Kelly Canyon Ski Resort, Ririe, ID

Kelly Canyon Ski Resort, Ririe, ID (Feb. 15, 2016)

Kelly Canyon Ski Resort, OK maybe resort is a little bit of an exaggeration... Its a 4 lift hill and 2 of the lifts were broken, but its close to home and relatively cheap. The two big draws to this location are one: proximity to town. Its like a 30 minute drive from Idaho Falls. And two: night skiing. They light the whole hill up at night and you can cruise the slopes until 9pm if you like.

So, I'm pretty much a newbie to downhill ski's. Don't laugh to hard if I look terrible in the video, its like the 3rd or 4th time I've ever been downhill skiing with a multi year gap between tries. I love teli-skiing (free the heel and the soul will follow!) but my kids are into downhill skiing and I like a new challenge so here I am giving it a go! I'll tell you what though, it's completely backwards! On teli-ski's you drive your downhill ski forward into a turn. On downhill ski's your uphill ski ends up forward on your turns. My brain did not want to accept this concept for the first couple of runs and face planting ensued. 

Porter and Tyler on top of the hill.

On the note of video's... I have discovered that uploading a video to the blog is a pain! I am not particularly computer savvy so that may have something to do with it but the only way that I seem to be able to get the video link to actually play is if I download it to YouTube first then attach the YouTube link. Initially I had attached several different small video's to this post but I couldn't get any of them to play so I consolidated everything into one and made the YouTube video above.  

Normally I'm bootin' up the hill or skinning up but today it was nice to ride the lift!

Porter and Tyler joined me for the day. Both of them have done  quite a bit more downhill skiing then me so naturally their suggestion is to go down the iciest steepest hill for our first run of day. Gotta love brothers... Needless to say they laughed and I crashed over and over and over.

I, however, was not the only one, as the video above is proof that both Porter and Tyler ate it! That they were bored with my slow decent and decided to try spinning circles all the way down the hill is besides the point. The circle spinning resulted in the only crashes I witnessed the two of them make. Now, in all fairness I suppose I must point out a small detail... Porter was down from his home visiting and against my recommendation he didn't bring his own ski's. Well, as it turns out the only pair of ski's that were available for use were an old pair of women's rentals that we picked up at a thrift store and a pair of size 12 boots (Porter is like a size 8). So, Tyler and I were making jabs at his way out of proportion feet all day! He rolled with it and skied pretty decently even with the handicap.

The local area had a warming spell for the week and it was a balmy 37°F for most of the day. Consequently, my three layer mountaineering outfit was a little toasty and I had to strip some layers off after two or three runs. This may have been exasperated by the excessive quantity of crashing...

A little snack before we hit the slopes again.

Nothing like junk food to make it a successful day. If you haven't noticed from my other posts food is kind of a big deal to me. I truly enjoy getting some delicious grub before after or during outdoor adventures! This pit stop came just in time too, I had worked a night shift before meeting my brothers to go skiing so at this point in the day I think I had been awake for something like 30 hours and my energy level was waning just a little. Normally, concession food is such a rip off and you end up hungry afterwards because the portions suck but I actually thought this was a pretty decent deal. It was something like $6 for a chili dog combo.

So, we spent a good chunk of the day looking for jumps that Porter could talk Tyler into hitting. Porter skied up to me at one point and said, "I just like watching him crash, he can't help but try every jump. He's like a bug with a bug zapper, if we ski past a jump he will try to jump it!" and that was pretty much true. At one point we had cut over to the halfpipe on the hill and Tyler was in jumping heaven! Normally, Porter and I would have enjoyed watching some epic crashes but Tyler brought his A game and stayed upright for most of the day. 

Porter doing some Warren Miller jumps!

Porter, loves to push the limits. I think he was a little disappointed with the tiny jump in the video. I'll totally make fun of how weak it was but really inside I was thinking to myself, I totally would have face planted!

To make up for the "tiny" jump on the ski hill Porter decided to try one last jump. We found this neat spot with about a 7 foot drop into powder. Maybe its a little shy of Warren Miller status but we had a great time.

Me, Porter, and Tyler after a great day hanging out and skiing.

Thanks to Porter and Tyler I had always enjoy getting out with you guys! Skiing, junk food, being outside with family, doesn't get much better!

-Adventure on!

Trail Creek Pond, Victor, ID

Trail Creek Pond, Victor, ID (Feb. 13 2016)

Porter (my brother), Hunter, and Alice inspecting a new hole.

When my brother Porter is in town conversation and activity has a tendency to rapidly move in the direction of a line and reel. It could be dipping flies on the South Fork in the summer, flipping a spinner on a backcountry creek in the fall, or drowning worms on the frigid ice in the winter. Somehow or someway we always end up chasing fish when he is around. 

On this particular visit it was decided that we would give an old favorite a try for some rainbow trout. Trail Creek Pond is a fun little family fishing spot. In the summer its an excellent location to take the kids outside for a picnic and an opportunity to catch some rainbows! In the winter the pond freezes leaving about 6-8 feet of water and a whole bunch of hungry trout under the ice.

Alice trying to decide how to walk in all her layers!

