February

Finally, January has come to a close!  I'm sure we all saw the meme...

We spent the first days of February up in Banff, chasing a snowstorm that brought a load of new snow to both Banff Sunshine Village Ski Resort and Lake Louise Ski Resort, both of which are within easy reach of the town of Banff.  We lucked out and had a Friday pow day at Sunshine Village, and despite poor visibility, we managed to find some great tree runs and leftovers on the periphery of some popular runs.  It is so crazy to hear people complain about powder making skiing more difficult.  I literally won't roll out of bed for anything less than 6" of new snow, haha.  There are a couple of reasons I have become more discriminating with my snow tastes.  One, powder is more fun.  Two, it doesn't hurt my right knee.  I tore my ACL, medial and lateral menisci when I was 17 years old (and then my left when I was 30 for good measure), and it has given me trouble ever since, worsening of course as I have aged and put it through more abuse. The amount of compression and impact it can take is definitely limited, so I have adapted by becoming a powder snob!  One reason fly fishing has been such a blessing is that when there isn't fresh snow, there's probably somewhere to go fishing that harbors good conditions.

While in Banff, we were able to check off an experience that's been on my bucket list for a long time- methane bubbles trapped under a frozen lake!  The most famous location is Abraham Lake, about 150 km up the Icefields Parkway, but you can also see them at Lake Minnewanka, an easy 15 minute drive from downtown.  I have seen so many epic photos of the ice bubbles, and while I snapped some photos of my own, they were barely pedestrian, but it doesn't matter.  I really just wanted to see them and document that experience.  It is such a crazy feeling to walk across such a large body of water, frozen solid.

Watching the northern lights forecast, we were in good position for a show Thursday night, so we returned to Lake Minnewanka around 9pm to start the search.  While watching the numbers and calculations, our probability dwindled rapidly, and nonetheless, a bevy of clouds rolled in, obscuring our northern view.  Normally, I would have been bummed, but those same clouds gave us that pow day at Sunshine.  Even Stevens.

For those unfamiliar, there is a term in ski culture, and that term is Jerry.  Basically, a Jerry refers to someone who skis or snowboards and exhibits complete and utter ignorance.  Make no mistake, calling a beginner a Jerry is an oversimplification of the term and not at all accurate.  We've all been beginners, not all beginners turn into a Jerry.  Common traits of a Jerry include: zinc oxide on an overcast day, $2000 skis when you can barely walk in the $750 boots.  Latest and greatest and most expensive gear- more expensive than pro skiers/snowboarders who huck off 75 foot cliffs use.  White pants.  Using a Go Pro on the cat track.  Bragging about conquering a black diamond run (no one cares, and we saw you pizza the whole way down).  Stopping in the middle of a run to talk.  Acting entitled including being rude to lift staff, wait staff, and ski resort staff in general.  Now that you understand what a Jerry is, let me tell you, Lake Louise on a clear Saturday after 10" of new snow is an absolute Jerryfest.  It is literally a scene of people who want to be seen, and it is hilarious.  The mountain is amazing, the terrain is challenging, and the snow was wind effected by steep and deep.  We got there early enough to get on one of the first 10 chairs or so, had 3 good pow runs before it was absolutely tracked and trashed.  Since our tickets were free, we packed it in and headed back to the spa at our hotel.  After a nap, we headed into downtown for one of our favorite ramen restaurants and beavertails.

After a great day riding Sunshine Village (but no sunshine to speak of, so no summit pics)

On one of the first few chairs for a bluebird pow day at Lake Louise

Waiting for those ropes to drop at Lake Louise (too cold up top for other or decent photos)

This lady Jerry stretched for about 30 minutes, but by then, all the pow was gone :(

Lake Minnewanka at night

And by day... frozen bubbles underneath the snow and ice 

Initially, we had planned to resume our Powder Highway trip by continuing to Kicking Horse and Revelstoke, but as quickly as the snow turned on, it turned off even faster.  Knowing we have until mid April, we decided to bag it and watch for storms for a return trip.

