Afternoon Delight...

The other day I was sitting in my apartment on my day off, and decided that instead of letting my afternoon waste away in boredom, I would go for a hike. I honestly haven't had the time to do much hiking this season aside from the high school butte, which I hiked a couple of times in the fall. There's a small peak that you can see from my apartment balcony that I had been wanting to hike for quite some time, so I figured this would be the opportune moment.

View of the mountain from about half a mile away.

After picking my destination and looking up as much as I could about it online, I packed up my gear and headed for a small drive at the base which I spotted with the help of google earth and advice from a friend.

I decided it was best to be prepared...fuel, two forms of GPS, and even my knife just incase I needed to kill a deer...or bear.

Laura had to go to a dinner, so I did this hike alone. It turned out to me mmmuuuccchhhhh harder than I thought it would be...probably in part because I hiked straight up it instead of routing a switchback. I had to hike though deep snow and very steep inclines, and found myself dodging animal droppings literally every couple of feet. At first I really tried to dodge the piles, then I realized they gave me better traction in the steeps than the loose dirt and gravel did so I used them to my advantage haha.

View from about 5-10 minutes into the hike, the small butte infront of the large range in the background is the high shool butte, which is right next to my apartment.

The sun went completely behind the clouds for a bit, which resulted in a very dramatic sky.

You can kind of tell from this picture that it was pretty steep.

The poop that turned out to be both a good and bad thing.

It was surprisingly a lot easier to kind through the sections of snow because I was able to get a much better footing.

Almost there!

Cool tree near the summit.

When I got to the top the view was pretty amazing. I definitely felt a sense of accomplishment, and feel like this may have been the hardest hike I have ever done in my life. I have decided recently that I wanted to really get into hiking, and this experience makes me want to hike even more!

The summit marker, once again you can see the high school butte in the background.

Panoramic shot of the view from the top. (Click for larger view)

I conquered.

On the way down, I did my first glissade down one of the snowy sections, which is basically a controlled slide. It definitely would have been sweeter if I had an ice axe...so look for that in the future :P

It was definitely nice to take advantage of the area and finally get in a good hike. I'm really hoping that this weekend I can find the time to combine hiking and skiing, and finally get out to Mt. Glory and ski the bowl!

Almost over, but not yet...

Well, I sure haven't blogged in a long time. I guess its hard to write about something when all you are doing is skiing and working, which I can definitely attest is not a bad thing at all. The past month has been filled with a combination of skiing, recovering, working, and learning new things. I have done pretty well learning how to snowboard, and feel like I can finally say that I'm pretty good at it. On our days off Laura and I have finally gotten to explore a lot of the mountain that we'd been wanting to mark off of our lists for a long time.

Backcountry Pow :D

Ask Laura, sometimes hiking to get that powder is wwweeelllllll worth it.

Lift off.

In the midst of all the fun, friends, and powder...somewhere deep in the back of our minds...we are realizing that our time here is starting to running out. We know that in just a couple weeks the mountain will close and we will be on our way back home. I will save most of my reflections on this whole adventure for another post, but I think leaving here will be a very bittersweet experience. Part of my heart will always be in Jackson Hole, but I miss my family and what I used to call home.

Hey what time is it? Ski time.

Our last group of friends just left Jackson Hole today...we had a great week of skiing and enjoying the life around town. The first day they were here we had an awesome time in the backcountry powder, and this St. Patty's Day will be one that I will never forget.

Just before our friends came, one of the JH Ski Patrollers died in a backcountry chute just outside the JH gates. She was a very experienced skier, and took a bad fall hitting her head on a rock. Our friends and I skied a chute called 'Space Walk' which we later found out was where the patroller had died a few days earlier. This was kind of spooky, but we were all safe and made it our just fine.

The group in the BC.

Strappin' up and getting ready to go.

This is a shot of the Space Walk chute from the bottom looking up, pretty steep and has a narrow pinch.

Laura and Brandon, you can see Space Walk cutting through the cliff band in the background.

Salome in his infamous suit.

For St. Patty's day, we went to the Snake River Bew Pub, home of the very famous local snake river brews. I think everyone else in JH went there too, because it was PACKED...and with good reason. They had a live Irish band, huge steins, live bag pipers walking around playing tunes, and even an irish jig dance off! Usually I don't really do anything for St. Patty's day, so I will never forget this one, thats for sure.

Not sure how they were able to simultaneously play and navigate their way through the crowd.

Green and crowded.

Luckily some of the lift ops people got there early, and snagged us a table...Group Pic!!

Now that everyone is gone, it's weird knowing that nobody else will be coming to visit...we have had so many people come to see us, and saying 'see you in a couple weeks' to our friends as they are heading home to Kentucky almost feels like a lie.

Laura and I are planning on leaving Jackson Hole on April 7th, although nothing is set in stone. So we have about two weeks left to really enjoy this place before heading home...the good news is...snow is in the forecast!