Elementary my dear Watson

I seem to find myself in hairbrained situations quite often.  The latest being a last minute decision to go on a quick and easy overnighter to beautiful (we think) Watson Lakes in the Mt Baker National Forest.  At a mere 4400 foot elevation, a nice heavy snowpack wasn't quite on our radar until we had to park about a mile from the trailhead blocked by some good size classic Northwest slush piles.  Pressing on with the thought of a pristine lake at the end of a Measly 2.5 mile hike on our minds was an easy decision, but one that would make the rest of the evening interesting to say the least.  Hitting the trailhead at about 8:30 p.m. some really nice temperatures kept us from being apprehensive about night hiking, and having our lamps and trudging through the snow kept us feeling pretty awesome as well, that is until we found ourselves dropping in elevation, searching in the dark, in a solid 4-5 feet of snow, for a trail that was about 20 inches wide.  Sidehilling, scrambling and gritting and clawing our way through brush, slush and warily navigating rock fields with a good post-holing risk and backtracking to the correct area where we would go over a small saddle, to see the beautiful lake moonlit because it was entirely frozen over and covered in more snow.  Sliding down towards the water's edge on an old avalanche track while watching a huge lightning storm on the horizon and seeing more stars than I have in months, made the experience more than worthwhile though, and some steak kebabs and rum and coke courtesy of Mike, who makes the honorable mention list for jumping on the trip without a shred of gear, no headlamp and still being able to pack both beverage and steak morsels, made the weekend one of the best this summer so far.  

Here's to believing theres no such thing as too late to have fun.

Thanks for looking

whole gallery here

-Rhys 

Phil's maternity picture, he's due any day now!

Gettin Wacky in Wenatchee

The last few days have been a blur.  Gearing up for a two month trip to Africa, I have been faced with the sacrifice of missing the heart of the 2011/12 snow season, and one that is shaping up to be pretty awesome.  It's one I gladly make though, and getting to have days like this, running around with Bart Patitucci, Robbie Hutton and Matt Penny at ungodly hours of the morning, dodging cops, sweet talking office employees and shredding in the backyard with Max the dog, let me have the best of both.

Here's to doing stuff, and being busy. It means you have a life,

thanks for looking

check the whole gallery HERE

-Rhys

A Post for the Plankers

Mixin it up with Nick Marvik and Colin Poff, expanding the crew to twice its size, we ran into these guys as we scoped the same rail.  With the snow now pretty much completely gone, I think I was most glad just to have proof that it was actually here in Bellingham at all.

Thanks for looking,

Rhys

Snowingham

Evan Bang put it best when he told me Bellingham with snow is like a whole other world.  And with the right light, and some nice bright snowflakes, a spacey looking starry scene unfolded and it seemed the planets aligned just enough for us to get some snow to hit a rail he had been scoping out.  With a solid rope, 4WD and a good grip, a quick lurch got the guys going fast enough for a nice rail session.  First rail shots of the year! So I'm a little behind, but hopefully make up for it with these,

Now go do something in the snow besides crash into curbs, like most things in life, as soon as its gone, you'll want it back.

Check the whole gallery HERE

thanks for looking!

-Rhys