Once we got home, we both decided we had enough chasing for a while and vowed to stay put for a while.  That lasted about 3 days as the forecast showed a huge storm moving toward the PNW.
We got about 8" of lowland snow and took advantage of the snow levels and hit some waterfalls in Olympic National Forest for some photography and solitude.

A snowy Hurricane Ridge

All white everything!

Having been in the Western WA area for other snowstorms of some magnitude, it did not sound appealing at all, and after phase 1 hit, we decided to head south to Bend, OR where there would be lots of snow but a better equipped populous and more prepared city.  We ended up with two superb days of riding (one at Hood and one at Bachelor) with a day of brewery sampling in between.

10" of snow from 5 am until noon, and no people.  A great day at Timberline Lodge Ski Area

Excellent tree riding at Mt Bachelor... do you see Shaun in the back of this photo?

Okay now we're ready to stay put for a bit!  We had been itching to get out and tour at Rainier since December, but thanks to the government shutdown and terrible avalanche conditions, we had yet to visit one of our favorite places.  Luckily, we were able to get out for some exercise and powder turns.
We were expecting sunny skies that never made an appearance, but we weren't wholly disappointed.

It's always nice when we don't have to break trail... 

but still have fresh lines!

Cold snow is the best snow

Another storm rolled through and brought a fair amount of snow to White Pass midweek allowing us to take advantage of the empty slopes and take run after run of fresh powder- finding fresh lines well into the afternoon.  That's one thing I love about getting to know an area- we know where to look long after other people have packed it in or moved on to skiing groomers.  We even got to meet up with our friend, Frelan for the afternoon.  Those days are my favorite days- probably 150 people on the whole mountain, good snow with some sun breaks, and just a relaxing, fulfilling day on the hill.

Finding fresh lines at White Pass, well into the afternoon, but if anyone asks, it's terrible there and they shouldn't go at all.

Shaun dropping into a short steep

Popping off little pillows into deep powder

Floating through the snow

We've been snowboarding and traveling with this guy for 9 years now

While winter fishing isn't at the top of most peoples' list, it is a great time to get out on the river- fewer people but still plenty of fish and scenery.  Fishing among bald eagles, bighorn sheep, and mule deer is hard to beat.  We have fished the Yakima River a lot over the years, often going to the same spots where we know fish hold, but this day, we decided after being skunked at one of our favorite spots, that we would be a bit more adventurous.  We down climbed a steep, snowy bank- a definite no fall zone- to reach a section of slow, deep water.  During cold temps, fish seek these areas where the food floats by slowly and they have to expend little energy to feed and can just hang and wait.  It is a common misconception that fish do not feed as actively in the winter.  They do feed, they just do it differently.  Think of it as work smarter, not harder.  Over the course of the summer, we came up with a "Pig Award", honoring which of us catches the largest fish (Pig is a term used to describe a sizable fish).  Shaun had been on quite a run, winning the Pig Award several straight outings, but this day belonged to me!  A fat rainbow took a liking to a coffee/black Rubber Legs and ripped it from the current.  After a battle that saw the fish make several runs, we were able to net it and admire its size and beauty.  It splashed me in the face as I set it free.  Touché.

Cold river days are not as tough to endure with this kind of scenery

River femur!

The first fish of the day 

Fishing the slow, deep water

Taking advantage of hungry trout

Chasing snow can get a little mentally tiring- the will it, won’t it, where to go game- and sometimes you just wanna go photograph some waterfalls. We decided to head down toward Scotts Mills, Oregon to photograph a few falls that had been on my list for a while (yes, I have a loooong list, a book actually). Well, we weren’t chasing the snow, but it was apparently chasing us, as we had to turn around from not one, but two objectives due to excessive snow making the forest roads impassible. Soooo, we did what we do- we went to a brewery to lick our wounds and regroup while catching up with an old friend from St Joe’s who has relocated to Salem. We decided to bite the bullet and just go to Silver Falls early the next morning because we knew it was open and accessible. I had been there before but had missed a couple of waterfalls and had never seen it in the snow, so we rose early on Tuesday and started hiking right at 8 am when the park opened. To our shock, we were the only ones there and ended up having the Rim Trail to ourselves for nearly three hours, and even then, we saw three people (and one dog on a non-friendly dog trail- ugh). It had snowed several inches the night before, and while cold in the morning (22 degrees when we set out hiking), the sun emerged and warmed the temp considerably though we were deep in a canyon and couldn’t feel much change. The winds would rustle up now and then, causing snow to blow from the tree limbs, creating a snow globe feel as the sun broke through the old growth trees. It was winter forest magic for sure!

