Double Crown Weekend - White and Red

2 days in the sun, 2 ways to play.  One day in white, the other in red.  Packing the truck with skis and mountain bike is always a special feeling....the anticipation for adventure can be overwhelming...best to let it wash over you and try to remember, 2 ways, 2 days....White and Red.

Day 1:  Beard Canyon Traverse with North Cleaver Group as the objective.......

Day 2:  Sedona......

Mike and Rhonda's at 6am for Biscuits and Gravy, Potatos and Eggs.....plenty of left overs to make a lunch burrito as we pack it all away.............

Split's new Splitboard....all nice and shiny...........

The warm glow on the horizon gives way to a dry approach....this mild winter is forcing us higher and farther in search of protected powder on sheltered north aspects.....

We make quick work of the dry approach, stashing shoes and trading them in for boots and skins.  As we move up into lower Beard Canyon, we move from the shadows.....

....and turn a corner into the light of the face of Beard and the summit of Humphreys.

Looking back from where we came, we are slowed at the lower choke on Beard; a frozen waterfall coated in spindrift.

After 5 minutes of clearing loose spindrift from rock, a bit of dry tooling and other creative use of my whippet, I top out on the crux and pledge to buy a second whippet.  Here, Split is thinking the same thing........

With a little help from an anchor above, we continue on.

Cresting at the Beard Headwall, we observed the Beard choke to be nothing more than a three-tiered cliff-band in this low snow year.  We continued climbing to the southwest up a steep apron filled with mature timber.  Upon toping out, I made a few turns on firm whipped cream snow, then slashing a traverse over to the south to join Split on the Cleaver ridge to scout Cleaver South.  View looking east to the painted desert.

A Medusa like tree caught my attention, as Split poked around in the south facing corn.......

Views to the south show a bony Fremont on the horizon, and the couloirs of Core Ridge North filled in to varying degrees.......indirect observation tells me these are all wind hammered and would be survival skiing at best.

Making a decision to turn back to the north in search of protected wind-blown, we manage to find some cream cheese in spots, interspersed with chalky wind slab.....

The runout to the vehicle was uneventful, finishing up in the fading light of sunset....our trip of 10.5hrs in search of powder was not in vain...but all agreed that until more snow falls....the allure of better stoke down south would be time better spent......and this dude abides......

Meeting up in Sedona on a windy Sunday morning; Dara, JMoney and myself went for a 3.5hr ride.  Any ride I have with JMoney is usually an exercise in hanging onto his rear wheel.  This day, he'd get a taste of his own medicine with Dara leading the tour.  Few pics were taken since I spent most of the ride managing my HRmax....but lunch afforded a break.....

.....as did a switchback that demanded a session or two.....

.....the second time was the charm.

Bulldog Canyon

Despite the horrible filth in the air these days, leaving my waking lungs feeling like a used up catalytic converter, I had to get outside.....bluebird skies and 75 beckoned me into the desert.  Keeping it short today was important since I'm ramping up right now for future rides....so Bulldog Canyon became the route.

Spinning out at a tour pace with a tortilla, chocolate bar and a live show of Widespread Panic in my ears; I had to stop and snap a pano of 4-Peaks from the Mine-Twisted Sister intersection on Hawes.  I never tire of looking at this range....soon I'll be riding around them. 

Spinning and turning, gliding and banking....the music was in tune to the ride at a level that I often seek, but rarely find.  A song transition stopped me just as I saw a giant looming against Smurf blue skies.

After completing the transition between Wild Horse and Bulldog Canyon....a lackluster spin up a sandy wash.....I turned into the canyon and stopped to eat my tortilla and chocolate bar for lunch.  Peering up the canyon walls, I always expect to see Jawa's and Sand People ready to strip my ride of all precious metals....so I continued on......

.....but not before shooting a pic of my freshly shorn face....I miss the beard, but I credit the clean look with generating a third interview with a certain company I hopefully will start working for.

Topping out on the rocky climb up Bulldog Canyon, I snapped another pano; this time of the Superstitions.  At this point, I had planned to test out a new route minimizing the hardball back home...but a severely sprained thumb (generated in two falls on the Bulldog climb) enticed me back the easy way...giving me a clean 40 miles on the day.

A day in the life

The minutia encompassing a snow day goes unnoticed in all but a few accounts.  Things unworthy of mention get 86'd to the cutting room floor found deep within our long-term memory.  Yet when the enterprise as a whole is considered, the details that we choose not to recount form the majority of the trip.  Somehow, we choose to only remember the ski shot that left smiles on our faces....a shot that lasted for mere minutes compared to the 4 hour approach.  Granted, those falling turns on a steep powdery slope make us return again and feed our REM-cycles with dream material; it's the details that get us there and back that matter the most.

Time spent packing and repacking gear is well spent....knowing where to find it in your pack efficiently without creating your very own yard-sale on a snowy pitch.....priceless time utilized as part of the plan.

The anticipation of breakfast being cooked by friends.............

............the smell of slab ham on the cast iron..............

..............the greasy sheen on the beans in the grinder.....all common before a tour.

The passing of shadows on snow..........

..........the striations of sastrugi in my path are all visions I see on the way to protected pitches of powder.

The science of snow stability and examination.........

............the testing and exchange of thoughts, all a part of the day.

The relief of feet freed from bondage and the gasps of all who see them....just a day in the life of a powder whore.

Faces of South Mountain

It was just another Weekly Tech ride on National Trail out at SoMo with friends. With new camera in hand and a good 8 days off the bike, I was looking to just ride along and view the action through the new glass. What I found was mixed light filtered through winter smog, warm glow on  rocks, and lots of emotion.

With an impending interview, the beard is disappearing.  I'm serving up Pork Chops for one week only; Monday will see me sporting the Telly Savalas along with a suit....hope I get the job....that was a good beard to keep me warm on snowy days.

Musing on the Bermuda Triangle, body and bike were thrown upon the vortex; emotion and physiological response the sole survivors:

Anticipation.................

Trepidation..........................

Concentration...........................

Relief....for saving the boys on a high center scenario

Inhalation............................

Exhalation..............................

O-Face.............................

Single-Speed Determination...........................

Psych-Up...............................

Extension...............................

Stall............................

Standover-Save.............................

D'Oh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Moving on into the long shadows of afternoon, we escaped the Bermuda Triangle and climbed into more feelings:

Pinching.......................................

Laughing..................................

Cranking.....................................

Stopping to view the valley below, I caught a better glimpse of a smog free window to the east on this warm winter afternoon......

Taxiing.................................

Rolling.................................

Launching....................................

Landing................................

Moving on to the Waterfall, alternate lines were studied by all, and attempted by one.......

......while others set up for the shot of flow.......

Studying

Examining

The Sequence from Start to Finish:

Heading back down into the glow of sun; the valley below along with boulders and saguaro took on a warm glow, warming our backs as we flowed through emotions just experienced.