Any thoughts on the color change?

Anybody?

Changed the background to black, whad'ya think? I'm not sure if it's too hard to read, but seemed like it was time for some change.

Huge front flip to crash - NAKED

Wolf killed just north of Missoula

A buddy of mine happens to be neighbors with this guy, where a wolf was shot recently. Pretty close to town really. The incident occurred April 29 about a mile northeast of the Wye intersection of Interstate 90 and Highway 93.

From the missoulian site:
A homeowner killed a wolf that was threatening his dog northwest of Missoula last week, and state officials confirmed a new pack has moved into the Evaro Hill area.

"The wolves were within 6 feet of the dog - they were real close," said Allen Lake, whose yellow Labrador Belle was chained to her doghouse about 10 yards from the family home. "She wasn't backing down. She's a great watchdog, but that wouldn't have been good."

April photos

Some fun images taken with my new Sigma 10-20mm



I survived my 5th branding, although it wasn't without soreness. We ended up doing 185 head, all Charlet. This number was down from the usual ~250 head. But this year with the mild winter and good feed, the calves were big. I asked the ranch manager what he thought the weights were on a few calves, the bigger ones were 300-320lbs! If it wasn't for the real cowboys that come over from Mountain Sky Guest Ranch we would have got absolutely worked over. They've got technique.

Spring storms in Western Montana

Did winter just start? Huh, kinda weird we are getting our biggest dumps of the "season" and it's May 1st. The Stuart Peak SNOTEL shows they got 27" of snow and 4.4" of SWE (snow water equivalent). Translation = a lot of heavy snow. Ideal conditions around here are 12" of snow = 1" of SWE. But we need the moisture and the snow for the rivers this summer, otherwise we may not be fishing or floating. The local snowpack was at about 50% average before this last storm.

We've had some great weather, shorts and flipflops. Lettuce, onions, peas, and broccoli were planted well over a month ago and seem to be doing well. I had my doubts when T was putting things in the grounds mid-March. They seem to be holding up well to the frosts we've had since then.

I've got a new lens and should be putting up some more images soon. I'm loving the Sigma 10-20mm.

Iceland volcano shots

Some mind blowingly great shots over here on the Boston Globe's Big Picture site. The scale of Eyjafjallajokull is unreal.

This link is also well worth visiting National Geographic's International Photography Contest 2009

Sledding in the sunshine

A buddy and I got to take advantage of one of the seemingly "every other day(s)" of sunshine (alternating stormy/sunny) we've been getting lately. With blue skies and unseasonably warm temps in the forecast we got a noonish start and headed for Lolo Pass. The lot was loaded with snowmobile trailers, everyone seemed to be thinking the same thing....lets drink some beer and sled.

We brought all of our ski gear with the thought of finding some north facing stash of pow. But when the parking break came on and we looked at all the gear in the bed of the pickup. This is what we did without much hesitation:









We rode about 40 miles, exploring a few roads that neither had been on, looking for some ski possibilities next year. This one should have about 3 more feet on it next year and be rippable.



The snow was rated "hero" and we rallied pretty much wherever we wanted. Well, maybe not anywhere, but anywhere our skills and retro sleds would take us. Capped off the ride up to the Lolo Warming Hut and had few Double Haul's in the sun and called'er a day.

Western Montana avalanche deaths

As has been the case most of this winter, the snowpack in Montana continues to be a problem. There is a lot of variability of the snowpack structure and the surface hoar layer we've been dealing with all winter is still there. It looks like this weather pattern might keep adding some big loads to it, be careful.

Two young men have lost their lives this week to avalanches in Western Montana. These are terrible losses to the community, not to mention their families.

Glacier releases details on avalanche that killed backcountry snowboarder Wright

Video from the GNP avalanche site - http://www.greatfallstribune.com/assets/wmv/G115496842.WMV

Idaho snowmobiler dies in avalanche in mountains west of Superior

From the Missoula Avalanche center avy report: "The accident at Missoula Lake happened Saturday on a sunny day prior to the current storm cycle and involved the buried surface hoar layer we have been describing for several weeks. Lookout and Lolo Pass SNOTEL sites recorded about an inch to an 1.5 inches of SWE respectively and just a few inches of new snow. The weight of the water is what we are concerned about. As far as the area around Hoodoo, which is about 6 miles south of the accident site, 3.7 inches of SWE is HUGE."

Looking uphill from the debris field. Person in the center of the shot is standing where the snowmobile was found. TJ was found about 70 feet uphill from the sled against a small group of trees.

View of the crown. It is possible the fracture initiated from the small group of trees next to the snowmobile track at the top of the path. This is a 35 degree slope overall, steeper at the ridgeline.

Flying over avalanches

This guy is not right in the head. None the less, here's some crazy ass footage of Antoine Montant, flying over a huge avalanche on the North face of Aiguille du Midi in Chamonix. Watch the first bit and you'll see the slope starting to fracture, happens a few more times on the way down. Makes me wonder how he felt confident that no one was underneath this slope?

And to watch a guy that is not so rad, click here

Speed Riding - Antoine Montant - Can't Stop

Pillow line creativity

The creator of this great little video might be onto something here. Seeing how I haven't skied one single pillow line this year, I may have to start resorting to lines like this. I can't imagine how much time it would have taken to put this stop motion scenery together.

Pillow Line from Kari Medig on Vimeo.

A little snow too late?

Finally snowed yesterday, dropping up to 8" in the higher elevations. The snow in the valley was gone in minutes once the storm let up. Hoping that we get a few more of these before SB shuts down for the season. Snowbowl is reporting 62" on top and 28" on the bottom (5" from this storm)

Here's a few other links on the generally mediocreness of this season

Backcountry focus - http://backcountryfocus.wordpress.com/2010/03/09/march-9-2010-snowstorm/

Ravalli Republic - Irrigation problems - http://www.ravallirepublic.com/articles/2010/03/10/news/news22.txt

And Idaho as of 3/21/10 is sitting at 50-60% of snow pack, ouch!
ftp://ftp.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/data/water/wcs/gis/maps/id_swepctnormal_update.pdf

Conflict of the seasons

Last Saturday proved to be too nice and a few of us took advantage of it. We ambled slow, very slowly down the Bitterroot. Crazy there was not a patch of snow or a piece of ice on the entire 5 hour float. But thats what you get when its 55 degrees in March. Not quite as warm as this 2008 trip

What season is it? Snapped these before leaving Missoula

Gelande Quaffing World Championships 2010

More over here on The Ski Journal

First day on skis

Words cannot describe the sight of our two little girls in ski gear. We headed up to Snowbowl 2 weeks ago and introduced them a sport they might grow to love one day (if I have anything to do with it). Both were all smiles after a few runs on the ropetow hill. Note: Bribing with candy does work.

Any other tips on getting wee ones to enjoy themselves on the hill?

First day on skis from O.P.I. on Vimeo.

Crappy winter so far

As many skier across the West are fighting depression and frustration, apparently in Italy they are having a great winter. The weather in Missoula has been quite dismal lately and well most of the winter. We got one nice storm last week, with about 18" falling that week. Snowbowl skied very well on Tuesday, a great day of storm riding. We lapped the bowls as quick as we could, then rushed back down to town to pick up the kids from daycare.

Right now at Snowbowl, they are reporting 55" on top and 21" at the base. The coral reef is officially set up on the south faces. The base overall is solid and not going anywhere unless we have a drastic warm spell. Coverage is decent as well. So if we can just the storm track come this way, we might forget this terrible dryspell that has been interspersed with lots of grey inverted days.

Here's some snow that brought a smile to my face.