December 21-29, 2013
This past week there was a shutdown at work and I was forced to take the time off. Not really a bad thing as it was a good break with no work activities. Last weekend the snow wasn’t too bad and I was able to get some decent skiing. I got two, two sport days in. One Saturday with Carly at the Great White Icicle and then to Brighton. That day was really nice on both activities as we were surprisingly the only ones on the Icicle and at Brighton the last chair went as we were mid-way up the mountain. As we neared the top a Ski Patroller sweeping the trails gave us a nice warning that we’d be on our own since they were leaving for the day. While I’m not sure I’d get a pass to Brighton, their allowance of uphill traffic is very much appreciated.
The second two sport day was Monday going to the Great White Icicle and then up to Snowbird. The inversion started to kick in mid-week and we are currently in the depths of it with no real end in the forecast. Christmas Matt and I headed to Provo Canyon and did a little climbing on the apron of Stairway to Heaven. The route is looking decent and I think I could do the first 3-4 pitches of it at this point. After climbing we made a little beef tenderloin on the grill with roasted potatoes and sauteed green beans in butter and white wine. A nice little Christmas dinner followed by apple pie and vanilla ice cream for dessert.
The tail end of this week was more inversion but I escaped up to Snowbird and back to Provo twice again for the third time this week. In Provo Matt and I went up to the crux on the Fang (WI5) on one day. The tube is not filled in and would an absolute shower and some thin ice for the bulge top-out. Today on our trip down there we did Bridal Veil Right (WI4) which was in fine condition. A fun day to finish up a nice week off of work. Back to it tomorrow with a day off on Wednesday.