It's always interesting trying to brave snow and cold with little ones but Erin and I have never liked the idea of just calling it quits on activities because we have kids. So, I find that I'm always looking for some way to make outdoor activities easier and more comfortable for the wee ones. Hunter is old enough now (8) that he can pretty much take care of himself or at least let me know when he has a problem. Scarlett and especially Alice are still young enough that they don't understand the importance of staying dry and how to layer to stay more. Scarlett still gives me silly looks when she says, "My fingers are cold." and I tell her to put her beanie on and zip up her jacket. "Dad my hands are cold not my head!”

Tyler (my other brother) with the first catch.

Part of the problem with outdoor activities and kids is that gear gets expensive!!! and kids grow so fast that it is physically painful to drop $140 on a Gortex jacket that your kid is only going to fit into for about 4 months. Consequently, I have become a huge fan of thrift store or second hand shops. You wouldn't believe some of the cool stuff people drop off at thrift stores. I have found name brand stuff like Patagonia, North Face, and Marmot. The kids all have pretty nice three layer systems (base layer, fleece insulating layer, and Gortex outer layer). The nice part is that I'm probably only invested about $50-$60 into each kid. 

Hunter, Teal, and Alice hamming it up on the ice.

Alice is still so tiny that after I stuff her into long johns, fleece, Gortex, gloves, a beanie, and pack boots she can hardly move! But she is a trooper! She was pretty content to waddle around each fishing hole and peak down to see if she could spot any fish. Normally, I have a jacket on her that is a little smaller but I decided to put her into this REI brand jacket that doesn't fit Scarlett anymore. The arms are still so long that her hands don't stick out the ends. As it turns out I think this is an excellent idea for toddlers. Normally, Alice tries to escape her gloves and hat as quit as I put them on put with her hands stuck inside her jacket she couldn't get her gloves and hat off!

The fishing wasn't great on this particular trip, it happens sometimes, but we had an epic snowball fight and the kids enjoyed themselves, which makes it a win!

-Adventure on!

Teton Pass, Wilson, WY

Teton Pass, Wilson, WY (Feb. 4, 2016)

     So, Teton Pass is probably in my top 5 favorite places to go skiing. Growing up, my brothers, my dad, and I would ski Teton Pass 10-15 times a season. Wikipedia gives the following description of Teton Pass: Teton Pass is a high mountain pass in the western United States, located at the southern end of the Teton Range of western Wyoming, between the towns of Wilson, Wyoming and Victor, Idaho. The pass provides access from the Jackson Hole valley to the Teton Valley of eastern Idaho, which includes the access route to Grand Targhee Resort through Driggs, Idaho. To the south of the pass, lies the Snake River Range.

Looking back up the hill at the pass.

     Wyoming Highway 22 crosses the pass and becomes Idaho State Highway 33 at the Idaho border, which continues northwest to Victor, then north to Driggs. The pinnacle of the pass is 8,431 feet (2,570 m) above sea level and is approximately 11 miles (18 km) west of Jackson. The maximum grade on the road is 10% and several avalanche slide paths traverse the road along its length, including Glory Bowl slide area. During the winter months, the road is often closed in the early mornings for avalanche control by the Wyoming Department of Transportation. The area is popular for backcountry skiing, snowboarding, and mountain biking.

Cutting through the pines.

     The pass is a few miles south of Grand Teton National Park. Parts of the route to the pass are located in the Caribou-Targhee National Forest and the Bridger-Teton National Forest. Wilson, a small town, sits at the base of the east side of the pass. Teton Village and the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort ski area are northeast of the pass.

Awesome powder!

     So, as Wikipedia says Teton Pass is popular with backcountry skiers. This is why, its free, you can drive all the way up to 8,431 feet (so that mean less booting up the hill), and you have access to some of the best powder in the country. We use to park at the top of the pass and either pick a route down the hill right from the parking lot or boot up different parts of the surrounding mountains to get to more remote slopes.

Selfie while gliding down the old pass road.

     On this particular trip my dad and I got dropped off at the top by Erin, my wife, and we decided to just take a quick route down the hill right from the parking lot. Neither of us are expert downhill or telemark skiers so we aren't going down any double black diamond Warren Miller type routes! Imagine a intermediate slope at a ski resort covered in 4 feet of awesome powder, then double the length of a typical ski hill and thats about what we did at the pass. After you finish the main part of the run you meet the old Teton Pass road and get about a two mile long bunny hill style slope that winds its way through a pine and aspen tree forest to a trail head and parking lot at the bottom of the hill. Its a fun way to kill 1 1/2 to 3 hours.

All problems can be fixed with duck tape!

     I've kind of been out of the skiing game for a few years and haven't had a chance to practice cutting tele turns so I was pretty pleased to slice a handful of nice turns out of the hill without face planting! Unfortunately, about 3/4 of the way down the hill my old rusted cable binding snapped, resulting in an impressive face plant, and I was stuck with one ski that I couldn't attach to my boot. I tried to duck tape my boot onto the broken binding and while it was not awesome it was just enough to get me down to the parking lot!

     Even with a broken binding I still had a great time. This is a beautiful place to go be outside and I have a lot of great memories skiing here. I would totally recommend this area to anyone who wants to cut a few turns and enjoy the wilderness. And after your done your only a few miles away from Jackson Hole and and a delicious lunch at Merry Piglets!

-Adventure on!