Skiing with the little ones

Our plan is simple: do whatever it takes to get the kids skiing. Sometimes that means no runs for us. Sometimes that means driving for twice as long as we actually end up skiing.

We keep at it. Wearing down the their resistance. Yes, that's it...resistance is futile...skiing is fun...skiing is fun...skiing is fun.

And it's working!

good, weight forward turns - we told him to put his hands on his knees

weight back - plenty of time to fix that. I'll make it a part of the "stand on the sweet spot" lesson

wheeeeeeee!

getting the evil eye from O

By the end of the (lift served) season N was doing blue runs top to bottom without help. Next year we'll add some more lessons between our legs to help a narrower stance, get the feel of edging and introduce weighting and unweighting - the flow from turn to turn. And how to get up on his own. Especially how to get up on his own.
Next year O gets to go leashless.

great slush in the sun

Dilly Dally Alley

go N!

asleep. not kidding

O was asleep until about 1/4 way down Mary Jane run. Then he REALLY liked it!

A great day in the slush. The kids skied more than ever before.
The adults actually skied (we even got one good bump run apiece at the end of the day).

Green River Raft trip post 2, Desolation Canyon & Gray canyon (9 days, 9/24-10/2, ~3500 cfs)

Weather reports for the nearest towns, Price and Vernal, had led us to think that the nighttime temperatures would be in the 40's so we brought a bunch of cold weather clothes (plus, you can never tell this time of year - it could have rained the whole time). But the temperatures during the day tagged the 80's and at night stayed in the 50's so it was quite comfortable.

But man there was a lot of dew on the outside of the rainflies and tons of condensation on the inside. Them's the breaks. Ventilation in a tent doesn't mean a thing when the humidity is 100% and it's colder than the dew point. If only every customer was as understanding as I am about that ;)

I'll just let the flow of the trip wash over you in pictures...

mornings usually looked very much like this

O finds two chairs provide service adequate to his needs

flying buttress erosion pattern - we saw this everywhere on this trip

just behind the waterfront's tangle of Tamrisk and Willow, this hill shows clear signs of heavy animal grazing; the criss-crossing pattern is unmistakable. I once saw an area in Nepal with so much use that this pattern had evolved into full scale moguls like you see on ski slopes

lunch on a big sandbar

where the river slows, it drops at the finest sediment as a slippery and sticky mud

it occurs to me that next time I should just take an actual video of the scenery while spinning

Rock Canyon Camp

my sweetie

out for a walk up the canyon

it's an impressive canyon opening

crazy-narrow fin

the main petroglyph panel at the foot of the canyon's entry cliffs

bighorned sheep. always

upside down = dead

funny little glyph around the corner

hmmm

up the wash

what you get when mud cracks, the cracks get filled with a little different mud, and then turned to stone

no grazing was apparent in the upper canyon

bingo!

after dinner, R & I went searching for another petroglyph panel. failure. all I found  was this lousy circle/spot and a pathetic rendering of a horse

Our first backpack with both boys, 2 & 4.5, to Diamond Lake. Just two-ish miles in. N hiked it all but O needed the carrier most of the way. Which brings us to a sad reality: big kid carriers are really heavy (about 8 lbs by themselves) and just aren't made to carry a big load (nor is there a good way to strap it all on).

Our gear is pretty lightweight but the sleeping bags, pads and tent combined are bulky (as in huge). Rather than try to fight with each part individually - stuffing and strapping and smashing away at it until it was attached - we decided to embrace our exterior bulkiness and put everything into two big duffels and then strapped them to the carrier's sides. Effective AND striking, what's not to like?
(And yes those are Spectra/Dyneema duffel bags from my Kelty days - great lightweight no-frills duffels that I made for traveling with full backpacks inside).

2 duffels lashed to the sides conquered our bulky gear AND proved to be a fountain of wonder (or at least WTF) for those whom we met on the trail. without O it was about 55 pounds - very manageable. With O it was more like 80 - woof! 

The dangers of such large loads are falling and/or injuring something (like straining a muscle). No falls, but, alas, I actually strained my calf this time – stretched it just a little too far on an upward step. Boo!

champs: N (4+) walked the whole 2+ miles, O (2-) got in about 1/3rd mile. we averaged .5 mi/hr in and .67 mi/hr out 

Elephant Head

Diamond Lake

nice little 'M' style bear line made with 100' of Lawson's UltraGlide bearline. oddly enough, the neighboring site's kids came over to inspect it four or five times

the bearline tighteners used the same micro-biners that come with the MoonLight tents. I invented this method while working on my SuperTent project, trying to make fully winter-worthy guyline tighteners. it works really well for this too

more Diamond Lake

our neighbors' site: nylon fabrics sagging as they do

the joy of throwing sticks into a lake

oh yeah, I got the chair zero...

instant oatmeal with raisins (way too much sugar, we're not doing the flavored ones again)

not bad wild flowers for so late in the season

so many flowers it almost makes your eyes hurt

T and I

quality creek time at the outlet of Diamond Lake

the world is his spaceship 

a serving of Indian Paintbrush with Lousewort on the side

Kitty shows the way (yes N named his stuffed dog "Kitty")

I think this was a dragon ride

our two luxuries: a tent a little bigger than we absolutely needed and 2 Chair Zeroes  (3 lbs total extra - hey, coffee is not a luxury, nor the 1/2&1/2 - that's my story and I'm sticking to it!)

Zen moment cooking

saying cheese at the micro-falls