Ryan's new Igneous skis

Finally having a day off that coincided with Ryan's day off we decided to hit the pass and do some laps. And it just so happened that Ryan finally had his custom made skis from Igneous here in Jackson ready to shred. Ryan's liftie buddy, Matt, came with us to ski the pass for the first time. After a short hitchhike to the top, we started the short climb.

We've both been hitting these cornices for a while now with the stable snow and you can pick your line to make it a small drop or send it and go pretty big. Even without deep new snow, it was still a soft landing.

Ryan decided to send it huge and boy did he go big. You can see his bomb hole where Matt, in the blue jacket, is standing. Unfortunately, I was only able to catch the aftermath of his huck. It was probably around a 20' drop. Nice work, Señor.

I ended up hiking half way back up to them from where I had stopped after sending it myself because Ryan single ejected and tomahawked losing one of his skis. After frantic digging, cooler heads prevailed and Ryan spotted his ski at the bottom of the ravine. Lucky dog.

I fetched his ski and he worked his way down on one ski. After one lap, we decided to hit it up again. This time, we took a back seat in someone's truck. It was cool climbing up the pass with such an unobstructed view.

Just another day in Jackson.

Keegan, Tawny, and friends

A few days after saying 'goodbye' to Lauren I was saying 'what up' to Keegan and Tawny. After getting an early lap skiing the pass we headed out to pick them up. We actually saw their plane fly in over us as we were driving to the airport. Before boarding in Denver, Ryan told them to get ready to shred it on the pass first thing off the plane. I'm still amazed at how awesome skiing is here everyday so for them to just fly in and hike and shred the pass on a bluebird day with great views must have been unreal.

Although it hadn't snowed in over a week, the snow at the snow at pass was still relatively light. It was a great first day of shredding for them. And the traverse out wasn't too bad for the knuckle-draggers.

Skiing all the way back to the car was pretty convenient. Only a little sidestepping to do. This was next to where we were parked.

In the days that Keegan, Tawny, and friends were here we did a lot of skiing the pass and resort and plenty of hanging out at their house they had for the week. The main attraction was the ping pong table down in the basement where many heated battles were had. Just like I had taught Carolan and my previous PHA students a lesson, I put on a clinic. Unfortunately staying unbeaten proved difficult.

Showing them around Jackson Hole we went into the Blue Room, a boulder hut that's near the top of the Hobacks. Apparently after dropping down into pit under these massive boulders there is a way out down through the bottom and out the other end. I'm not claustrophobic but being that I'm not petite either I was all set tempting fate. I do that enough jumping off of things. Plus, I thought a baby cub was going to pop out of here anyway.

Unfortunately due to my work schedule I only got to hang out for a few nights and a couple days with our buddies. Either way, it was still good to see old friends and make new memories. In a few short weeks more Fidelity friends of Ryan will be out here for a bachelor party/week. That will definitely be a good time.

Lauren's adventures in Jackson

After sleeping in as late as possible with the sun pouring in through the only 2'x2' window in my basement lair, we decided to venture out and enjoy the beautiful bluebird day at hand. After getting a huge breakfast downtown at The Bunnery,

our first order of business was to go to the pass so Lauren could get a taste of where I've been living. And there were dumps like a truck up top.

After getting a very good view of Jackson and the surrounding area from the pass, we were off to check out the Snake River; the same Snake River we followed all the way back from Oregon.

And the same one that, here in Jackson, people surf.

It was too cold to surf but we got a good shot with the river and The Tetons in the background.

From there it was out through the National Elk Refuge, past the thousands of elk just chillin' way off in the distance, and to a good spot to snap The Grand in all its glory. First the elk...

Then The Grand.

In addition to all the sightseeing we did, we managed to shred Jackson Hole for a couple of hours on my ski break (because I had to work all day) and also hit up Lost Creek Ranch out where Dish lives on my day off to snowmobile for the first time ever and hangout.

Parking at the TX Ranch a few miles up the highway, we were greeted by dish and two sleds. The trek back to Lost Creek Ranch was awesome on the snowmobiles.  Once we went up and around all the rolling hills and trees the path opened up and straightened out. Stopping to see why Dish had pulled over he just yelled at us, "Alright, let 'er rip". He's told us he hits 60 mph cruising between the ranches. With Lauren on back I didn't want to push it so I only hit 50 mph. Man, what an adrenaline rush. Lauren got to cart me around as well and she was cruising around 40 mph at one point. All in all, good times.

Although, Lauren was becoming a true sled neck working this thing around the ranch.

Once we met up with Dish again after he did some work, 

he decided to show us what the Thiokol (like the one in The Shinning) could really do now that it was fixed.

