ice falls and frozen rivers and certain illegal ridgelines above the house.

Since the last post I've embarked on acouple of adventures. Adventure 1 was an expedition of the ice climbing variety. The adventure started when we donned mountaineering boots and packs full of ropes and climbing essentials. We post holed through the snow down to river level and what we found was a sketchy little ice bridge, where a fall through the ice would result in certain death. The ice wasn't thick, but it was thick enough and somehow we made it across. We made the approach to the base of the ice fall and my friend took off further up the mountain to set anchors. We spent an enjoyable afternoon climbing the face of this waterfall and when it was time to leave I put my total and complete trust in some old webbing and a rotten tree root and lowered myself over the lip of the falls to begin my decent. We made it down and back to river level and had another safe river crossing, no bad things happend and it was a super cool experience.

Now the other day I couldnt take anymore. I geared up in my water wear and went for a paddle down the creek. I've paddled this creek before, but never with ice bridges and ice sieves and a bunch of blind constrictions that could mean disaster. My first portage through the willows avoided a head height razor sharp ice constriction. The second though was a bit scary. A gunbarrel section with deep water and a nasty ice sieve and swift moving current. I was able to grab a tree branch, cut some steps in the ice bank, and somehow made it out of the river and around the strainer. The third portage was an ice jam that I portaged around, but I think I might have been able to hand portage over top of the ice. I took out at the house and had a nice adventure.

Later that day the roomate and put on our best camoflauge attire and hiked up to a certain ridge above the house. This particular ridge is offlimits to all human activity during the winter. We stealthily set the bootpack going up and had a nice hike and were able to get some fresh pow turns for the whole town to see and still ski down to the back door of the house. We had a beautiful sunset at the summit, and still plently of light to see going down, and we had a great time and didnt get caught. Now that its snowing again, you wont be able to see our tracks....so maybe we'll just have to do it again. Or maybe you don't even know what I'm talking about.

I have constructed a terrain park in the yard and this new snow will help it out greatly. But so far it has given me hours of entertainment.

Hockey is still good, still winless, but were going to turn that around any day now.

Work is good, and everything is going great. Until next time...

Merry Christmas to all

everything is good. the sickness is gone, hockey is good and our friend Sam came over to visit the other day. The Yetis have still not won a game just yet, but we are getting closer for sure. They froze a new rink here in town, so that is pretty sweet. Its been like 45 degrees though, and it is begining to take on swimming pool status.

We skied up at the pass [Teton] the other day. Got a ride to the top, skied down into Idaho, got a ride up the top again, and skied back down to the car waiting for us at the bottom of the Wyoming side. The snow wasn't epic by any means, but most of it was un tracked, and as we all know, there isn't a whole lot that can compare to fresh turns in the pow.

Happy Holidays.

summer already?

I think winter is just about here...temps didnt get above 0 for like a week and a half, the creek was frozen over and it was just damn cold. well the creek unfroze a few days back and since then we have had nonstop snow flurrys. the total accumulation has prolly been around a foot or so. It's been windy as all hell so some spots have only an inch or so, while others have waist high drifts. I've been sick all weekend, I'll spare you the details, but I finnally feel like the worst is over. I missed my game last night due to the sickness. Word on the street is we got our butts kicked again. The Yetis are about to go on a winning streak though, I can feel it. I havnt done a whole lot other than work lately. Not really any outside activities just due to weather and work. working on some winter activites though- i'll keep you posted.

turkeys yams, and nothing but blue skys

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. I started the day off with a paddle down flat creek through town and taking out at the house. After 5 minutes of being in the river there was ice all over my dry top. It was a nice float with snow all around. A bit on the chilly side though. We had some folks over to dinner and had a very enjoyable Thanksgiving day, due to work constraints the following morning, I was in bed by 10pm. But it was a great time with some good friends and we havent eaten anything except thanksgiving since.

Hockey tonite! Maybe acouple laps on the Greys river tommarow?

hello...are you there?, yeah, I'm right here, are you here too?

is anyone still out there? if you are, you might be curious as to the happenings around jackson. well, shortly after my last post, about a week as I recall, after sleeping in an ice cave on wheels, litterally waking up to frozen condensation on all the windows around I moved into a palace on the hill. Were talking the backyard is a mountain, the creek runs in the front, and an award winning view off in the distance towards idaho. The creek is big enough to fish in, even kayak,-with a few class II manmade diversions through town. A private drive complete with a wooden bridge and a steep hill up to the house. 10, 12% grade? it has been skateboarded as well as snowskated and provides entertainment no matter the weather. a big garage doubles as a tuning room and one day to be indoor skate facility. We skied over on Togowotee pass the other day. Nothing crazy sick, but we made some nice turns. I have been playing a fair bit of hockey, managing to snag a spot on one of the rec league teams. The Yetis' are currently 0-2 but next sunday we are comming back with a fighting fury not to be matched by those who stand in our way. other than all that, we spent a few days getting firewood and working and just keepin on keepin on. its almost winter time out here. snow and ice on the roads and in the hills and any day now it'll be here. Driving around with all my possessions in my home is alot more comforting than driving through town with them in the back and my boat on the roof. And I have grown quite acustomed to hot water showers. Oh I forgot to mention, I have been experimenting with myself pretending to be a baker, and the results are begining to show improvement. We are having a couple folks over for thanksgiving so that should be a nice time. *do not consider this an invitation* **If in fact there is even anyone reading all this long winded nonsense. ** Rex your invited. Bring ski's.