Here at Hangman Hill

Perfect conditions for a walk with Kokee.

In spite of a slow start to our annual ski trip due to some cancelled flights, we arrived on Saturday evening as planned in Eden, Utah.  With only minutes before the clock struck midnight we crawled into bed dreaming of powder runs and sunshine.  

On our first morning in Eden, only minutes from Powder Mountain Resort, we woke to sunny skies and temperatures that nearly qualified for spring-like conditions.  After a quick breakfast we made plans to hit the mountain for our first taste of Utah’s finest, light fluffy powder.  

Within an hour we found ourselves back in Salt Lake City at REI shopping for new boots for Bruno.  How quickly plans can change!  Unfortunately Bruno’s boots were damaged in transit, which inititially  was a major blow to our strategy to do some lift riding, and split boarding for the entire week, not to mention our morale.  The system that allows us to ride snowboards that convert to skis is one that is not commonly used, or sold for that matter.  The first 10+ ski/snowboard shops didn’t carry compatible boots/binding/boards and in some cases the shops never heard of “splint” boards (not a good omen).  Thankfully REI had the right boots, and they fit Bruno’s foot AND they were compatible both sets of Bruno’s bindings/boards. We were back in action!

We found our riding legs on Powder Mountain on Monday morning and enjoyed virtually no lift lines, wide open terrain and the friendliest people we have ever met.  We explored all day and concluded we had covered about 1/10th of the mountain.

On Tuesday morning we woke to 3-4″ of fresh snow which translated to about 8″ on the mountain.  This transformed pretty decent conditions to shear bliss on a board.  From that point it kept snowing, and snowing and snowing, all week long  It seems we traded the sunny skies on Sunday (which we spent in REI) for steady, light snowfall for the rest of the week.

One day midweek, we packed our probes, shovels and strapped on our beacons for a day in the backcountry on the back side of the resort.  The avalanche risk in Utah has been extremely high so we hired a local guide.  He gave us a refresher on backcountry basics, and we dug a snow pit and confirmed the presence of an unstable layer below a wet slab that was causing problems in steep terrain.  He took us to an area that was stable, and offered terrain within our abilities (which also means the risk of avalanche is low).  We made several laps that offered waist deep powder on the ride down followed by a heart-pounding ascent back to the top on skis.   The conditions were unlike anything we have experienced, and the sensation of going with the flow through light fully snow was unforgettable – and will be sought again!  With tired legs and big smiles we ended a great day safely back at the yurt where we started our day.

On our last day in Eden,  a major snowstorm blew in.   After struggling to find the parking lot at Powder Mountain we retreated to Eden and rented some XC skis.  The visibility at lower elevations was decent.  We skied for a few hours at South Fork Park just north of Eden on some un-groomed trails coated in fresh snow.  Just off the trail we saw a place to spend the night should we not be able to ski back to the car!  Had we known we need not have rented a condo (see photo below).

We will definitely return to Powder Mountain in Eden, UT.  The resort is quiet and considered a “local’s” mountain.  Many of our fellow skiers and riders were surprised were from “back East” and that we found the resort, it is supposed to be a secret.  Thankfully they were gracious enough to share!  The isn’t much to do in Eden aside from ski/board.  We did unwind at a local yoga studio a few times during the week.   If you travel to Eden to ride/ski take a good book, plan to cook in (there are a few bars/pubs) and expect to have some tired legs.

Here is the next installment of our Christmas story….

For a few days after Christmas we occupied ourselves with a mixture of indoor activities (mostly painting the spare bedroom) and outdoor adventures.  The indoor activities were not too photogenic, but you can view a few picture of the outdoor ‘games’ below.

First, we took our cross-country ski’s out on the Jackson Ski Touring trails that are very near our chalet.  The temperatures were mild and there was plenty of fresh snow to enjoy.

