So, Sun Valley, Idaho... huh?

Last year Becky won a 'Heli Assist Ski Touring Adventure' (HASTA - I made up the last 'A' but it's gotta be close because it was an adventure!) in a silent auction for CAIC (Colorado Avalanche Information Center) .

She invited me and Tucker and away we went. We left town on Friday afternoon and returned tonight, Sunday. One day of backcountry and one day in resort.

We originally had a 6:45am pick up at the hotel on Saturday morning and got a call Friday night that they would be there at 7:30 (score!) so we met our guide, Marc, in the parking lot of our hotel at 7:30 on Saturday morning and made our way to the Sun Valley Gun Club - where the heli pad is. Our first (and only) heli ride was at 9am. We spent the time in between weighing in and checking avalanche beacons,etc. Then we were off! (Tucker took video and I took no still shots on the actual heli ride but it was beautiful!) We ended up in near Goat Peak. The heli dropped us off - and we took in the views (wow!)


Then we started on our adventure..... we skinned up
and skied down
And did it again, and again and again!


We told the guide about 2k-3k vertical feet in climbing and (according to my altimeter) we did 2966 vertical feet of climbing so perfectly accomodated our request! We also had 6500 vertical feet down (I appreciate that heli lift in the morning more and more as I write this)

Sunday - we skied in resort at Sun Valley resort. It was a perfect, bluebird day and we were tired from the day before so we enjoyed the (VERY steep) terrain and the views and went back to the hotel about 2:15pm to get ready for our flight home while leaving Russ and Becky to ski another day and come home tomorrow night! (lucky them!)

Here are some shots from the resort -

The key to purchasing a wedding dress...

Is whether or not you can ski in it!

And how it looks when you are not skiing in it.... (check out the tri-top tan!)

Join us on February 14th, 2012 as we ski, renew our vows, celebrate our 5th anniversary and win the 'best dressed' contest at Loveland Ski Area's "Marry Me and Ski for Free"
http://www.skiloveland.com/events/wedding.aspx

Here are some of the dresses I tried on (and did NOT buy any of!!!)

(.... I had fun shopping!)

The (usually) annual cabin trip

So, since the fall of 2001 (I think....) we have made a trip with friends to a cabin (not a 'hut') and this trip is VERY different than the others. We don't hike in... we may or may not put on skis... we usually do get out on snowshoes or hike around in hiking boots. This year, the snowpack is BAD (see the xmas hut trip blog) so we chose to hike around Michigan Lakes in State Forest State Park.

We almost always hike to the closest yurt... and this time was no exception but I did struggle with the timer function on my new camera that Tucker bought me for Christmas :)

All in all, a great time and I was sad to return home on Sunday afternoon.

Logged Day 20

20 ski days this season...

It's a good way to start the new year, but we could really use some more snow!

At least i didn't leave Tucker at Keystone....

I was going to leave earlier....  :)

Sunny day at Keystone!

The snow is not worth mentioning but the weather and views are good today!