We went for a walk today here in Arizona

Livin the dream

Nice pics AZ

Nice!! I really like the e 5th one in the list.   Really cool effect with the shadows and that perfectly drown ski line in the right of the frame.

Beauty, RA.  Thanks for sharing.   You guys are sure cautious, digging a snowpit on such a steep slope.. For sure that would slough off naturally..   Hehehe

Nice.  Yes, that 5th shot, and the last one, are gorgeous.

Being able to tour and see/do that kind of stuff is addicting.  I've been bitten.  Backcountry touring/skiing is a dangerous thing, and not just for the obvious issues of stability, weather and proper planning.  Once you've been bitten it becomes something of an obsession!

Thehof wrote

Livin the dream

Sure looks like it.  Given that he can be in shorts and in a pool the same day, its pretty cool... Not many places like that around....

Josh - how is the snow-pack? Looks like you are doing a stability test? Also, what touring set-up do you have?

R

JTG4eva! wrote

Nice.  Yes, that 5th shot, and the last one, are gorgeous.

Being able to tour and see/do that kind of stuff is addicting.  I've been bitten.  Backcountry touring/skiing is a dangerous thing, and not just for the obvious issues of stability, weather and proper planning.  Once you've been bitten it becomes something of an obsession!

It adds so much to the skiing experience. I love traveling around the alpine, observing and making decisions based on those observations.

It's one hell of a game!

This week is looking like it might get pretty good for us-
http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=35.33305256126513&lon=-111.67671203613281&site=fgz&unit=0&lg=en&FcstType=text#.WFrTx4VOuUc

Stay tuned, if I get any more photos I'll post em up in here.

Thanks everyone for the positive feedback! :D

Skiray wrote

Josh - how is the snow-pack? Looks like you are doing a stability test? Also, what touring set-up do you have?

R

The pack is thin, we are standing in one seriously loaded up bowl. There is very little faceted snow on the ground, some has developed from a tiny bit of October snow that hung out on the N-faces and around the trees and rock outcroppings but it's not enough to raise any flags for me.

There is some snow from our first storm and then the last one. This last one was interesting. We had rain on the front side up to 11.5k but it didn't hit the bowl we were digging the pit in. It looked like the snow got really wet during the peak of the high temps but there wasn't a substantial crust like on our skin up and out of the ski area. There was a few inches of more condensed slab about six inches below the storms last load but it was supportable for us skiing and the last few inches were light and fluffy. It's likely as the storm lifted the night time temps pulled a lot of the moisture out of the pack.

The travel was gnarly! Blue ice in places to unbreakable white shiny "snow". You basically can't travel without touring binding crampons. There are places where a a very real slide for life is possible. With it being thin those potential slides are riddled with stumps, rocks, and logs. No bueno!

Overall good fun!

Set up? Old Marker Dukes, not the heaviest ones though, I can't remember what they are called. Alpine boots, Technica something or another and some beat to snot old Atomic Blogs, 186 I think. I'm poor right now so new shiny gear is not an option. I have inner conflicts with going light (it would be very nice) or keeping things heavy for reliability and stability. When I'm done with school I imagine I'll be treating myself with some Dynafit gear.

Here is one from yesterday I snapped while skiing with my daughter.

raisingarizona wrote

http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=35.33305256126513&lon=-111.67671203613281&site=fgz&unit=0&lg=en&FcstType=text#.WFrTx4VOuUc

That's one hell of a forecast. Nice work bud!

raisingarizona wrote

Are those three humps in the center of the frame on the looker's left natural features or man-made?

Snowmaking whales.

Woo hoo!

It's going to rain some tonight all the way up to 12k but the rest of the week should make up for it. The Saturday event was just upgraded to be a possible 2 feet.

I'm getting stoked! Christmas morning might be super legit!

love all of it.

Things are starting to fill in nicely.


Here come the Christmas week snow players.


The snow today was super wet and heavy so I took three laps and then decided to build up this jib feature I've been eying up for a while. It's a step up lip built off a boulder with a downside landing on a much larger boulder. The kids will think it's fun. My camera decided to become really difficult in the cold so no picture of it, I'll try to get one tomorrow

Things are really shaping up right now.

Cody and the sea of clouds.


First ride up for the day.


Cody carving and some aspens.


The Upper Bowl is starting to fill in. The two obvious chutes in the middle are the Ship Rock Chutes. The one on the viewers right is probably my most favorite in-bounds line. I'll post up a vid of it too. I'm not sure why some photos load up sideways on here, it's not sideways on my phone. Sorry for the neck tweak, I can't figure it out.

Ship Rock Chute, 2009.

That is inbounds?  Lift serviced or hike to?  Seems like very little skier traffic. And, seems pretty damn sweet too!

Marcski wrote

That is inbounds?  Lift serviced or hike to?  Seems like very little skier traffic. And, seems pretty damn sweet too!

The Upper Bowl is a short hike from the chair but then it's a side stepping traverse to get to the Ship Rocks. When it's open it's really easy to get 5 or 6 laps out there.

When things are really on you can ride up the chair, get a Third Gully - South Side Lap (3800 vertical) down to the road, hitch back up to the area then get three laps in Upper Bowl/Ship Rocks and then still get a tour to Alison Clay (North front side) or a lap on Heck Yeah (Inner Basin side) and still get back to the bar by 4. :) that being said I was a few years younger the last time things were "really on."

When it's good the Arizona Snowbowl is one bad ass little mountain.