We negotiated this hazard, but there were too many others awaiting us to continue our drive

There has been no shortage of winter waterfalls this month 

If you can brave the icy trails, the solitude and scenery are quite the treat

The sun created magical lighting conditions mid morning

The moss was nicely illuminated by the morning sun

For the last two days of February, which felt like it passed in a flash compared to eternal January, we decided to head up to the Olympic Peninsula in the van for some steelhead fishing and hiking.  Words can’t aptly describe how excited I was to get back into the van for a couple of days. Even though we’ve been able to come and go as we please since being back in WA, I never feel as free as when we are in that big white beast.  Despite running through a coastal rainforest, the Hoh River was extremely low as the only significant precipitation in days came in the form of snow, much of which still lingered, none of which did any good for river flows or fish activity.  Low water levels combined with bluebird sunny days were not the recipe for conventionally successful fishing, but the scenery more than made up for the subpar fishing.  In addition to flow anomalies, there was also the issue of the cold- it reached the low 20's to upper teens during the night, which really tested the van's insulation.  Luckily, we have plenty of blankets and a propane heater that allows us to remain comfortable at night.  We ended up waiting for the temps to warm up and fished later in the evening as we were pessimistic, at best, at our prospects of landing fish.  During the mornings we headed to the beach or along the trails spotting elk.  Spending the last days of February van camping in a sunny, frigid, dry rainforest turned out to be a perfect way to close out the shortest month of our journey.  

Felt great, albeit cold, to be back in the van some 

Hundreds of elk along the Hoh River 

Sunny days in the rainforest 

Mornings were frigid, afternoons were t-shirt weather

The Pacific

Short beach walk just after high tide started receding

Heading to the river 

Waiting for Shaun to put together his bamboo rod (it has to be taped together)

It's hard to believe March is our last full month here and that we'll be back on the road starting April 1st.  Some people have asked what we are planning for April.  Well, the first two weeks we'll be on the road, probably somewhere warmer and sunnier so we can get some hiking/training in because April 15th, we leave for Chile, Argentina, and Peru until May 20th!  We found unbelievable deals on airfare and will be able to stay on budget with the generous exchange rates and reasonable prices in S America.  More details to come in the March installment, but we are so excited to get back down to Patagonia as well as do some exploring in areas we have yet to visit.  Until next time, thanks for the support, friends!

Back in the PNW... for now

December was a blur and fairly uneventful as we set about resettling into our short term rental apartment in Gig Harbor.  After being on the road for five months, we decided it would be nice to have a home base for our winter activities, primarily snowboarding and fishing.  We were fortunate to have found a fully furnished, affordable apartment in Gig Harbor which will allow us to stay in the PNW until the end of March.  When we rolled into town, after an adventurous drive through snowy Idaho (insider tip: Idaho does nothing to their roads when it snows, nothing, and the people don't drive any slower when the roads are caked in snow than when they aren't) that included Shaun getting a touch of food poisoning and throwing up about every 20 minutes for nearly the duration of the trip, we were thankful to just be able to move in without having to go to the storage unit just yet.  The day after we arrived, the changes in weather had wreaked havoc on my sinuses, and I had come down with a terrible cold/sinus infection that put me flat on my back, though propped, for about four days.  After we were both eventually well enough, it was a trip to the storage unit for a few Christmas decorations and to change out our summer clothes for winter ones which saddened me more than usual.  I have always loved winter for snowboarding, but this was my favorite summer/fall, and I felt more than a twinge of grief at having to literally and figuratively pack it away for a while.  

We miss you already, rolling home!

