Westward Ho: Back in Utah

After a long journey, I finally rolled into the Alta Peruvian Lodge on Friday night. I was wired, tired, and stinky from two days of mountain biking in Moab. My car was dirty, running poorly, and the new home of a stowaway mouse.I'm not sure how or where he got in, but he quickly made himself at home in my glovebox with a nice bed of seat-stuffing. The mouse has so far eluded two peanut-butter rigged mousetraps and made a daring escape from a bag of bagels just as I picked up the bag. As it stands right now, I'm not sure what to do about the mouse, but I feel he's proven himself worthy of living in the car until I figure out a way to get him out.

From Utah 08-09

the car north of moab, with mouse aboard.

From Utah 08-09

From Utah 08-09

From Utah 08-09

As for mountain biking, my buddy Kyle and I rode some great stuff in the Moab area. The first day was on the Slickrock trail, generally regarded as the most famous mountain bike trail in the world. The trail consists mostly of riding on sculpted domes of sandstone on a mesa with views of Moab, Arches National Park, and the La Sal Mountains. Overall the riding isn't spectacular, but it's definitely very aesthetic and a real icon of mountain biking.

From Utah 08-09

Kyle with the La Sal mountains in the distance

From Utah 08-09

Riding down one of the sandstone domes


Our second day was at the Sovereign Singletrack, which is a really well built trail network that travels on several rocky ridges in the sandy desert north of Moab. There are lots of technical climbs, scary downhills, and awesome lines through streambeds and between boulders. Definitely top-notch.

From Utah 08-09

Kyle motoring down one of the ridges at Sovereign

From Utah 08-09

My mountain biking style in full effect


On the snow front, Alta received some 46 inches of snow two days before I got here. Yesterday I hiked to the top of the Wildcat lift to ski Westward Ho. I had visions of sailing through the powder, arcing beatiful, perfectly executed turns (I practiced in my head all summer) but I ended up falling a lot and generally beating it up. But regardless of that, I'm still pumped up to ski this season. Most of my friends from last year are already here, and we're all ready to get after it. This year I'm going to start skiing some of the massive backcountry opportunities to be had straight out my door. Since I'll be working in the ski shop this year, I can get really good discounts on the gear I'll need (20% off wholesale!?!) so that should make things that much easier.