annaknudsen

EPIC WINTER SEASON 2010-11 in a SNOWBALL

2011-07-31T19:08:00.001-07:00

I mixed things up this winter season and decided to get an Alta Resort Season Pass (it was a hard decision because Snowbird is my eternal resort). Backcountry ski touring got mixed up as well! I was able to explore a lot of new drainages and higher peaks then I've ever done before.

And doing a lot of backcountry put me in great shape enabling me to win the Powder Keg this year in the Women's Telemark Recreation category. Fun!

OCTOBER-NOVEMBER

A lot of Alta touring before the resort opened. There was an awesome pre-season snowpack! Some Katherine's Pass and Patsy Marley. Alta Ski Resort Thanksgiving Opening Weekend.

DECEMBER

Red Pine, Bear Trap and Monitors, Alta Night Tours, Flagstaff Solo, Catherines, Reynolds, USA Bowl, Cardiff and Holy Toledo.

Park City Ski Resort, Alta Ski Resort.

JANUARY

Wolverine South Face, Flagstaff, Argenta, Pink Pine, Patsy Marley, East Bowl Silver Fork. Three day Avalanche Course.

Brighton Ski Resort, Alta Ski Resort.

FEBRUARY

Mt. Raymond Chute, Mt. Elly, Glory Bowl and Chivers in the Tetons. Emma Ridge, Patsy Marley, Bear Trap, Monitors, Pink Pine, Days Fork.

Jackson Hole Ski Resort, Park City Ski Resort, Alta Ski Resort.

MARCH

Reynolds, Powder Keg, Argenta, Bear Trap, Willow Creek, Mt. Holly Tusher Mountains.

Silverton Colorado Ski Resort, Deer Valley Ski Resort, Brighton Ski Resort, Alta Ski Resort.

APRIL

Circle Awl, Gods Lawn Mower, Seagull Chute, Pink Pine, Patsy Marley, Mt. Aire.

Alta Ski Resort.

MAY

Tuk North and Laurel Peak La Sals Moab, Patsy Marley, USA Bowl.

Alta Ski Resort costume days.

Kings Peak

2010-10-31T10:14:00.001-07:00

I've wondered for a long time what Kings Peak was like, the tallest peak in Utah. What was it visually like? How was the approach to the peak and what did it feel like to be at the top? I got to discover Kings Peak, finally, this September at age 32 (don't know why I'm saying my age, just am)!The approach was amazing! It was a beautiful lush valley that went on for miles with a mellow gradient, that didn't get you tired until the saddle of Kings Peak. Camped at the base of the Saddle and woke up just in time to see the sunrise hitting the farthest points of the range.

After you climb the saddle you come to a second part that turns flat and you cross a boulder field until the next UP section.

Top of Kings Peak! At the top you can see directly South of you, "South Kings Peak," another high mountain that comes second in highest. Feeling gun-ho we hiked down and back up to the next peak which was really cool.

Top of South Kings Peak

Picking and wandering around the Uintah's after reaching the top of Kings Peak was one of my favorite things. I felt like a mountain goat.

The valley on the other side of the lower saddle. We choose a trail that walked right through it right back to camp. I'm happy that Kings Peak is no longer a mystery but I didn't mind it being a mystery because I had something to look forward to. What's next?

Kauai Island, Hawaii

2010-09-25T22:25:00.000-07:00

While visiting Oahu I took a jumper plane to another Island - Kauai! I have always wanted to hike the Na Pali Coast after seeing Meg and Corbins beautiful pictures of their trip from when they were in college and dating!

This spider ended up on my face!

After landing at the airport, me and my friend Chris hitched a ride to Wailua to kayak to Secret Falls. It was full of tourists, me being one of them, but kayaking the wide river and doing the hike to the falls was very enjoyable! Afterwards we rode a bus to Hanalei to camp on the party beach. I dreamt of the Na Pali coast and woke up ready to see the place!

The view from the start of the Na Pali Coast trail. Here we come 11 miles!There were a few bathrooms along the Na Pali coast trail. OH MY to the bathroom scene.
Tiny frog. Tiny, tiny frog!

Wow- so awesome!

Almost there!

Yeah I'm here at the Kalalau beach, my destination. We stayed there four days and three nights eating lots of mangos, swimming in the ocean, wandering the beach, standing under waterfalls, doing yoga and watching amazing sunsets! Wow - I feel so blessed to have experienced it!