We were able to get a couple of good early season powder days in at Crystal Mountain, White Pass, and Whistler Blackcomb.  We did some eagle watching, spying over 130 between the Mt Baker Highway and Whistler Village and capitalized on the early season hotel rates allowing for great proximity to the slopes which were surprisingly uncrowded for December.  Shaun started teaching me a two handed fly fishing technique called spey casting, which I was able to practice in the shadow of anywhere from 5-10 bald eagles along the Skagit River. Owing to our time off, we had more time to spend with friends and family around Christmas, meeting up with my brother and his family, having Christmas dinner with our friends Hannah and Brett and family, catching up with some former co-workers at various happy hour events, and enjoying dollar tacos at a new place on 6th Avenue with our first friends from when we moved to Washington, Kelly and Brad.  After being on the road so much, it was great to be able to reconnect with some of the people who have made living in Washington these past 10 years so special.  

Always great to get in some early season powder at Crystal

One of the most uncomfortable chairlifts of all, but a charmer still

Great to catch up with these people!

Eagle going in for a landing

Eagle party along Mt Baker Highway

Eagle in Squamish, BC

Didn't even notice the crane until I was editing

One thing we were both looking forward to was being able to fish the Yakima River in the winter.  Neither of us are really into the summer tubing crowd, so it makes fishing their over the summer months less desirable, but in the winter, you may see a couple of other groups fishing all day and no loud, drunk tubers (who litter like crazy by the way).  We had a couple of productive days on the river late December, coaxing a few trout from the deep, slow pools and into our nets.  During the winter months, the fish retreat to deeper, slower water to pod up and conserve energy.  They feed near the bottom of the river on small midge like bugs and care must be taken not to exhaust them, so you try to land them quickly, even if that means you're more likely to lose them.  It isn't lost on me that fishing isn't a painless experience for the fish, and I struggle with that at times, but I do really love it and have enjoyed gaining more knowledge about fish species and the issues that face rivers and other conservation related matters.  The fact is, the fly fishing community are huge activists and advocates for cleaner rivers and streams and for the removal of dams that are largely unnecessary now and are contributing to declining salmonoid populations and as a result food sources for our endangered southern puget sound orcas.  

Yakima River Rainbow

One for me

Great scenery

Fish eat, even when it's cold

Part of our goal this winter was to chase snow, and we were able to successfully do so down to Utah the second week of January.  Powder chasing is a tough business- you end up laboring and poring over weather reports, calculating snowfall amounts, assessing wind speed and gusts, guessing which will be the best snow and whether there will be wind holds that could keep part of the mountain closed.  Being in the van all summer and driving long distances really upped our stamina for long road trips, so we were able to drive from Gig Harbor to Salt Lake City in one day.  Early morning hikes and all nighter photography adventures have also made us ideally suited to rise at 3 am and take off, which allows us to get to our destinations at reasonable hours, setting us up for a good night's sleep and an early wake up to head to the mountain.  We rode two days at Snowbasin, between Salt Lake City and Ogden, and our first day was a combo powder day and storm riding, lapping that famous Utah champagne powder.  Storm riding is basically riding or skiing while the storm hits, so those days often have poor visibility or excessive wind.  We were able to get into the alpine the first day, but the winds were so strong, they literally blew people over at the top, so it was one run and down for us there, and we spent the rest of the day riding in the shelter of trees and gladed runs mid-mountain and down.  Snowbasin was where many of the Salt Lake City Olympic events were held, and while there isn't much of a base/resort presence, the facilities are top notch- ornate and gaudy but charming by virtue of what they represent.  Our second day was bluebird which made for incredible views of the valley and surrounding peaks.  It also allowed us to get eyes on what we were actually riding the day before.  Unfortunately there was a long delay opening the alpine lifts and the gondolas were malfunctioning, so by the time they did open, the sun had baked the snow leaving it heavy and not at all fun, so we decided to bail after half a day and hit the Middle Provo River for some winter fly fishing.  It's amazing how warm you can be in sub 30 degree temperatures surrounded by cold streams and snow banks/drifts, but there we were in just long sleeve shirts under our waders.  We found some fish willing to take our flies, and while they weren't huge, the scenery and solitude were definitely soothing to our souls.  The next day it was time to head home but not before stopping in Pendleton to enjoy a fabulous inversion- a sign of high pressure to come!