This is when (a) it started to snow heavily, and (b) we decided we needed the help of a plumber.  Have you ever tried to call a plumber the day after NewYear’s day, when it is -5F (-20C) outside, and a big snowstorm is starting to blow in?  Not surprisingly most of the plumbers that we called were not answering their phones, and those that did were already busy unfreezing other people’s pipes.  Eventually we found a local plumber who took pity on us (we had no water supply in the house at this point) and agreed to make a house call.  Did we mention that our chalet is at the top of a very steep (20% gradient) hill?  Not the sort of terrain that is easily navigated in a typical plumber’s white box-van.  To get to the point, we had to meet the plumber at the bottom of our hill and ferry the plumber and his tools up to the house in the snowstorm.  Thankfully, George (the plumber) was no stranger to snowstorms having lived in New Hampshire most of his adult life and he had a fantastic demeanor. A more friendly and helpful plumber does not exist anywhere in the world!  So…after a couple of house our plumbing nightmare was over and we had a brand new connection between the water main and the plumbing in our chalet.

After this home maintenance adventure we spent the last few days of our Christmas vacation on a few less challenging projects around the house, and trying to stay out of the extreme cold.  We had one more adventure calling a retired Scandinavian wood stove importer and his wife, and another plumbing problem with the washing machine but those are stories that we will save for another time…..

We decided to spend our Christmas vacation at our chalet in New Hampshire to tackle a few of the decorating projects and to get in some early season skiing and snow boarding.  It was a great break from work, despite the fact that we only achieved some of our lofty goals!  We will have to dedicate a few blog postings over the coming days to describing all of our activities while we were there.

The first challenge was fitting ourselves, a double bed, two weeks of supplies, a dog, and two cats into the car.  It took us a hour-and-a-half to pack everything in like a 3D jigsaw puzzle, with the cats balanced on top of everything else.  Fortunately we had upgraded to a bigger vehicle earlier in the year and we were just able to fit everything in.

Upon our arrival in New Hampshire on December 23rd we were greeted by a 1″ layer of ice on everything.  This necessitated a quick trip to the hardware store for some sand and ice-melt to make sure that we did not fall down unloading the car.  This took less than the time taken to pack, but only by a few minutes.  The cats survived their first ever road-trip in the US and we were able to get a good nights sleep before Christmas eve.

The first job on Christmas eve was to assemble the bed that we had previously purchased from IKEA.  This necessitated a trip to buy plywood for reinforcing and to buy beer and wine (also for reinforcing, but of a different kind).  We completed the assembly of the bed at 1 minute past midnight on Christmas eve and then went to bed.  The cats got a good nights sleep, but for us it was a little more cramped than ideal!

Christmas day emerged as a bright and sunny day.  We had a relaxing breakfast and set to unpacking our various gifts.  These were mostly very practical gifts like saucepans, mixing bowls, door mats, maps, and warm clothes.  To fit them all in the car they had each been creatively packed inside of each other like a very complicated Russian doll set.  Once that fun was over we went for a long walk with Kokee and tested out our new winter clothes.

Based on these first few days it looked like Christmas was going to be a lot of fun.  You will have to read our next few blog postings to see if our holiday continued to live up to its early promise!

It has become a tradition at HHR to review our Christmas cards as we take them down, and to pick out and share some of our favorites.  This year we received a healthy number of cards and the “judging” was not easy.  However, we were able to select three to share with you as we drank our cocktails before dinner this evening!  In no particular order they come from the Museum of Modern Art in New York, from a 1973 Oxfam campaign, and from the Lake District in the UK.  See if you can guess which is which!

1F. It hasn't been this cold for a while.

We spent the day on Black Mountain which is small local hill enjoying the recent snowfall under sunny skies. We had nearly a full day in spite of single digits and gusty winds. We warmed our fingers and toes afterwards at the Backcountry cafe.

The Christmas break has given us the opportunity to take advantage of the New England winter. This included our first trip of the season out on our split snowboards. Not surprisingly we were a little out of practice and we fell down many times! However, we had lots of fun and there were no broken bones or equipment. It can only get better from here….

Homemade gingerbread and vanilla ice cream are on the menu for dessert. What better way to celebrate a cold New Year's Eve than with a baked buttercup squash filled with chili?