Hiking up the Kalalau Valley. That's where we picked our mangos and swam in the river.

Our dinner table every evening! Chris washing the dishes from dinner. Yes, the shower at Kalalau Beach!

Oahu, Hawaii

2010-09-07T22:16:00.001-07:00

Meg and Corbin are so awesome! They let me stay at their home for over two weeks and I was able to hang out and grow closer to their family! I love Indie and Tosh so much! (I miss them)Our day at China Man's Hat. (I call it Mexican Hat on accident all of the time! I think it's because of the San Juan River- it has a Mexican Hat as a landmark but in Hawaii it's China Man's hat).

There was plenty of surfing to be had! Rip it up Indie and Corbin!
Climbing at Wiamea Beach . . . I wish I had my climbing shoes!
Snorkeling at Shark's Cove (Lisa Style, so I heard)

Sea Kayaking to Goat Island and the Moakes. What an awesome thing to do!

Typical beach scene! I loved Ahola Friday's!

The Zoo and it's slide!

Sunset Beach
Hiking Tiger Mountain!

Indie's Birthday Party! I was so happy to be there! It was a Charlie and Lola birthday party theme and a success it was! Indie and her friends loved it!

My 1 Summer Week @ HOME

2010-08-11T21:31:00.000-07:00

What a GREAT summer WEEK in SLC!

Golfing in SLC from behind a tree

Hiking to the top of Gobblers Knob, once again ran out of water

Yes!!!- In town for the 5th Annual Great Salt Lake Float. So fun!

Went mountain biking with my friends on the Mid-Mountain trail, Park City. I missed my friends!
Summer Ribs AND my first ribs ever! Thanks Chris!

Climbing in Albion Basin, Alta UT
BEAR FACE! Where's the bear spray? I need some!

I made Chris take me to the Uintah's after seeing a flyer about a bear presentation at Mirror Lake. We heard the bear presentation/slide show, camped and had tin foil dinners. Also did some climbing. Awesome!

The whole reason I was in town for the week; my friend Laura's wedding at Solitude Resort. It was a beautiful wedding and she married the man of her dreams- Sam. I love the two of them together! And they're always so nice letting you be third wheel with them.

Grand Teton | Jackson Hole

2010-08-11T20:19:00.000-07:00

Over breakfast at Ruth's Cafe, Chris and I came up with this idea to climb the Grand Teton. This was monday morning after returning home from a five day river trip. We were gone the next day heading towards Jackson Hole Wyoming, to a place I love with a dream I've had!

Afton, Wyoming - the gateway to FUN and antlers!
I can't go to Jackson without kayaking the Snake River, Alpine section. The river was crankin' but not the crowds. It blew my mind at how quiet it was compared to other years. It was a very peaceful and fun river run! Chris's 1st time, my 1,000th time. It was awesome to be able to show him this cool section of river. He has become quite the kayaker!
Lunch Counter
Lunch Counter rapid and the paying customers
Hiking. . .

and sleeping is how Chris and I got ready to climb the Grand Teton
View from the road of the Grand Teton
4:30 a.m. and lost on the mountain side. I couldn't wait for the sun to come up to show us the path of rock and snow to the lower saddle!
First light, it's shining on the South Teton mountain

Chris almost to the top . . . of the lower saddle! Ha
Me climbing towards the lower saddle
Me, almost to the lower saddle- what a view! So awesome!
Lower Saddle camp for those who pay for a tour guide, middle Teton in the background
Carbing up for the next half of our climb (eating at lower saddle)
Just leaving the lower saddle- going up up and away!View from the lower saddle looking up at our climb. What you see is only the beginning of the steep snowfields. I found that their were two more snowfields after the three that you can see in the photograph, to the upper saddle. This mountain is HUGE! I kept thinking that.

Getting started from the lower saddle
The route is between the two cool pillars of rock
Think STEEP!
The lower saddle in the background. This is the first real steep snow couloir that you climb
Self portrait by Chris, I like how it shows the angle of the slope that were climbing on
Taking a breather
Just shot through the two rock pillars, one of the technical parts, the skinny path right behind me. You down climb it backwards and tied up!
Chris climbing towards the upper saddle of the Grand. The mountain just kept going and going.