Lauren and I had cruised the whole ranch by ourselves so we were ready for Dish to take us up to higher ground. Cruising up behind him breaking trail through the deep pow with the stronger sled, we managed to make it to the top of the butte right behind the ranch where they have big picnics in the summer.

 

And the reason they have picnics up here.

Thanks to Dish we got to enjoy an awesome day snowmobiling out on the ranch with what turned out to be awesome weather once the clouds broke.

The ranch is such a cool place to be but unfortunately for Dish he's usually by himself most of the winter.  It's beautiful but I imagine quite lonely.

The boss of the ranch loves us and has offered both Ryan and I jobs for this coming summer on multiple occasions. Unfortunately for us, he tends to be grumpy when there are unannounced visitors and gets all congested. So we hightailed it out of there. Great first snowmobiling experience.

That night, Lauren's last in Jackson, we went to have dinner at the Westbank Grill where I work. If I weren't an employee getting hooked up I wouldn't have chosen such a fine dinning establishment. And in addition to the food being awesome, we got taken care of huge time by the staff. It was a great way to cap off a great night and overall trip.

Unfortunately the next day meant back to reality. Dropping Lauren off at the airport and going to work the rest of the day was a pretty good one-two combo to the jaw, but having had such an awesome time the last week it wasn't too bad saying goodbye again. A couple more months and it'll be Boston bound through a pit stop on the west coast to see some friends. For now, back to skiing.

We're going to Jackson

Mt. Hood and Portland were an awesome time but unfortunately all good things must come to an end. After dropping Beth off at the airport Sunday morning, Ryan, Lauren and I embarked on our estimated fourteen hour drive back home to Jackson with only some snow in our forecast in Wyoming. Leaving Portland was great as we had daylight this time to see the sights along the Columbia River. Having visited Oregon last summer with my boys Carolan and Spencer, I got to see the mountainous and high desert landscape in Oregon. This drive was different.

The majority of the ride out involved high rising rolling walls with giant wind turbines. It's impressive how big these things really are.

As the light faded and Ryan and I switched driving for the last time, I decided to take the last leg of the trip into possibly a snowy mess at the pass. But before I had to think about that too much we all were distracted by the mountains in the distance going through Idaho.

Getting to bed around 3 a.m. was rough but it was exciting to think about showing Lauren around Jackson for the next several days.

Taylor and Andrea tie the knot

Because Taylor and Andrea's wedding was going to be a square dance themed wedding, we all took the liberty to show up dressed appropriately. Here's Tamsen really working the camera.

And although she wasn't working it as aggressively as Tamsen, Lauren looked pretty darn good too all decked out.

Everyone looked great. Total western theme among us all. Unfortunately for Tamsen, Brian went all out even sporting a Colonel Sanders bow tie.

But regardless of how much time Brian spent preparing, we all looked pretty darn good.

Between all the square dancing, food, drinks, and laughs, the wedding was a huge success.  And it was great to have attended the first one of our buddy's weddings.

Thanks, Ryno, for the last two cowboy pics.

Bemis' Big Bachelor Bash

With the wedding in Portland just a few days away, almost everyone made it out west to Mt. Hood for Wednesday night, the first night of three all before the big wedding day. The drive in late that night was amazing. Not a cloud in the sky and a full moon shinning down on all the snow gave us great visibility to all of Mt. Hood as we drove towards its bright white peak. In the morning it was just as beautiful, and bright, but with a little more clouds.

After a hard day of skiing with 13 other people, the biggest group I've ever rolled with, it was back to the house. This time, we all tried to party but sleep became the obvious choice early on into the night. Some of us had had an aggressive night. As for me, I opted for Ryan's usual role of falling asleep before anyone else.

Being so close to where The Shining took place, Timberline Lodge, we had to stop and investigate what Jack Nicholson and Tanner Hall thought about it. And sure enough on one of the skis hanging in the main bar next to Warren Miller's name was inscribed "Massive", the name of Tanner Hall's ski movie from a couple of years ago. Pretty cool stuff.

And the science behind the entrance in the winter to the hotel, although making perfect sense, was really interesting to read about and see diagrams and whatnot. Apparently when they first built the hotel they completely ignored the fact that being a conical peak among mostly valleys the wind drifts pile up quick and high.

They needed to stop having to do this to get to the front door. Normally at this point in the winter the drifts are much higher. There was still a lot of snow even after almost half a foot or rain. Luckily for us we got 5" of snow two days earlier. Now it was off to Portland to meet up with the rest of the crew and see Lauren for the first time in months.