I’d never refuse a trip to the Utah Wasatch — even if they are a bit sparse on snow. Drove to Alta today from Colorado. My wife Lisa and I are here to blog the coming Powder Keg skimo race. Plan is to snowcat ski and test BD skis tomorrow as a “rest” day, then do the race Saturday (rec class). They’ve got some kind of athletic endeavor planned for us the next day (Sunday), but I have a feeling we’ll have to duck out of that for the hot tub.
You never know though, if I pound two or three of the Honey Stinger protein bars I got in my blogger’s goody bag, perhaps by Sunday I’ll be running across the street from here and doing a few laps in Cardiff, at night, with the BD Icon headlamp which incidentally was also in my goody bag, and I’ll measure my amazing vertical with the Brunton altimeter that was hidden under the headlamp, and deodorize my socks with the Quick Fresh odor eliminator I found deep down in the pile. Yeah, socks…. I forgot all my socks so an extra pair is beaucoup handy (Thorlo, of course), as is the Quick Fresh since sock recycling is now the name of the game.
Turns out we’re hanging out with an interesting and fun group, among them are Leslie Ross of Babes in the Backcountry (ski technique tips for Lisa?), Peter Kray from Ski Press (writing tips for Lou?), prolific freelancer Kevin Fedarko (more writing tips?) and none other than Randosteve himself!
Steve was on the U.S. randonnee ski mountaineering racing team last year. This year he’s doing a ton of ski alpinism in the Tetons and blogging prodigiously — we’re figuring Steve is our media team coach. Maybe he’ll trade a few speed tips for blog tricks? But from the looks of things at his website Rando Stevie really doesn’t need any blog enlightenment — so perhaps we’ll have to get that insider race info some other way. Everyone leaves their boots in the hallway here at the lodge, so perhaps we can “borrow” one of his boots and blackmail him for a few snips of Randobewan wisdom.
We’re staying at the historic (or at least classic) Peruvian lodge. What a place. This is ski lodging like it should be. Bathrooms down the hall, tiny room packed with two people’s gear (and mountain of swag, after all, this be a press trip!), dining room where people join strangers and are immediately friends because they ski. Anyone not from Utah care to name the mountain pictured above, that we can see by pressing our faces to the room window?
Rando Steve between turns. He muttered the words “time for payback?” when I snapped this shot, so I suspect I’ll be dodging his camera all day tomorrow.
WildSnow.com publisher emeritus and founder Lou (Louis Dawson) has a 50+ years career in climbing, backcountry skiing and ski mountaineering. He was the first person in history to ski down all 54 Colorado 14,000-foot peaks, has authored numerous books about about backcountry skiing, and has skied from the summit of Denali in Alaska, North America’s highest mountain.
