PCMR is Getting Ready for the 2017/2018 Season

PCMR has already been making snow. Seeing the temperatures in the forecast they do have some reasons to expect it's not all a wasted effort. The pictures below are taken just below the old angle station so at just about 8,000’ or so (click to enlarge):

Skadi LOVES the snow - even the fake kind...

Dashing through the snow...

Loki & Skadi duking it out.

The snow may be fake but the ambiance is grand!

Snow in the Cottonwoods

Was up on my weekly hike to Jupiter this morning in lower grade stormy weather. Got a peek into Big & Little Cottonwood and the snow is still clinging on to some North and North-East facing slopes. The dogs and I actually got snowed on. It was only flurries but it sure sets the right ambiance.

It is confirmed that Loki is still addicted to trouble. Last time it was a solid gash on his left upper leg, this time it involved a porcupine (see the last picture below).

Here are the pictures (click to enlarge):

In the center Mt Wolverine BCC, in the distance to the left Sugarloaf LCC.

What snow flurries over Park City look like from 10,000 feet.

What Loki looks like after a close encounter with a porcupine...

Mobile Powder Response Unit

Saw this ambulance repurposed as an RV the other day in Park City. Far and away the coolest snowmobile I’ve ever seen! This guy is winning at life. The back and side say, "Mobile Powder Response Unit". Furthermore, the back has an all capitalized “SNOWEMERGENCY”. The front seems to have a SNOWEMERGENCY in reverse just like the ambulance have an "AMBULANCE" in reverse for the benefit of your rear-view mirror. 

If you, the owner of this awesome vehicle, read this, identify yourself, take credit, and tell us about the inside of the vehicle and your travels! (I greyed out you plates to protect what's left of your privacy...)

Here are the pictures (click to enlarge):

Here is the response unit in all its glory. Seemingly in its summer
config with a mountain bike on top (this picture I found on the Net).

The same vehicle from the back. This is the picture I took from my car
last Thursday on the I80 at the Park City (Kimball Junction) exit.

2nd Ski of the Season

Yesterday it was back to the Timpanogos “glacier” (click here for the last post on this). Several people, seeing my skis on my back on the way down, asked if I had skied the “glacier” so I guess that terminology survives the realities on the ground. At 20 degrees, it was pretty cold when I started at the trailhead at 7am.

Within about 30 min of the start, we got charged by a huge and possessed moose. The hero of the day was Loki (Australian cattle dog) that knew exactly what to do to get that thing off of Skadi’s and my back. This was a cow with her calf and eventually, Loki got them to escape down the valley. I am eternally grateful because, for a while there, I could feel this moose’s breath…

This was animal day and we got to see mountain goat too. They, however, didn’t charge us. Later Skadi had an afternoon snack (see picture below) on a goat.

The skiing was less exciting than a powder day but more fun than church… As seems to always be the case for me at the Timpanogos snowfield, the skiing is average but the experience is semi-epic!

Here are the pictures (click to enlarge):

One of the day's goats. There were quite a
few of them but this one was closest.

Loki on top - Skadi just below.

Nice ice falls add to the wintry feel.

My gear and the dogs at the shelter.

The snowfield held a little less fresh snow than
 two weeks ago but is still looking pretty darn good.

It was cold enough to make it, at least in parts, feel like a glacier.

The higher part of the snowfield.
The saddle is at about 11,300'

On the lower field, you can see my up-track (trampled by the dogs). 

Skadi keeping watch over my skis.

Skadi having her afternoon snack...