People go there year after year, and don't get the combo of snow conditions and weather that we had.

If you asked me, before I left, what my dream trip would be, it wouldn't have even come close to what I actually did!

I'm was so lucky, its hard to put into words, even now, 2 weeks later.

Awesome! what an amazing experience that must have been. I noticed a helmet cam you have any video to post?

Yeah, I've got lots of helmet cam video. I'm going to do some editing on my favorites & post it up. I've never edited video, so it probably won't be anything fancy. I'll put up a link when I get it done.

Here I am at Devils Tower in Wyoming today.

Looks like you're getting ready to get a drink straight from the source.

Dan - I can't believe you'd even post that pic with a group like this... Wide open

At Mt Rushmore today.

I like this one best.

We did the same trip a few years ago. Cept we went the other way. I think we did SD first, then WY.

I did this with my parents 30 years ago so now I'm doing it with my kids and brought my dad along. It's a lot different than my last visit.

Mrs D&D72 representing at the Rockies home opener. Rocks got but it was a good time.

At Carhenge in Nebraska this afternoon.

Damn, Jeremy, you're hitting all the cool sites. Gonna stop by the world's largest ball of twine in Cawker City, KS?

Here are some videos I've edited together to show off some of my favorite runs on my trip to Alaska. We got to name our "first descents".

Post up if the links don't work and I'll keep trying. Successfully posting these videos has not gone smoothly.

Make sure you click on the "HD" button on facebook, and set the youtube videos to high def.

A crazy heli landing, with only the front half of the heli on the snow, and an awesome, 1st descent of a steep coulior, "Highball"
https://www.facebook.com/video/video.ph ... 7209632710

A sweet, long, coulior "Coogans"
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=32 ... permPage=1

Another 1st descent, I named it "Hazard County", this one is for JD and the Hockeykids. Lowered in "on belay" so we didn't fall in:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=32 ... permPage=1

Now for the big, bad "Pontoon", this changed everything. Truly, the scariest run of my life.

Flight up, landing, and top entrance:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTiEg1Cu ... ture=share

2nd half of the traverse in, and 58* coulior that followed. I didn't edit this, I wanted to show how long and tedious the entrance was. A real "NO FALL ZONE"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSbvYPtk ... ture=share

Wounded knee was cool only because the story. There really isn't much there to see.

I should have told you about Mrs. Kuny's fri-bread! 20 miles down a dirt road to get there, but it was worth it!!!

Chad, that terrain is insane! Over my skill level to be sure, but the snow looks awesome! Looks similar to the best snow days we had on Wolf Creek!

J.D.

Colorado powder is lighter, but doesn't stick to steep slopes, and is much more dangerous. Most of the time we were only boot to knee deep. If we were riding snow like that in Colorado, we would have been eyeball deep & needed snorkels. But that kind of terrain and snow is not rideable here.

Intercontinental snowpacks (Colorado) are shallower and develop more problems that lead to worse avalanche danger. I took an avalanche class in 1998, and they opened the class by stating that we live in "the most dangerous" area in the world. The Silverton Avalanche School is the oldest in America, and has some of the most highly respected guys in the industry teaching.

Maritime snowpacks (Cali, AK, BC) are usually safer because of the increased depth of the snowpack, more moisture, warmer temps, and less solar radiation exposure (it gets too complicated to explain, and I don't even understand/remember everything I learned back then). So it opens up more backcountry options.

Generally, we have to wait till spring, for the snowpack to get safe enough to ride steep lines. The warm temps in spring help all the layers in the snowpack to melt together, and form one big/deep layer, instead of multiple layers & sliding surfaces that lead to avalanches. Then in spring, you have to worry about wet slides, when the snow just melts into a big slushie and falls off the mountain. A huge wet slide, near Silverton, just killed a Crested Butte local, about a week ago.

This ends your unexpected, probably unwanted, avalanche class for today.

here's one of many more to come.

Ahh, cool place!

That place was awesome. I could spend hours walking through there. I've got a bunch of pics I'll get up once I get back.

Discovery just after coming in the building. They were closing off the area to the public so we got pics as soon as we could.

That is amazing to be that close to a Space Shuttle. Great pic.

Rob,

The pic with the Shuttle is sweet! What a cool opportunity.

Oh I'll get all of them posted for the people not on my Facebook. What I have posted is only a very few. Still about 300 more pics.

I thought of kirk for that one. That was at the Korean war memorial. I also have a pic for you and other non libtards.

Post it up! Some of us libtards like trucks, guns etc. They just have to be electric trucks and cap guns or we get skeerd.

So here are some where has CCB been pics from my trip to DC this past week.











And the FINAL pic. This is just for Dan.

Sorry--no coliseums, cows, cathedrals, or memorials...just me at Myrtle Beach in South Carolina.

Here is August and Wyatt at the capital