Photography

This season has been spent riding powder... lots and lots of powder... I am not complaining in the least but I have missed hitting jumps. Last week we met with Blake Nyman and Tony Pavlantos to chuck ourselves of a few different mounds of snow.

Blake and Tony are always killing it, but me? Not so much. Jumping isn't like riding a bike at all for me. I kept losing where I was in the air and just getting my butt kicked. Luckily, J. Eichhorst, a talented local photographer and graphic designer captured a few photos that made my flying falls look good. Check out his stuff here.

This jump was pretty funny, Blake and Tony dropped first and were having issues carrying speed across the flat. I thought, "I will just take an easy drop and test it out." I dropped ten feet lower than Blake and must have turned on some type of booster rocket. I came around for a 540 and looked down to see I was still a long way from landing... and was already passed Blake and Tony's landings. I put down the landing gear but was already in "OH CRAP" mode. I was sore for a few days.

This one was about a month ago in the Brighton backcountry.

Black and Tan

Black and Tan is a little crag just outside of St. George, Utah. The climbing club scheduled a trip for last weekend that was rained out. Luckily my lovely girlfriend and her sister, Meera, waited for me to go down with them on the re-scheduled trip this past weekend.

We left late Friday night after I got off of work and made the drive down to Silver Reef where we pulled off and found a little dirt pull out to spend the night. It was Meera's first time sleeping out under the stars and it was a perfect night for it.

It was a perfect morning. We woke up to blue skies and then headed to Bear Paw Cafe, one of my favorite breakfast spots in the world. Then it was off to Black and Tan. The day was full of fun climbing and good company. Being in the club is an interesting thing for me, I tend to avoid anything organized if I can get away with it when I am outside. I like the freedom of not having anyone telling me where to go or what to do. But the climbing club has been a pretty fun experience. I am looking forward to the rest of the year.

Neena and Meera

Perfectly clear....

Silver Reef

A Bear Paw Breakfast

Me.... Sleeping.

Getting to the crag.

Neena and Meera on the sharp end. They have both been leading climbs.

Neena climbing.

My babe girlfriend made us an awesome lunch. She is great.

Such a cool place.



Meera high on the Wall.

The three of us were the last ones there.

Such a good sunset.

Dawn. Not too early though... A morning in photos.

Scouting Everest Ridge

Our next weather window we are going for Everest Ridge. Parker, Tanner and I took our weather window and used it to scout the approach. I really just wanted to go for it but Tanner didn't have his crampons and ice axe so we couldn't do it safely.

It took us just shy of three hours to get to baldy saddle, roughly 3,000 vertical feet above the valley floor. The more I am around that mountain the more I love it. It was such a beautiful day, I wish we could have pushed for the summit... but that calls for a 1 a.m. start this time of year. Hopefully this week.

Where have I been? Cutting things in half

I now understand why a friend of mine charges $150 bucks to turn a snowboard into a splitboard.... It was fun having a project for a while, but I am glad these boards are done and ready to be ridden. I look forward to the fun times I hopefully get to enjoy with the people these boards are for.

It all started when I snapped mine and fell in a river. I offered to cut some boards for some friends because I would be making my new one. Four boards, hours of oldies music in the garage, epoxy covered fingers, and here they are. From Left to right; Nate Love, Glen Harris, Torah and Jacob Welch. All awesome people. I did my best. The one up top is mine, my buddy Jeremy Jolley hooked me up with a Rosignol Experience 163. I am pretty stoked to get this thing up some big hills.

Podcast

302 Inconsistency - Wasatch Mountain Podcast from Parker Alec Cross on Vimeo.

Here is the latest episode.

Here in the zone

Justin Olsen, a local photographer and friend called saying he had a zone he wanted to scout. Parker and I buddied up on an old snowmobile that ran like a champ. We charged up to the zone where we pulled on our splitboards and walked up the ridge.

This zone was it, there were lines stacked one on top of the other all the way around. I will be back sometime in the future with a tent where I will stay for days.

This is the chute we named "knuckle-dragger" We rode it and found it had surprisingly decent snow. That is until we got out on the apron, then it was crap. Absolute crap.