Home safely… but not for long

So we made it home (BV home) late sunday night.  The roads were horrible!  We hit snow after grand junction and then it didn’t stop until north of Buena Vista.  And not just a light flurry either, it was a full blown snow storm.  Large flakes and icy roads.  But we made it through.  Henry happily greeted us immediately and then it was shower time.  We both had not showered in 6 or so days and so it was an amazing feeling!  Dreads had built up pretty horribly in my hair and so my shower lasted an hour as I worked them out.  Not fun. It was nice to sleep in a real bed in a real house and wake up to my mom’s cookin.

By the time we got to BV, we had already watched all of our video camera footage and were sad to be ending the trip.  We learned so much on the trip and it opened a very large door of opportunity.  We learned what we need to learn for the next time we make the trip (soon) and we grew in many ways.

In 4 days we leave to Minnesota for the summer, so Tyson can get to work (and Cally too just not sure where yet).  Four days of down time is not enough considering Tyson works sun up to sun down everyday all summer long.  We’ll make the best of it though and hopefully get some stuff done.  Oh and we have to sort through the trailer which is not going to be any fun at all and if anyone would like to do it for us you can comment below 😉

Thanks for following powrig2gnartown. We love you all.

Cally and Tyson

On Our Way Home

We’ve been driving 15 hours a day for the past 2 days and it doesn’t feel like we’ve traveled far at all (I think it’s because we haven’t). The spraying season is starting earlier this year with the warm temps so we had to cut the trip short a few days. We are in Edmonton, Alberta right now and should be home Sunday evening if the roads stay clear. This drive is not nearly as fun when you aren’t stopping along the way to ski.

Pictures

Axe toss at man games!

Nutella and Strawberry crepes for breakfast

The last frontier

Huge snowbanks in Valdez

Birthday cake in the camper

Comp Day

Today was the freeride competition which took place up in Bro Bowl. We thought it would be fun to watch so we headed up that way for the day. We hung out with Jeff the camera guy for most of the day helping him spot riders.  It was an enjoyable time.  Jeff has his spot set up and Tyson is hanging out on the snow couch that he built.

Part of Bro Bowl. It was a beautiful and sunny and warm day!

Tyson and the French man on the snow couch.

In the bowl

Ski Day

We took the sleds up to Bro Bowl to try and find some good snow to ride.  The avy danger was up so we decided to stay off the steeps for the day.  There were a ton of people out, which also made things a little bit more challenging. But we got some good runs in and then went up to the Worthington Glacier which is just a short ride from camp.  It was nice and open and there was a ton of snow so we messed around on the sleds for a little while.  We got back to camp and made some dinner and then some “man games.” Then sat by the fire for a long time to get nice and warm before bed.

You wonder how much snow is actually here… that is a speed limit sign on a sled road.

We got the sled stuck pretty bad. This is a photo of Tyson in the hole that was left behind.

Some of our lines here.

Town Day Down Day

The last couple of days have been really cloudy and snowy and socked in.  We took advantage of this to go into town and get some groceries, propane, showers, and hot tub time.  The showers felt so amazing as they were the first in 8 or so days.  We have gotten rides into town so that we don’t have to pack up and move the rig.  Valdez is a cool town – perhaps the coolest aspect is the harbor.  We could spend hours down there just walking the docks and looking at all the boats.  Took some really cool photos, and we only had time for half of the docks.  We would love to get down there and find someone that wants to take us out on a sail boat.  That would be the ultimate find.  We may have to get oil for the sleds tomorrow down in town (which is about 25 miles/45 minutes away) and if that were the case we would have a nice long hot tub soak.  The tailgate Fish Fry is also tomorrow night in town so we may have to get to that too.  If it’s a beautiful day and sunny, we’ll try and get some skiing in!  It’s crazy that there’s only a week left of Tailgate.

Picture perfect dock dog

Full of ice

Enjoying the view

One of my favorite shots yet. Glassy water made for a perfect reflection of the boats and cloudy sky

Best Birthday

Tyson was able to pull off one of the best birthdays in birthday history.  I felt like the luckiest girl in the world from the minute I woke up to the minute I fell asleep. We woke up and had pancakes for breakfast, then went out on the sleds for a quick ski run on Easter Bunny. It was the most beautiful day we’d seen the whole trip.  It was sunny, not a cloud in the sky, and no wind.  People that have been here for weeks previous said that this was the best day they had seen the entire trip.  We decided to do a half day heli trip as our friends convinced us we had to before we left.  And what a better day than the birthday day! Plus we are never sure when the clouds will move in for two or three days at time.  The heli trip was an experience of a lifetime. Two of our friends went with us, Jason and Graham, and it was a blast being with them. We took three runs, and on the last run they sang happy birthday to me and we had cake — at the top of the world!  A very memorable experience for sure.

Once we landed it was getting pretty late (7 or so) and so we went back to the camper to get ready for the night.  We were stumped on what to eat for dinner, so we made sandwiches.  Finally, around 10, we hitch hiked down the pass about 20 miles to Rendezvous, a bar and restaurant and heli ski op.  There was a big party and bon fire there in honor of a guy that had lost his life a couple years ago.  And live music!  So we danced and hung out and then headed home with Jason and Graham around 1.  We kind of forgot about the huge sheet cake we had, so when we returned from the bar the four of us ate a bunch.

It was just the most perfect day. Thank you Tyson

 The sunny morning view

Tyson decorated the camper

After our second run — me, tyson, jason, graham

The boys

Singing happy birthday at the top of our 3rd run

The heli

And the moon…

Tonsina Glacier and Ice Caves

We took the sleds out for an adventure today with Walshy, Daniel, and Carl.  We headed north up towards the Tonsina Glacier and  the ice caves.  It was about 50 miles round trip so we got some good time in on the sleds.  We took our skis but didn’t ski at all – – we scoped out some lines though for the future. It was absolutely gorgeous out but the wind was howling.  The ice caves were very cool, words cannot describe them but hopefully some pictures can try….

At the top of the ride, super windy up there!

The ice cave from afar with tons of snow on top

Looking at some nice lines

This ice cave was crazy the inside looked like rippled glass and so blue

The boys at the top of the ride

Our silhouettes from inside the cave

Inside the big cave.  It was so icy (duh) in the cave you could hardly walk. But so beautiful.. I said that words couldn’t describe but photos really can’t either.  Guess you’ll just have to buy a snowmobile and head to Thompson Pass in 2013!

More Sun!

Today was a beautiful day! We got after it this morning on our sleds and headed towards gully 3/nicks with the crew.  The clouds cleared and the sun shined so bright for the rest of the day.  We boot packed up a ridge and skied down the North face. We got in some really good, long runs and first tracks too!  It was great skiing.  The gully got super busy with people on sleds and so we decided we should get out of there.  We went back to camp, grabbed some lunch, and came up with a new game plan.  The new game plan consisted of Cally finishing her paper and the guys heading out on the sleds to make some tracks for tomorrow. Just a fun and beautiful day. Here are some photos for now, enjoy!

At the top after the hike

Our tracks.. That spine is the hike we made up

The view off the back of the spine!

More photos to come (cross your fingers the northern lights come out tonight!)

The Parking Lot Is Getting Full

There are lots of people showing up here now and we had a skiff of snow fall last night. We moved our camper into a more permanent location and set up camp. We also had a down day and were able to get to town with some people we met. Meesha makes friends quickly wherever she goes

Valdez, Alaska

Our new location

The view out the door this morning