Storm riding at Snowbasin

Had great views on day 2

Expansive terrain (photo by Shaun)

Little brown on the Middle Provo

All of this, only 45 minutes from Salt Lake City

High pressure means no snow in the mountains and warmer temps, which while I can appreciate every now and then, it seems like kind of a waste of a winter day.  Nevertheless, we made the most of it, hiking around Lake Crescent, working to continue to refine my spey casting, and exploring waterfalls on the Olympic Peninsula and in Gifford Pinchot National Forest.  Winter sun is good for one thing- incredible low angle light that is a photographer's dream.  Other than that, I could do without it for a while.

Early mornings at the Bogachiel

Seeking steelhead

Olympic National Forest road drives

Our main objective was blocked by snow, made the most of this one

Lake Crescent vibes

Sunny winter morning along Hood Canal

Probably the easiest waterfall to access in all of Washington

A trail doesn't even exist to this one.

No trail to this one either

Winter golden hour is the best hour

Spey casting along the Hoh River

Another powder chase commenced mid January, with us heading to West Yellowstone to give us flexibility to fish the Madison and Gallatin rivers, chase snow either in Big Sky or Grand Targhee, and meet up with one of our closest friends/travel buddy/snow buddy, Frelan.  We coordinated a powder chase and met up in Big Sky for a sneaker pow day- about 10" of new snow and very few people on the mountain, despite the fact that it was MLK Day.  We rode hard and covered almost the entire mountain with good snow until the end of the day.  Shaun and I also got two winter fishing days in, catching several nice rainbow trout.  The thing about cold weather or weather that is traditionally viewed as "bad" is that it takes crowded places and restores them to their former greatness- no people!  After a successful multi activity stay in W Yellowstone, Shaun and I headed to Jackson, and if you read the fall installment of this blog- one of my favorite places on earth.  We spent one whole day searching for and photographing wildlife, finding some new spots holding animals and also some further photography locations.  After enjoying a frigid but sunny day outside with the critters, it was then time to turn our thoughts to powder at Jackson Hole.  There are no sneaker pow days in Jackson as half the town are ski bums who watch the weather way more intently than we do (in case you were wondering, the other half of the town consists of people who have no business on any mountain, anywhere, yet they come in droves to ski some of the most challenging terrain in the country haha).  The Jackson Hole Aerial Tram ascends nearly 2.5 miles up the mountain in 9 minutes, transporting 100 jam packed people at a time to expansive alpine bowls, craggy chutes, and massive cliffs- intended for expert and above skiers and riders.  Corbet's Couloir is one of the most famous runs, embedded in ski lore for many years.  It's literally a straight vertical drop into a bowl that averages around a 40 degree pitch angle.  It is pucker central and something I would never dream of attempting, but it does make for excellent people watching when it's open (which it wasn't on day one).  Couple the technical difficulty of the tram serviced terrain with high winds and often poor visibility and you have the makings of lots of injuries to people who don't accurately assess their ski prowess (aka most of the people in the tram line).  We had a nice run down Rendezvous Bowl before descending into an area called the Hobacks that had a bulletproof sun crust from the day before and large wind drift moguls along with thinner than expected snow coverage- not our favorite run of the day, but something to check off our list.  Luckily the storm continued to churn and added several inches to the base during the day with more arriving that night.  
Taking a short break back in WA before taking our chase up to Canada to kick off February!

Yay Frelan!

Pow day at Big Sky

Coyote along the Gros Ventre

Swans taking advantage of the melting ice

Bighorn Ram assessing my intentions

Rams negotiating steep terrain

Hungry moose

Herd of bison in front of the Teton range

Nice to see the Madison River less crowded than summer

So long little rainbow

It was not a warm day

Tricky access 

Gallatin River special

100 sardines

Jackson Hole dreaming

So long Tetons!