Had another serving of Utah Powder...... The last 72 hours we have had over 40", weekly totals are well over 70" and more snow on the way!
Ash captured another great moment. Yeah, its a tad out of focus but the story behind the photo is crystal clear ; )
Rider: Me Photo by: Ash Christensen
The past 24 hours left us with plenty of snow, 25" in less than 48 hours and another 24" by tomorrow night!!! This is truly what dreams are made of. The canyons were closing off and on the day before, wind was gusting over 100mph and it was snowing up to 3 inches an hour.
The sun was out today, temperatures were a bit nippy, -5 overnight but the powder was waiting for us. Yesterdays high winds, and sideways snowing style created a landscape that every shredder dreams of.
Ash shot this classic Backcountry gouge of me.... big thanks
Photo by: Ash Christensen
Lost a friend today..... a humble man and snow artist.
| William George Poole | | |
 Billy Poole 1979 ~ 2008 William George Poole, extreme skier and kindhearted soul, died pursuing his passion Jan. 22, 2008. Born on March 30, 1979 to Phyllis Erck and James Poole, "Billy" Poole was raised by his mother in Missoula, Montana and later in Hardwick, Massachusetts. It was the mountains of Montana that originally inspired his love for skiing. Billy was a star athlete growing up, starting with Pee Wee Hockey in Cambridge, Mass. and soccer, baseball, wrestling and skiing throughout his school years. Billy graduated from Quabbin Regional High School in Massachusetts in 1997, winning State Championship in wrestling that year, and went on to study civil engineering at the University of New Hampshire. After he graduated from UNH in 2001 skiing quickly became more than a hobby. He competed in his first Big Mountain competition at Snomass in 2002 finishing an impressive 5th overall, he continued competing on the circuit for the next two years and eventually worked with the industry's leading filmers and photographers, traveling nationally and internationally to capture breathtaking images of Billy skiing in the beautiful places that loved so passionately. He was filmed skiing in Sweden, Japan and South America. He was known as one of the most kind hearted, hardest working and most driven skiers in the industry. His ski movies and images can be seen throughout publications and online. His death came at a time in his ski career when his years of hard work were coming to fruition. With several film appearances to his credit, a new hat company with his friend, Julian Carr, a profile in the latest issue of Powder Magazine, and a sponsorship as Black Diamond's marquee alpine skier, Poole was just coming into the prime of his career. Billy's ambition, talent as an athlete, and good name in the ski industry in no way overshadowed his magnetic personality. A matchless source of positive energy, Billy leaves behind many, many friends in Montana, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Colorado, Utah, South America, and Asia who will miss his raucous brand of enthusiasm. Billy Poole had long dreamt of starring in a Warren Miller ski film and finally got his first crack at realizing that dream this winter. Billy's last big adventure took place in the backcountry of Utah's Big Cottonwood Canyon; it was his first week out filming with the Warren Miller Entertainment crew. Billy died that bluebird afternoon at University Hospital in Salt Lake from injuries sustained while jumping a cliff. He was 28-years-old. Billy is survived by his sister, Pennie Thompson, mother, Phyllis Erck and her fiance, Curtis Rathburn, grandparents, Lou and Ruby Erck and nephews, Caleb and Brevlin Thompson, of Missoula, Montana, aunts, Lisa Gray and Rose Lockwood and uncle, Charles Erck, cousins, Moon, Auguste and Theo Lockwood, Scarlet, Rohan, Sam, Rosa, Ruby Lelani Erck and Jasper and Zachary Stover and Ashley O'Connor, step-father, David Wright, step-brother, Luke Wright, step-sisters, Sarah Meyers, Becky McDonald and Ashley O'Connor. A memorial service will be held on Tuesday, January 29 at 11 a.m. at the Garden City Funeral Home in Missoula, Montana followed by a reception at Ruby's Inn. A foundation has been setup in Billy's name to help kids to learn to ski. Donations to this foundation can be made at www.billypoole.com. Online condolences: www.larkinmortuary.comPublished in the Salt Lake Tribune on 1/27/2008. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ||
It all started with a wrong turn....
A few nights ago Nick and I agreed on a destination - we are headed south to hit a favorite river. With so little time to prepare my arsenal of flies I figured tying and work came first and sleep will just need to wait. Besides there's always Red Bulls. After too many hours of driving and too many of those hours on dirt roads, the sun was finally rising. With the early morning light upon us, you could now see the playground…. it was looking good. As we were admiring the creations and not paying attention to the road we missed a turn. Normally you would turn around but instead, for some reason, we kept going… why I have no idea. So I suggested that we could always check the lake over the pass. Since Nick had never been there before we decided to keep on going. We arrived at the lake, the sun was almost on the water, wind was calm and the outside temperature was absolutely freezing. We were much higher in elevation than initially anticipated and the arsenal of flies that I "had to tie" was now useless. At that moment I realized that I might not have my lake flies. I was almost at panic mode when I found the flies that I got from Cheech - they really paid off. I am not much of a lake fisherman so breaking down the "problem" takes a bit more time. After many fly changes, we finally found the right color. It was the last color we tried and the original color that I had said in the beginning that had always works here - I suppose one can never have too much knot tying practice. Most every other cast produced a chase. It was like a cat chasing a mouse but it was a task trying to get them to actually eat it. So we spent the rest of the day trying to keep them interested…. maybe they were trying to keep us interested, who knows. It was a great day and a ton of fun taking a friend to a new place and catching healthy fish. I also caught a Cutthroat on a hopper, on Thanksgiving Day!
The drive home was filled with conversations of "what ifs" and "should have done that" and "forgot about that". We agreed to go home hit the vise and go back in a few days. The call went out, Ralphy and MFRW wanted in…only two more days' till we can test out the theory.
The Theory…
We needed a flashy fly that would stay suspended and had great overall movement…got on the phone and got some advise from Cheech. This is the part that I really enjoy about fishing, over analyzing the situation and going bonkers at the vise. Somehow each time I end up tying nothing that resembles the original plans… and trying to make my novice tying skills look like something is not easy. Way too many dozen flies later we should have it covered.
The return was filled with Neil Young and some live Doors tunes…and anticipation. Down the dirt road and over the pass, the sun was beginning to break and the sunrise was another picture prefect moment. Time seemed to whiz right by… maybe it was just MFRW's driving. Finally we arrived at the spot, the lake was calm, it was the same scenario but thankfully this time was a little warmer. Well, to say the least it was a great day. We all got into fish; Nate was getting into some beautifully colored fish.
Chris lost a PIG and Nick was feeling it, and put on a show. Best of all every last one of us got our fingers chewed up by the sharp a$$ teeth, all had bloody fingers. Out of all those flies only a few worked as planned, but at least one turned out… the one Nick had. Guess next time we need to tie a dozen of each style… just in case. It was great to be up in the high 
country fishing with a bunch of delinquent's. These are the trips that really keep me going…. Random last minute trips that require some effort and turning a wrong turn into something that will be remembered for quite sometime. The biggest lesson I learned was probably, to go with the flow. As always I learned a ton. Can't wait till spring lake fishing.
My New Years Resolution.
Fish More Water.....
.................................. Ride More Powder
