solid ice. Which makes falling very, very painful. The slush is so thick and heavy that it literally throws lighter snowboarders around. Instead of gliding though heavy patches of snow, kids and small women are unexpectedly bounced around the slope.

Unfortunately, two weeks ago this led to my second broken wrist of the season (for a student). She was a good rider and was on easy terrain. She just got knocked sideways by the slush, fell onto the sheet of ice and snapped her wrist. It's just as distressing for me now as it was at the beginning of the season. I've spent a lot of time playing the "what if" game to see if there was anything I could have done to prevent the accident. But aside from taking her board off and telling her not to snowboard, there wasn't much I could have done.

That day I was the second instructor to take someone in with a broken wrist. The school had five broken bones the day before. And that's just in the ski and snowboard school, where we take a lot of precautions to help minimize the risk of injury. During the last two weeks there have been a steady stream of snowmobiles riding back and forth from the Ski Patrol HQ. Pretty much any fall has a strong chance of ending unhappily. For this reason, more than anything else, I'm looking forward to the end of the season. It's dangerous out there right now and I don't want to get hurt in the last two weeks.

Vacation Time!

For the first time since the end of January I had three days off this week. What to do with all that down time? How about a trip to San Francisco? I will always consider Kirkland, Washington as home, but there's no place I'd rather spend a random weekend than in the San Francisco bay area. Between the gorgeous weather, delicious food, and (of course) great friends, a weekend there always makes me happy.

Last week also brought in a surprising end-of-season storm to Park City. Well, surprising for me, at least. After nearly a month of 50 to 60 degree weather, the season was over in my mind. In fact, I was already missing snowboarding, which was a little strange considering I was still snowboarding at the time. Four inches of snow Tuesday and eight more on Wednesday weren't quite enough to completely hide the sheet of hardpack below it, but it was wonderfully refreshing to glide through some fresh snow. Wednesday and Thursday ended up being a couple of my favorite days of the season. And it was a great way for Mother Nature to end the season.

Sadly, the season is winding down in a hurry. I was greeted in Park City this evening by a steady drizzle. Word around the street is that it's been raining all day. If that's true tomorrow is going to a dreadful day on the mountain. But I've only got eight days of work left this season! I think I can power though for two more weeks.