…make tracks.

Our little burst of spring weather was short-lived. Four or more feet of snow has fallen in the mountains over the last few days. It began as heavy (for Utah, that is) 15-20% water (smokey powder starts below 7%) above 6,000′, but I bet it’s getting lighter now as the cold front arrives.

So I promise to take my friends’ advice, stop working so much, and head up to Sundance tomorrow to make the most of winter and hope for sunny warmth to return soon.

I’ll post a report here if there’s anything worth saying about it.

REPORT: I enjoyed a WAY better day than expected with a lot of pretty good powder, good skiing, and a few good wipe outs. Here’s a little ski movie for your enjoyment: “When Life Gives You Snow…“

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Nutty Putty is what cavers call a “sacrificial cave.” No animals are ritually killed or anything - it’s the cave itself that’s sacrificed by hordes of novice spelunkers (about 40,000 per year, I think I heard) who don’t know anything (or don’t care) about cave etiquette (like not touching sensitive crystals and other features, not leaving any trash, etc.).

So while the cave takes a beating, at least it draws attention away from other caves. Not only does this protect other caves from abuse, but Nutty Putty is one of the safer caves around, with only one or two spots where a serious accident seems possible.

About three years ago, search and rescue was called to Nutty Putty three times within a few weeks. The cavers didn’t have serious accidents, they just got stuck. And stuck good! One got wedged in a tiny tube near a room called “The Scout Trap.” Only the smallest scouts can even fit in. I squeezed as far down as possible last weekend and barely got my ankles in before my shoulders wouldn’t slide any farther. Continue Reading »

Whether you’re a technogeek or not, you’ll love this segment of the British comedy The IT Crowd. Very well done! Get ready to laugh.

Thanks to my technogeek friend Doug for the introduction.

I was inspired by another friend’s blog the other day. It was a simple list of things she loves. Food, places, people, activities, etc. Something about it caught my attention and I decided that I’d like to use the “L” word more often.

So here’s a short love list plus some related thoughts.

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During a forced work break this afternoon (waiting for the computer to upload files), I picked up a book and sat down in a comfy chair, stared out the front window at snow-covered, gleaming-white Mount Timpanogos, then opened the cover and began reading.

The book is 48 Days to the Work You Love, a guide for choosing your ideal career, and was a gift from a neighbor after a conversation about deciding between too many promising work options a few months ago. I only had time to read the foreward (darn fast internet!) but it was enough to inspire me to write about it.

Here’s a nice excerpt:

I have observed several traits among…people who have become inordinately successful…. One is that they have a calling, which they have discovered and are implementing.

“The other is they have made mountains of mistakes in the process of becoming ’successful.’ The gleaming mountain of success is actually a pile of trash.

“The difference between the successful and the troubled is not error-free living; it is that by discovering and implementing a life calling, the successful stand on their pile of trash while the troubled sit under theirs.”

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While perusing blogs from members of one of the coolest families I’ve ever met, I found a list of accomplishments from the past decade and thought it would make a good NY tradition.

Counting memorable events and accomplishments helps to justify the passage of time. It helps answer the question, when you turn around and look, of “Where did all the time go?” Continue Reading »

2009 began, for me and a few friends, standing around a fire in the snow behind Mt Timpanogos.

We had planned to hike up the road a ways from the Primrose Cirque trailhead and dig some caves, but when we arrived at the parking lot and saw how empty it was (I was expecting a bunch of scouts to be camping in the nearby ampitheater area), we looked at the piles of snow that the plows had pushed up against the sides of the lot and said, “That looks good enough.” Continue Reading »

Here’s a nice email from my riding buddy Darin: