Mike and Sarah: Winter Adventures

Winter is our favorite time to be outside. When the snowflakes start to fall, Mike sits distracted at the window for many a minute. Over the past few months, we've been able to camp and hike at some of our favorite spots and find some new ones. As usual, we remember our camera 50% of the time which is a shame considering all the beautiful things we see. Here's the recap of our recent winter escapades:

Last night, we went on a V-day cross country ski trip up Big Springs. Thanks to the holiday, this popular spot was nearly deserted. The snow was perfect the whole way up and the new powder on the branches of all the aspens was gorgeous. We skied for a few hours, almost making it all the way to Big Springs, but the trail became rather steep for skis. By the time night fell, I was quite cold and Mike went about setting up our (surprise!) "resturant" complete with a snow table, a tablecloth and a small votiv candle. We ate our fancy "exotic asian meal in the mountains" (Mike's quote from when we were planning the trip) of peanut chicken and a pink lemonade slushie, with a large Reese's peanut butter cup for dessert. The stars out in the sky were beautiful, but it was a bit hard to enjoy them all bundled up with our peripheral vision restricted by hats and hoods. Full stomachs made our bodies pretty cold, so we hurriedly packed up and enjoyed an easy, fall-free, slightly-downhill ski back to the car.

A month ago, we attempted Baldy again, and again made it 3/4 of the way up. We took a different route this time...through the trees rather than up the official trail. Needless to say, it was a bit rough and the machete was quite useful for bushwacking. Despite our early morning start (which was not quite as early as planned), we had to start sliding down the summit close to noon before the snow got to soft and unstable. And yet again, no camera in tow on Baldy. Stay posted for reminscing on last year's trip up Baldy.

And NOW for the pictures! (you can tell I had the camera, not by the level of skill, but the abundance of the same model)

In early January, we got a late-evening start up American Fork Canyon towards Silver Lake. About a mile up, we set up camp and got warm for the night. In the morning, the snow was glistening and we headed up to Silver Lake. I've driven the rather rough road in the summer, and it was the perfect width and slope for skiing. At the top, the shallow lake was frozen over and snowmobilers galore were criss-crossing the area, much to our entertainment. We saw "snow scooters", hybrid dirt bike-snowmobile...not the most stable of machines and a cross-country snowshoer who'd run up the whole trail. We ate lunch, cut an avalanche test, and enjoyed the speedy ski back down.

tough at night, cool in the afternoon

morning oatmeal

the snowy landscape

sweet snowdrifts

on the way up

at Silver Lake

avalanche test

On New Years Eve, we went snowshoeing and camping with Nelson and Julie (http://radmallfamily.blogspot.com/2009/01/winter.html). Once camp was set up, we had a mini-theater in for watching KungFu Panda in Nelson and Julie's tent and listened to the fireworks going off in the city. After disassembling camp in the morning, Mike and I headed up to the summit of Little Baldy. We saw (and smelled) a huge herd of elk, saw some awesome snow drifts, played with the ice axe Mike made last summer, and had a "gourmet" lunch of tuna and granola bars. We came down the mountain in the dark and slept very well that night! A fun way to welcome in the new year!

once at the campsite, it's straight from snow shoes to new down booties