Hey folks, I figured I'd share a bit of my latest trip. Recently my family bought a cabin out in the Sawtooth national forest in Idaho. I found some time off work(by far my longest time off in the past 4 years, hell yeah), and figured it was about damn time to visit. Turned out to be a preeeettty good decision.
The initial approach was fantastic. It was rather short, but certainly beyond beautiful. Notice we made sure to pack the essentials
I spent the first week with my parents. As we live on opposite sides of the country nowadays it was refreshing to spend time together. They left and I was by myself for the remaining two weeks. Here are my dad and I about to head out on a snowshoe. We wandered around the creek next to the house for a while, trying to find and cross as many ice bridges as possible. Thankfully we went out before the snow started to melt and the creek became a muddy mess.
The cabin is only a 20 minute drive away from the nearest ski resort. Super convenient! This picture can't even begin to capture the view from the mountain. Spring skiing is gorgeous, but man skiing in slurpee like slush ain't so fun.
There was a big air competition at the mountain. I competed! (Just kidding, those guys are crazy)
We had a little bit of snow fall off the roof. Thank god no one was underneath it. I did a whooooole lot of shoveling.
Did I mention it was beautiful?
Probably my favorite picture of the trip.
I climbed up the mountains and then skied down! I'd never been backcountry skiing so I was worried about avalanches and ended up being super cautious. Still a blast, this was halfway down the mountain. The cabin is located down the visible valley in the distance.
My friend made me this backpack for the trip. I promised him I would take some shots of it while on the mountain.. I didn't do the best job, this is what I ended up with. Sorry man?
Stanley is sweet.
Really sweet.
Friend also made this hammock. I read for a while before freezing my ass off and running back to the warm fire. Nice while it lasted
I was reading by the fire about two weeks in when this little guy ran past me. No reservations, little bugger had no fear. I think we made eye contact. Ballsy little guy. I put a cracker in a trap with fantastic result. Serves you right. I ended up releasing him across the plain way far away from the cabin.
Dinner's were nice. I tried to eat outside as often as possible.
It was pleasent to live by myself for a while. The cabin didn't have running water or plumbing, though it did have electricity. In all honesty I could have done without the internet, it tended to pull me out of the moment. I didn't get as much reading done as I would have liked, but I certainly did plenty of introspection. Nothing like good ol' quality time alone with one's thoughts.
Financially this was pretty big endeavor. Luckily I received very decent discounts at pretty much every place I went. I bought skis+boots at a local thrift store(that place was heaven). The airfare was the biggest hit. Unfortunately I'm not going to really be able to give relevant tips to most people here.
Oh also, I don't have any pictures, but I did a winter triathalon (definitely not the time to learn how to skate ski, but that's a whole other story).
I really don't post a lot but I figured this was worth sharing. Hope y'all enjoyed it. I would highly suggest going to the Sawtooth/ketchum area to anyone interested. It's well worth the trip.
You'll hear this again and again, but wow that place looks phenomenal! I love hiking and being outdoors. Considering I'm from the south skiing/ snowboarding are definitely part of my bucket list. I hope you have another amazing trip to share!
Next up, Necroptosis goes to Flint, MI! It uh... may not be as nice. Thanks man! Best of luck making it to mountainlands. It's well worth it
Those views are stunning man, can't imagine how it must actually look and feel. Just spent a week up in Woodstock, NY rucking and hiking, so I'm catching up to you in baby steps :D Thanks for sharing!
Of course, thanks for the response. The backpack was fantastic. I'll try to do it justice here. Credit/disclaimer for the creator here; this was an incredibly rushed job. I think he designed and made it in around 1-2 days. So there's quite a bit I really liked about the bag. It was made purposefully for this trip, so it worked perfectly. The flaps on the front serve as ski/pole/whatever fits holder. Also specially fit for the helmets that we use. There are also ice ax holders(the loops at bottom/top). Worked well enough; The material itself is super durable. I abused the hell out of it and had no problems. I can get the exact details on it if you're interested. He used a single metal bar as the frame. If I was loading it with anything more then 60lbs it'd probably not be sufficient, but I was traveling light. His ALICE frame packs are pretty solid for heavier weights. The shoulder straps are the best I've ever used. I absolutely love them. No hip belt as I wasn't planning on heavy loads, but there is a space for one as needed. The pack fit perfectly and rode extremely well. Now for what I don't like. As I said earlier, it was rushed, and you can tell. I nearly ripped the load lifter out hiking up the mountain. The bottom shoulder strap mount started to unravel. I straight pulled one of the buckles out while tightening in the skis. The lid doesn't quite fit to the rest of the pack. He's working on completely redoing the lid, he isn't really happy with it either. All in all it's an incredible pack. I'm lucky to be the "product tester" for his gear.
He's dabbling, mostly for friends at the moment. Seems to be testing the waters on ramping it up with various other projects