Snowbird–April 2012

A storm was rolling through town and we got an email from Brad that he was in town and asked if we wanted to ski Snowbird.

Anja met Brad earlier that year on a powder day when I went in for a lunch break but she kept skiing because she wasn’t tired.  They ended up on the lift together because they were both singles.

On the lift Brad and Anja had hit it off talking about the NIH research they each did.  They took two runs together and exchanged email.  At the end of the second run, Anja saw me and skied up.  Brad skied up introduced himself and then zoomed off into the singles line for more runs.

Well now it was April and Brad was back at the Bird for more powder.

Anja and Brad were skiing the blacks in Mineral Basin and I was on the blues doing laps in Mineral Basin.

We chatted about lots of stuff with Brad.  Including that our families were going to be visiting in the future.  Brad kept commenting since we don’t have space in the little basement we were renting while house shopping that when our family was in town we should all go stay at his ski condo.

It was a good day on the slopes.

Red Rocks-April 2012

After Bryce we headed down to Red Rocks and met up with some old California friends.

I headed to Calico Basin with Skater Dave to Red Ridding Hood Wall and climbed a bolted route called Big Bad Wolf.  3 pitches of 5.8.

It was a fun route and we were followed up by a new SLC friend Duke.

We had a group campsite which is a huge luxury to not fight for a first come first serve campsite.

Jenny, Ram, and Paul came out to meetup with us.

Camper show down between our van and Paul’s 2x4 90’s Tacoma.

The next day we headed to climb some limestone.  It as located in a strange location which is quickly being engulfed by Las Vegas suburban development.  Paul lead a climb at the crag which was way too hot.

We tried to climb more there but after two routes it was just too hot in the sun so we went to look for another crag in the shade.

We found an area called Gunshow.

Paul threw down and got on a hard short route.

After a few hangs he got it done with a real strong effort for Paul.

Meanwhile Anja and Jenny got another climb going.

This route was really sharp and overall I didn’t enjoy the climbing in the area very much.

Bryce Canyon–April 2012

I got sent down to Bryce Canyon area for work so Anja drove down in the van to enjoy the hotel room in the Bryce Canyon area and so we could head off to Red Rocks after I finished with my work. 

While in Bryce we went for a hike.

We connected up what I think was Cleopatra's Garden and Navajo Loop.

It was a nice hike down and then it levels off.

The trail then traverses below all the hoodoo formations.

It was a little late and the moon was rising.

We grabbed a nice picture from the rim as the sun was setting.

Great views down the canyon.  Later that night an old friend Diedra from San Luis Obispo met up with us and said hi.  Through the world of facebook I’d seen she was in Utah touring around and dropped her a message that we would be in Bryce so she matched up her trip to meetup with us.

Canyon on the Wasatch Front

Feeling more and more settled in Salt Lake in the spring of 2012 we started thinking lots about buying a house and started wondering where we should buy.  Many friends had recommend many areas or neighborhoods.  Sugarhouse is a neighborhood with a very urban/cosmopolitan feel where you can walk to stores.  Park City is only about 20 miles to the East up I-80 with easy access to ski resorts and mountain biking.  Others recommended close to the U of Utah on what is called the East Bench.  The East Bench runs down the Wasatch Front running a few houses up the hillside.  That said the East Bench runs behind the State Capitol to the University of Utah down to Draper.  It has great proximate to the many many canyons running up into the Wasatch.  From North to South some of the highlight canyons are: City Creek, Emigration, Parley’s, Neff’s, Big Cottonwood, Fergeson, Deaf Smith, Little Cottonwood, Bell, and Corner Canyons.

Because many of the houses North of Big Cottonwood Canyon are older and cost lots more money we had eliminated most houses north of Big Cottonwood Canyon.  Since most of our friends rarely if ever go south of Little Cottonwood Canyon we focused in our interest around and between those two canyons.

With this we realized we could buy a house within walking distance to one of these canyons; most of which have great rock climbs with in them.

Deaf Smith Canyon

Deaf Smith Canyon on the Southside above a neighborhood called Top of the World off Top of the World Blvd.

I had looked up directions of the web and we hiked up a shared driveway and what I presume is the County’s easement to monitor the stream runoff in the canyon.  As we hiked up a neighbor seemed to glare at us.

The canyon was interesting but the trail was bad.  We found a few climbs up in the canyon but nothing that was too impressive.

On the way down we cut out of the canyon early and hiked along the hillside to avoid weird neighbor and road past the houses.  While chatting with someone on the rock climber website mountainproject.com they claimed to me it was illegal to hike on what they said was a private drive.  While it probably is a private drive I have my questions if an easement would not exist.  Overall we felt this neighborhood just didn’t fit our personalities.

Fergeson Canyon

The next canyon we looked at was Fergeson Canyon which is on the Northside above a neighborhood called Top of the World off Prospector Dr.

Fergeson Canyon has some great granite and a cool feature called the Watchtower.  One of its big distinctions is it also allows dogs in the canyon.

Steep granite but doesn’t look well protected.

Overall it was a nice hike up the canyon and we enjoyed this area of Top of the World more.

Little Cottonwood Canyon

Little Cottonwood Canyon is where Snowbird and Alta Ski resorts are located.  It has lots of granite bouldering.

And tons of granite climbing and a mountain biking trail next to a creek.

We immediately loved this canyon and were really interested in living near the mouth of the canyon.

St George March 11, 2012

We headed for a weekend in St George.  It is an fast but easy 4 hours south on I-15.  Anja and I hopped in the Element with Victoria a random climber we had met I don’t know how.

We climbed at Black Rocks which is nice as it is South facing and black so it is one of the warmest places you can go.

The drag of black rocks is it is short.

Watching Victoria lead.

 

The next day we headed out and climbed at Prophesy Wall.  The Prophesy Wall is north of town and about 300 ft high.  We climbed a nice easy route and then headed over to an overhung 10c which Anja loved.

Bishop–February 2012

We got talked into a surprise trip to Bishop by Crystal for Paul’s birthday.  I agreed as long it was not storming in Nevada or Utah.  They were there to ski at Mammoth. 

Paul and Crystal were off skiing so we headed out to climb in Owen’s River Gorge.

Leading in the Gorge.

We rolled back into town and I was texting with Crystal and she told me where to find them so I pounded on the door like the police and Paul answered to great surprise to see us standing there.

It was a nice day and we headed out to do some bouldering at Happy Boulders.

Nice day in the sun.

As a change of pace for the trip we went out with Alex to rock hound.  We headed up on this little peak and pounded into the rock to break it away and find things.