Monday, January 31, 2011

Wedding Photo Video

I have been meaning to post this for a long time.  This is a video that our photographer put together for us.  This version is pretty lo resolution.  If you would like something higher quality you can download it from here (click me).  Enjoy!

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Video Clip from the Other Weekend

The other weekend when we were up on Baker we saw some lines coming off of Goat mountain.  Turns out it was these guys.  What a ride!


Monday, January 24, 2011

Two Days in a row in the mountains!

Saturday  (all pictures here)

Saturday was the first field trip for my back country ski class.  Ross and I were up at 5am (ughhh) and on the road by 5:30 with coffee in hand.  We met up with the whole class up at the Stevens Pass parking lot about 8:00 and after breaking into groups we headed out.  The day started really cloudy and snowy so I did not have high hopes but the group was great and we were on the snow so I was psyched.  Well about 30 minutes out of the parking lot the sky cleared and soon the sun was shining.  It turned into an amazing blue-bird day!


Our group consisted mainly of splitboarders which was pretty cool.  We spent most of the day going over basics and exploring the back country.  It was not anything with amazing runs or huge vertical drops but it was a good tour and gave me a great base knowledge of the area so I would feel comfortable getting back out with with one or two other people and getting some good turns in.

We met some great people and I am really looking forward to the next trip we have scheduled the first weekend of February up at Baker.  I will have my fingers and toes crossed that the weather cooperates.

Sunday

Sunday we met up with the recently expanded couples hiking group of Mike, Katy, Dan, Laura, Natalie, and myself for a little snowshoe exploratory mission.  I have been reading a bit about people skiing and snowshoeing in the commonwealth basin just past Snoqualmie Pass and thought it would be a fun trip for everyone to wander around a bit.  We arrived to a very full parking lot and had a great hike up the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail).  We did not get any real views because it was pretty foggy but it was great getting together with everyone.  We all caught up and got some exercise.  What more could you want?  We ended up hiking about 6 miles which was about perfect.  After the snowshoe we all loaded up and headed for Snoqualmie Brewery to gorge ourselves on beer and pizza.  Always one of the best parts of the trip.  Thanks guys it was a great time!!

Monday, January 10, 2011

Amazing Weekend in Mt Baker Back Country

All the pics here

Well my neighbor Ross and I have been taking an AIARE Level 1 Avalanche Training Course for the last few months and this weekend was the final round of training.  Up until now everything has been in the classroom but this weekend we headed up to Mt Baker to see the terrain first hand.

Saturday we stayed pretty close in to the parking lot and did work searching for beacons of "buried victims" to help us learn how to use our avalanche beacons and feel confident that we could find and dig someone out if we had to.  I hope I never have to use those skills but it sure is nice to have them.  So Saturday was spent digging pits to observe snow layers and playing hid and go seek with buried beacons.  It was pretty chilly since we were not moving too much but a great day to be outside.  

Saturday after spending the day in the field we went back to the cabin and met as a group to plan our travel plan for the next day.  We chose to head up to the artist point area which I have been to before and is the place I tried to take Natalie a few weeks ago.

Working our way up
Sunday we woke up at 6:00am to clear skies and cold temps.  The whole day ended up being blue skies and cold.  Perfect!!  We left the parking lot at 9:00am and returned at 4:00pm.  The day flew buy.  We moved around a bunch, made a lot of observations about the snow conditions and even got in a few amazing powder turns.

The pictures say it all I think.  Beautiful weekend and I can't wait to get out again.  Hopefully the weekend will be nice so a group of us can get out into the snow again.