Tag Archives: Billy

Mountain Biking Day #7

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Day From Hell

Just woke up following one of the hardest days of my life. Yesterday, Mike, Bill, Gold, Hobbes, and I attempted to complete the Bald Mountain Loop. We started from my house, headed up the trail, through the new development, and up Switchback Trail. After blazing a trail through the woods, we connected with the forest road leading up the Microwave Towers at the top of Parley’s Summit. We eventually reached the towers just an hour and a half from when we started, having gained 1,000 feet of vertical over 3 miles.

The next part of the ride took us along the Great Western Trail, the trail stretching from Canada to Mexico used by both the Mormons and the Donner Party (one can only wonder what the U.S. would look like today if the Donner Party made it, while the Mormons ate themselves…).

View of Parley’s and Immigration Canyons.

We accidentally followed the wrong path for a bit, resulting in an additional half-mile of riding, but also some good pictures from the mountains dividing Park City and Salt Lake.

We then followed the Great Western Trail over Bald Mountain and some other hills on our way to Big Mountain Pass. This part of the ride was 7.6 miles, with over 2,000 feet of climbing. We reached Big Mountain Pass around 6:45, five hours and 10+ miles from when we started. Bill was experiencing cramping, Gold was tired (mainly due to four hours of non-stop bitching), Mike and I were exhausted, and Hobbes, the only one of us with water, was done for the day.

Gold at the top of Bald Mtn. A long way from Jeremy Ranch

After unsuccessfully attempting to arrange a ride back to the house, Mike and I decided to ride home and get the car. Little Immigration Trail was too muddy to ride, so we wound up riding down U-65 for 5.3 miles of downhill on paved roads, followed by 6 more miles of East Canyon Road. Just two miles from home Bill (who had hitched a ride back to the house) showed up with the car.

In all I rode 22 miles and Mike 24. 6 1/2 hours total. I’m never doing it again.

Update: I created a new album with pics from Bald Mountain Loop. Check them out on my Photobucket page.

Ski Day #54 / Mountain Biking Day #3

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Today might be one of my all-time favorites. And it all started, as most good things do, with a Sunrise Bagel from Park City Bread and Bagel. After attending Mogul’s obedience class (extreme!), I made my way to Snowbird for a little Memorial Day weekend skiing.

Ski Day #54

I was a little hesitant to ski today following yesterday’s white-out. But by the time I left the tunnel connecting Peruvian to Mineral Basin, the weather had cleared. The snow was still in pretty good shape. It’s amazing to see how much snow is still around. The conditions are better now that at any point during the 2006-2007 season.

I skied by myself for the first five runs of the day, most of them on White Diamond in Mineral Basin. Eventually, I ran into my Conrad under the Mineral Basin Lift. He was skiing with a posse of Flippy Spinny Kids. We made a few laps, jumping rocks, wind lips, cat tracks, and a couple cliffs. Check out the video of Conrad’s three off the wind lip:

Conrad’s 360 from fatbearfehr on Vimeo.

Mountain Biking Day #3

After a great day on the hill, Mike, Bill, Chris Gold, and I headed over to the Trailside Skills Park. We were a lot more successful today, not having to deal with the rain and mud. Chris Gold had a great crash on one of the trial features. He went over the bars at the highest point, crashing head first into some bushes and rocks below.

I got the courage up to jump some small cliff-like features. Nothing to write home about, but then again I haven’t really biked much since I got my driver’s license. Check out the video of me jumping the black diamond-rated section:

My First Mountain Bike Jump from fatbearfehr on Vimeo.

Ski Day #53

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I officially skied powder today at Snowbird. Not bad for May 23rd. The snow was actually somewhat deep and reasonably light in some spots. Today’s biggest obstacle was the near white-out conditions all over the mountain. I wasn’t 100 yards from the tunnel before I tumbled down a (previously uncovered) 5 foot cliff. My skis aren’t it in too bad of shape.

We got some good early runs in on White Diamond before that part of Mineral Basin was closed due to avalanche danger. I uploaded some videos of Bill and me skiing Silver Supper. Good snow (especially for May 23rd), zero visibility. Today can be best compared to skiing Whistler in March. And today was May 23rd… in case I forgot to mention that.

Check out the video of me skiing in Mineral Basin (We actually got sun for a couple clips, but the shutter failed to completely open. Cool effect. Bad video).
Me In May White-Out from fatbearfehr on Vimeo.