Oh, come now...

At what point do we as a society start chilling out about this?

Step into the White Room

The snowless stretch has finally ended.  We've had a high pressure, cloudless system sitting on us for weeks and it finally broke this weekend and continues today and tomorrow.  Time to hike up for some fresh turns.  Clayton, Josh and I headed up just north of Silverton to hit the Chatanooga run area.  We were not disappointed.

Clayton skinning up the fresh:

Highway 550 a long way down as we continue the skin:

Josh and I pluggin' away at the climb.  The skin up isn't bad and unlike some spots, gives you a lot of vertical to gobble up.

The top!  The winding 550 leading up to Red Mountain Pass in the background...

Suck views.

The rest are just various action shots.  Lots of fluffy wuffy spray and deep turns...

Here's a really short video of Clayton I caught up top....

Chatanooga from Matt McFee on Vimeo.

My Date with Pugsley

I've been very interested in the Surly Pugsley for quite some time, but frankly, it's not the kind of bike that's just laying around to borrow or demo.  Fortunately, my new buddy Clayton has one and offered to lend it out anytime I wanted, so I jumped on the offer

Let me start by saying that my conditions were nearly perfect in that I was on a very hard-packed XC Ski track and it was 46 degrees out.  I mention the temp only because I can imagine the experience being a little rougher in 15 degree weather, but at the end of the day that's a clothing issue.  

Anyway, I loved it.  It was so damn cool to be cruising around on the snow next to Vallecito Lake.  Riding on the super hard-packed surface was a breeze, but I did manage to veer off into some less than ideal snow here and there.  Which leads me to my next thought: the singlespeed config on this bike was nice today, but I don't think riding out of the saddle in soft snow would be fun.  A 2x9 would be excellent on this and more than enough.  I also like the idea of a rear rack to act as a Camelbak...keep the back from sweating.  Maybe even a frame bag too.

Here she is parked for a glamor shot:

Clayton is originally from Alaska.  he bought this Pugsley when frames were available in (yuck) purple, so he had immediately painted and outfitted in an Alaska theme:

Katri came driving in to XC ski and took a couple shots of me posin' and toolin'....

I really really feel like I NEED one of these things.  Is it OK to say NEED?

Hut Trip - Photo Dumpage

We took our annual hut trip to the Mt. Belle Hut off Red Mountain Pass (between Ouray and Silverton) this past weekend for Katri's 34th birthday.  Incredible time, awesome skiing (and boarding) and great company....what else is there to say?  Photoggery below....out of order.

The video at the bottom is some kids I caught on camera our last day.  I can safely say those days are behind me...if I ever really possessed them to begin with...

Mt Belle Hut 09 - Cornice Huck from Matt McFee on Vimeo.

Trails 2000 Auction

The Trails 2000 annual auction was on Tuesday night.  I always look forward to this event as it's really nice to see so many like-minded trail supporters together celebrating and giving.  This is THE big fundraiser for the year, and without it, I wouldn't have beer and pizza after trail work days!  Here are some of the gals helping with the guest packages and such beforehand:

I was on setup crew with maybe 4 or 5 others.  One of the auction items was a kayak and lessons I think.  Here we are hoisting the boat up for display during the auction:

Mary Monroe is the executive director of Trails 2000 and a very good friend to Katri and me.  It's an amazing event she puts on each year.  Here she is handing out a gift to Board Member, Shawn C.:

My big news of the night (this was my second round of congrats actually) was some more shwag for 2008 Trail Volunteer of the Year.  I put in 85 hours of volunteer work in 2008 and avenged my 2007 loss where I missed 1st place by 1.5 hours!!!  Back in October I received a Dakine Trailbuilder's Pack and some other good stuff.  At the auction I received a sweet belt buckle, a personalized "star" bike badge, a SPOT Receiver....

.....and holy shit: a gift certificate from Fox for any 2009 fork on the list!!!  Consider me waaaaay stoked:

I think I'll have to opt for the 120mm F29 and go all "Office Space copier scene" on my constantly exploding Manipoo Minute 29 120mm.  

My 2009 goal: 90+ hours of Trails 2000 volunteer time.

The Winter Groove

Minnehaha from Matt McFee on Vimeo.

I can safely say that I've found my winter groove. The above is Katri, Josh and me hitting the backcountry of Minnehaha (sp?) Basin. Some excellent powder stash.

Tonight we did a full moon skate ski at Vallecito. Really cool stuff turning the light off and just kinda speeding along by moonlight.

Freshies

OK, so it wasn't like I was snorkeling or anything, but we hit the north facing slopes of Deer Creek in the backcountry yesterday amidst a fresh snowfall of maybe 4" or 5".  We skinned up the 1300' or so to reach the ridge, before dropping twice into the Deer Creek drainage at about 750' per run.  Not too far off from a 3000' day.  Not bad for my first real day out there.

It's pretty amazing how strenuous skinning is...especially with a heavy splitboard vs skis.  My legs are like sandbags today.

Hopefully that was enough training for next week's target: a climb and board of Sultan Mountain:

I've had The Sultan on my list for a while now, but no willing partners.  I've recently hooked up with a new buddy who also likes such a challenge, so it's on.  Route planning this week and hopefully a Saturday climb.  Can't wait!!