Up is this way
The view from our top of the Grand Teton –Wow!
Rappelling down- 150 feet of freedom from the ground. Good times!
Chris making his way down the lowest part of the biggest part
Glaciading down. I got a 30 second ride on my butt down the glacier. I also got to glaciad two more times after this one! Yahoo!At the bottom of the snow fields, airing out my socks. Only four more miles in front of us. Downhill walking on a trail to our car, no problem except we're out of water and so tired!

Price River | Too Low to Run!

2010-08-11T01:52:00.000-07:00

So . . . Chris and I thought we could conquer any small river after running the Escalante river. When the report said that the Price River from Woodside to the confluence of the Green was to low to run I ignored it. It was the biggest mistake ever but what could we do except keep on walking!

Too low!

Too low!
Finally! We had reached the confluence with the Green River, daily section. It was crankin'.

Bachelorette Party in Vegas!

2010-08-11T01:19:00.000-07:00

I've never really hung out in Vegas but I learned that a lot of people do! I went to Vegas for my good friend, Laura's bachelorette party for four days, three nights and ten girls- what a fun trip!

Road side break on our drive down to Vegas
Pool time, again and again- awesome!
Limo Ride!
Night time fun
We had so much fun DANCING!
Walkin' it!
Hanging out after watching, "Beatles Cirque de ole"

Desolation Canyon | River Trip

2010-08-11T01:10:00.000-07:00

Desolation Canyon on the Green river is the section I float the most but I haven't been on it with my family for a long time. I was so happy that a lot of my family members could go and that I could be with them on this great, fun-filled adventure.

Not a lot of mom's would do this! My mom is so brave!
I can fly!

Escalante River Trip, UT

2010-07-26T22:54:00.000-07:00

I asked my friend, who is a river rescue training guide and pilot, which small rivers were running and he gave me the most exciting answer ever, "the Escalante!" It rarely runs and when it does the peak is short lived. Thanks to the freezing cold spring, it made the river peak right after Murray High Schools graduation which was Thursday, June 3. My friend, Chris and I, were driving down to Calf Creek, the put-in Friday night. We got a couple of miles in that night and stayed on the river until Friday, June 11. To kayak the Escalante River was a wish I made long ago when I hiked down from Coyote Gulch and saw it's existence. I feel so thankful for the opportunity I had to explore and float for days winding through towering desert varnish walls, with side canyons galore and the desire I had to explore and see it all for the first time!
"Duckie Time" for 7 days and 75 miles! Awesome!
My Rig= 1 water jug (in front), 1 dry bag (in back), 1 waterproof fanny pack (around my waist)
Chris and I hiked two to three side canyons a day. If we saw something that made us curious we would pull over, tie up and hike. This I call a side-hike-workout-scramble.
Escalante River day 1 before it converged with Boulder Creek which doubled it's little size to a bigger little size. We were grateful for catching the peak flow of the Esclante River which peaked and made the river runnable on June 4- June 11

This side hike was around a tall butte loaded with soft orange sand. I liked it a lot!

I believe this side hike to be Scorpion Gulch; it was so overgrown with Poison Ivy that it was impossible to hike. I was so bummed but at the mouth of the canyon we got to hike through really tall Snake Grass.

Before we ventured down the Escalante River we were told we had to hike Neon Canyon. Chris had heard of this canyon before because of it's canyon rapelling, but the hard part was knowing where Neon Canyon was. I will admit, we never really knew where we were on the map because the river has so many turns and side canyons! Lets say we got lucky because we ended up camping at the mouth of Neon Canyon without even knowing it! It was so breathtaking!

This is why canyoneering people go to Neon Canyon to rapell through the waterhole, untie from the end of the rope and drop into a cold pool. I'm in the bottom corner standing below the waterhole: it gives a good scale of the alcove! "Wow!"

Another side hike
Another side hike

Frog Head

We took two, three gallon water jugs and filtered a few times. We scored on our fourth day when we kayaked by a spring that was gushing out of a three hundred foot wall; you couldn't help smiling and being excited about the beautiful water that was clear and cold.

Yoga in an open field of sand. Soon after I was attacked by deer flies! I had to run as fast as I could and jump in the river to get rid of them!
I'm naming this the "Squeeze Drop!"

We portaged a couple times. Once was because of a dangerous rapid, this portage was because gigantic boulders filled the river. We were able to turn the boats sideways and push them through without unloading our gear. Good thing we packed "backpack" style.

River Soaking was apart of our daily minutes

Stevens Arch appears right before Coyote Gulch, our take out.

