Time to Go to Pow Town.

Things to Consider Last Minute:

Driving: 1 trucks and 2 subaru wagons (or something similar) should be ideal for the group.
-Unless you have plans to drive solo or are on a different schedule than the rest of us, meet at Nora's for Bfast at 9:30 Sun morning ready to go. We can sort gear and figure out last minute details from there.

Bring your Ipods so we can rock the fuck out.

We are staying in Stanley the night of the 31st. No longer Ketchum. Call Tim if you want details about this shady situation...

Lets make like Jason and crush powder all next week.

Chef de Cuisine: Aaron Gams (MEETING!)

Monsieur Gams has extended a gracious invitation to you all. He will allow one (or more) representative (s) to accompany him for a night of libations and hilarity of the utmost importance. Upon your arrival (at location to be determined) Monsieur Gams will present to you his book of haute cuisine (apparently a book of recipes he stole from an outfitter somewhere in the Grand Canyon). Recipes that are sure to fill the bellies of at least 16 filthy ski bums (proportions included!) with delights such as crispy duck with mango and orange remoulade (sauce). Bon appetite!

ATTN---MEETING BEFORE WE LEAVE. ONE REP FROM EACH COOK GROUP. PICK OUT RECIPES FROM GAMS KICK ASS RECIPE BOOK FOR THE GRAND CANYON. PERFECT MEALS FOR THE GROUP. THIS SATURDAY JAN. 23. 7:00 PM. LOCATION TO BE DETERMINED. BEER.---

Sounds a bit like our snowpack!

We headed into the Salmon Headwaters area yesterday to see how conditions are faring where the snowpack is a bit deeper. At upper elevations, we found the weak faceted snow was buried 2.5 to 3 feet deep – which is about a foot deeper than in the North Wood River Valley. The thicker slab in our deeper snowpack areas, which also include the Sawtooths and Soldier mountains, is a mixed blessing. The weight of nearly 3 feet of snow is finally causing the sugary facets to show some signs of consolidation, and during stability tests it takes quite a bit of effort to get the facets to fail. But when they do go, they still shear very cleanly and tests show the ability to propagate a fracture. What this tells me is that the likelihood of triggering a slide is decreasing, but if you were to trigger something it would be large and dangerous. Under these conditions, an avalanche would likely be triggered from a shallower area, so you’ll want to be very cautious on any steeper slope with thin or rocky areas. The additional snowfall in this region is also making surface hoar layers buried 1-2 feet deep a concern, and it’s possible to trigger an avalanche on these layers as well.

From the Sawtooth Avy center Today.

Check out http://www.sawtoothguides.com/files/hut_forms/hut_info.pdf

Toby

Odds and Ends...

Ok. I think Toby's group split up is perfect. One sled per group sound ideal.

I for one like to listen to music. Primarily heady reggae to get me amped to shred pow in the name of Jah. So in order for me to share the one love vibe with you all I will need a portable battery powered Ipod dock/speaker set. If you have one and wouldn't mind bringing it please do so. If no one has one then I might consider buying one that way I can bring it to Indian Creek and jam out while I am jamming. You dig?

Food for thought

With the lodging starting to come together, I'm starting to think about all that food were gonna need to bring with us.

As of now we have 14 people. If we break up into four groups (two groups of four, and two groups of three) we can have each group make dinner for the group one day. Lunch seems a bit more personal and can be left up to the individual. Breakfast is gonna be a tricky one as we will want bacon and eggs, but also have the option of a quick morning to get out for a big day if we have the chance. So maybe we should plan on two or three big breakfasts. Freezing eggs into an ice tray is one way to go.

With the snow looking pretty scary right now (http://www.tetonat.com/2010/01/avalanche-psa-albrightwimpys-massif/) I think we might need a lot of food. As there will be more down time and mellow powder, than we might like.

As for groups, I don't know how to split everyone up. It really doesn't matter to me. But, we could also use the split up groups for transportation. We will most likely have a suburban for 7 people, then if we had a subaru and a bigger truck we could get everyone and gear in three cars. Maybe each group should be responsible for one sled.

Maybe a breakdown could go like this,

Toby, John, Katie

Jason, Leif, Nicole

Paul, Louise, Dana, Carter

Aaron, Heather, Tim, Katie

What do you all think? It needs a bit of work, but the sooner we get this stuff set up the easier and more successful this is all going to be.

Hotel Info

Gang,

Hotel rooms are booked for the night of the 31st and the night of the 5th. We have 3 rooms each night; 2 with 2 queen beds and a sleeper couch and one with just 2 queen beds. It will cost about $75 per person for both nights. Not too bad considering. We can cancel anytime until the 28th so if a better option comes up we can just jump on it. The hotel is the Best Western Tyrolean Lodge in Ketchum. Everyone better be skiing pow tomorrow. I will. If anyone is a AAA member PLEASE let me know. We get 10% off. I think I still am but cant find my card at the moment.

Love
Leif

Powder skiing is here!

Coal Creek today! I'm not even dropping the knee.

Check out www.avalanche.org/~svavctr/