Elk Meadows - March 27, 2010

My very first absolutely real hiking-for-turns adventure. Of course I've hiked a bit before, but this was:
Get up early.
Drive to pick up Dan.
Drive, drive, drive to get to the defunct ski resort of Elk Meadows - 18 miles from Beaver, UT.
Gear up.
Hike a little!
Ski!
Hike a lot!
Ski!
Hike a lot again!
(If you're not a slow hiker like me - Ski and Hike a lot, yet again!)
Drive, drive, drive back to civilization.
Unpack the car and fall into bed.

Jessi, James & Dan ready to hike.

Smooch!



Pose for the camera.



Oh, what a glorious day to play in the snowy mountains!



"Stairway to Heaven" - the name of the cat track that we hiked / skinned to get back up to ski more runs and to get back to the car. Very appropriate.



Testing the snow and preparing the jump.

Video - James off the jump

Video - Dan off the jump

Joy at the conclusion of the first run! It was like having our own private ski resort - except without lift service.

Dan chilling at the top of the mountain - even though the ski resort has been closed for several years, all the lift towers, chairs and even chair pads were all in place. (After this picture, I discovered that the camera has a SNOW mode.)


One of those mountains in the background is Mt. Holly. I just thought it was a cool picture.




Standing at the lift top, prepping for a powder run. Which one of these untracked runs shall we take? We could each have our own run to put our single line of turns upon!


Watching James & Dan skin away. I was going to enjoy my second hike out because I was so, so slow! But it was a beautiful day and the sun was shining and sometimes I heard birds. And after a long while, I heard some serious whooping and hollering and laughter.








The guys were putting some very pretty turns down this run: (Dan's are the super-tight zipper line down the center. James' are the bigger s-turns just to looker's left of Dan's turns.)



I'm (almost) embarressed to admit that the guys then took over my skis. So all I had to do was hike myself and my poles back to the top. THANK YOU!

The aftermath of a short, but agressive snow fight:

Then a very, very short ski back to the car (we had parked almost all the way to the top - the set up of the resort is such that there is not a way to park at the bottom. Not very condusive to making car-supported laps). A very, very fun Saturday.

P.S. Happy Birthday Mom McCalvy!