Backcountry Ski Expedition!

It's been awhile since anything happened, but I'm just going pretend like nothing's wrong....

If you had a keen eye this past week you might have noticed our (not so) subtle advertising all over campus.  Whenever it wasn't being taken down, that is.  In addition to our upcoming snowshoe hike in Franklin Basin during the next full moon (which you can still sign up on) we had a backcountry skiing/snowboarding trip that went down January 24th.  The cost was a meager $15 for students and it was well worth it for the few people that signed up!

At first, the trip looked to be a little in doubt since it was raining at the ORC when we left Saturday morning.  It looked miserable but we decided to make the call at the trailhead.

When we arrived at the UDOT state sheds the sloppy rain turned into a heavy snow.  We geared up and started breaking trail northward towards the top of Garden City Canyon, a readily accessible backcountry area that has a great variety of safe terrain.  The avalanche danger was somewhat of a concern with the heavier snowfall, so we picked a safe route up.  After a quick lunch and determining that everyone had the legs for a run, we dropped into a safe aspect and enjoyed twenty to thirty turns on new snow.  It was kinda slow and heavy but it was backcountry skiing.  In fact it was the first time in the backcountry for everyone in our group.  What a way to learn how to ski!

It was about a twenty minute hike back up to the ridge and a quick jaunt down the west face to our cars.  The whole trip took about three to four hours.  We turned a few people into backcountry enthusiasts in the process and maybe they'll bring some friends along on our next ski/board trip.  We may try President's day for our next one.

See you on February 9th at 5:30 pm at the ORC for our Full Moon Snowshoe Hike!

No time for spell check

I am NOT going to change Power Whore to Powder Whore, Liz!  Mistakes are awesome!

Also, All ya'll ought to check out some of the sweet announcements and updates on our homepage.  You'll also be able to catch a glimpse of me, your mistery blogger.

totally....

Power Whore

Oh man what a totally SICK movie!  The extra crowds and lack of chairs was worth it in my opinion.  We had about twice as many people show up as we originally predicted; sorry to those that had to stand!  The food was great, at least.  In fact it was AMAZING!  Chase whipped up some tasty au gratin potatoes in the Dutch ovens and we also managed to throw together an apple cobbler for dessert, which went pretty well with the Aggie Ice cream.

Well, that's out of our hair.  Now it's time to focus on Warren Miller before that creeps up on us.  Show times are November 5th and 6th around 7:oo pm-ish at the Kent Concert Hall.  Buy your tickets there or beforehand at the Kent box office, the TSC ticket office, or Al's Sporting Goods!

Happy Halloween!  Do EVERYTHING you wouldn't normally do!

Seriously, that last blizzard? Weak!

After a long (and cold!) week of laying out our plans to get the Green Canyon Yurt up and running, we've finally got time to preview some of trips and events for this last stretch of seasonable weather.

You've probably seen our flyers somewhere on campus since we basically paper any blank wall we can find with ORC stuff. Keep an eye out for these in order to find out where we're going on trips and when we're having events. A recent example was the Logan Canyon Freeway Clean-up that happened this past Saturday. Yeah sure it was snowing, but that doesn't exonerate your from your debt to nature! We walked around for about an hour in the blizzard picking up empty beer cans, cigarette packets and fast food wrappers. Kinda tells you a lot about the kinds of people that leave the trash and the kinds of people that come pick it up... I'm not sure exactly but I do know that I dumped some greenish looking chunky liquid onto my foot.

If you haven't seen our flyers for the Tony Grove Fall Trip then keep your eyes pealed or stop by the shop. The cost will be $25 for two nights worth of fun camping and canoeing this Friday to Sunday.

We also have flyers out for our semester long photo contest. Prizes are given out monthly and one grand prize winner will get to go to Southern California on our Spring Break Trip for FREE! Check out our website for more details.

Lastly, if you've seen the large posters for Black Diamonds Powder Whore telemark movie come on by the shop or look for our ORC campus displays for a chance to buy tickets to this sweet event. The cost for students in $5 and includes food as well. What better way is there to kick off the long, agonizingly cold wait for snow?

PRAY FOR SNOW!!! PRAY FOR SNOW!!! PRAY FOR SNOW!!!

ORC Hiking Trip: Naomi Peak NRT

We don't mess around.  When it comes to getting our butts into the wilds of Northern Utah we here at the ORC like to go all out.  This being the case, I could think of no better venue for our inaugural hike of Fall 2008 than the Naomi Peak National Recreation Trail.  Then again, I do have this problem where my ambition is larger than my actual appetite.

I've done this trail before--about a month earlier, in fact--but I wanted to take the opportunity to check out the fall colors in some of Utah's most scenic vistas.  Our mapping software paces the trail length out to be about 8.56 miles; manageable in half a day with a small group.  The trailhead marker proclaimed the trail to be 9.5 miles; longer, but still doable.  After all the uphill grinds and several rests, the trail felt to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 miles, according to the group's sore legs.  Judging by our pace and how long it took, that's probably right.  I'm guessing we hiked close to a mile an hour and the whole ordeal took ten hours from start to finish.

Regardless, it was still some of the most stunning scenery I've seen in Utah.  Without fail I always end up experiencing something new and amazing whenever I go out.  So don't be shy, our future trips will be less daunting.  Come on out with us next time!

Check out the photos from this hike in the slideshow in the top right of the blog page.