Hiking Coyote Gulch

One of the hardest things I've ever done- backpacking our gear out of Crack In the Wall, Coyote Gulch. We hiked it three times because we had two loads.

This is Chris and our gear at the top of the Crack, which had to be pulled up the cliff by rope.

My first load, at least 50 - 55 pds, the heaviest pack I've ever had!

Chris's first load, at least 60 - 65 pds!

We made a stretcher out of the kayak paddles and leap frogged our gear; everyone thought we were carrying out a body. This is Chris taking a break on the pile of crap :) at the half way point. It took us 7 hours. We HOTELed IT after that!

Maple Canyon, UT

2010-07-26T22:51:00.001-07:00

Bike Tour! Two days and One night

2010-07-19T06:48:00.000-07:00

We started in Maple Canyon by Forrest Green and biked through the towns: Wales, Manti and Gunnison, then camped at Yuba Lake. 60 miles the first day.

Day two we rode another 60 miles to complete our loop. We rode through Levan and Nephi back to Maple Canyon to climb for a few days.

MAY 22 | SNOWBIRD SPRING POWDER |

2010-06-17T20:40:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Chris

9 MILE CANYON | In May

2010-06-17T09:54:00.000-07:00

Spring Break 2010 | Arizona | Part 2

2010-06-16T21:36:00.000-07:00

The second half of spring break consisted of exploring Arizona's desert rock and roads. The perfect word for the whole experience . . . "Wild!" I loved it.

Spring Break 2010 | Arizona |

2010-06-16T20:38:00.000-07:00

Rafting the Salt River. 4 days, 3 nights on class 3 and 4 rapids. It was rapid after rapid for 54 miles! Amazing experience!

My First Winter Camping Experience : Oquirrh Mountains

2010-05-01T15:59:00.000-07:00

This is my favorite photo because I'm so excited to stream cross and start camping! We hiked four miles and stayed one night and two days in the mountains for skiing. The Oquirrh Mountains are amazing.

Being at the top was so grand because of the view and that I got to start going down with my skis attached to my feet instead of my back!

I Love Snowbird

2010-03-15T20:32:00.000-07:00

Patsy Marley | Little Cottonwood Canyon

2010-02-28T12:44:00.000-08:00

I skied down with the sun behind my back- I followed my shadow in front. Love the powder, love the mountains, love the moment.

Chris ripping up Patsy Marley with Flagstaff Ridge behind

Willow, February 17

2010-02-17T20:25:00.000-08:00

My Silhouette on a Tree Silouette

I loved today's surprise tour. I was suppose to go night skiing at Brighton with the ski club but the ski lift ended up being closed so Chris and I went ski touring instead- yeah! We parked at the Solitude parking lot and walked across the street up the road, past cabins that make you jealous and then put our skies on. We hiked through tall, spiraling aspen trees up a ridge to the top of a beautiful long, powdery slope. The area is called Willow. It had different slope angles, one was a little nerve racking because of it's steepness- but so fun. We hiked from 4:30 to 6:45. I loved being at the top of a ridge at sunset. The Pfieferhorn, Twin Peaks and the whole ridge line was grand with the orange sunset. I felt very grateful and stoked to be at the top of a mountain with my skis, peeling the skins off of them, getting ready to ski down. We didn't get many skiing photographs because it was kind of dark when we skied down and ended with a snowplow out passing through the dark forest.

Pink Pine Ridge, February 10

2010-02-16T20:56:00.000-08:00

Our run- I'm trying to point it out, it's right there, between the two aspen trees in the distance.

After school on Wednesday Chris and I went to Pink Pine Ridge. Wow! What an awesome tour. We drove up Little Cottonwood Canyon and parked at the White Pine parking lot. We hiked about an hour and got to the saddle, below the steep rocky outcropping where we dropped in. It was pretty steep and a little risky but we had our beacons, shovels and probes ready to kill the monster if it popped out. You can see Salt Lake City below us, down the canyon and you can see some sweet turns by us! Enjoy- we did.

Reynolds Peak, February 15

2010-02-16T20:40:00.000-08:00

Drove up Big Cottonwood Canyon and parked in Spruces lot and headed up the up-track. It went to Dog Lake and then switch backed on to Reynolds Peak. It was high avalanche danger so we just skied the ridge to avoid the waiting monster. Wonderful day!