Ridge Tops, River Bottoms

Seasons and priorities are changing.

2010-11-22T20:14:00.000-08:00

The weather changed so quickly here in Utah that I did not even have the time to blog about it. Even though I have already had some great ski days this season, I want to share some of the adventures that were had by the Rapid Progression crew this summer.

We were able to catch the Final release of the Black Canyon of the Bear river. American whitewater has done a great job working with the local dam operators in Grace Idaho to get regular releases for the past few years. Unfortunately, this could have been the last year. Keep your fingers crossed that we will get a few more years of releases.

The run is a great basalt gorge in the potato fields of southern Idaho. It consists of mostly class 4 rapids and one class 5 named boo boo. When it is flowing, Paddlers come from all over the west to get in on the action.

Check out the video of 2 of the larger rapids, Grace Falls and Boo Boo.

A little Eye Candy From Rapid Progession Kayak School

2010-07-12T20:33:00.001-07:00

My vision is blurred this time of year

2010-06-10T19:44:00.000-07:00

The sun has finally come out in Utah and warmed the air. It all came at once this time and the rivers went from dry to flood stage in less than a week. With that being said, there was no time to delay and everything I have to do is put on the back burner for the next little while.

The Logan River, Little cottonwood, Big cottonwood, The Weber river, the Provo river and every other creek that drains the high mountain tops of Utah were all blessed with a torrent of whitewater. I have been able to paddle 3 of 4 days so far this week and hopefully will get more done this weekend.

Unless you are a kayaker, You would not understand the excessive checking of flows, the endless laps walking up and down your local run, or getting up early to get some early morning rides on your favorite surf wave before work.

Some how, my peripheral vision goes blurry and I only have eyes for one thing, WHITEWATER!!

So to all those Utah boaters, Get out and enjoy the water while you can. Before you know it all our rivers will be back to their calm and placid selves and you will find yourself dreaming of ribbons of white flowing from on high!

Be Safe!

Check out some sick video action!

Zion Narrows Update.

2010-05-16T19:51:00.000-07:00

Here is the video I told you all about! This gives you an idea of what was all involved in the trip. Again, it was a great trip, great team and spectacular location. Thanks Garrett and Hammers inc. photography for capturing the magic!

Click here to see the video.

Kayak Season 2010 Kick Off!

2010-05-04T18:34:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you find yourself in a location and you wonder to yourself " How did I get here?". With kayaking I find myself asking that question often. There seems to be something special about having the view from the water instead of from the shore. It makes you see things you have never seen before.

This past weekend I found myself asking "How did I get here?" over and over again around every turn of the river. Fortunately I knew how I got there and it was not easy. But all the hard work paid off as I found myself in the one of the most beautiful and awe inspiring places on earth.

The Zion Narrows are most commonly enjoyed by hikers during the the late summer. There is very little water during that time and people escape the heat of the desert by hiking through the deep slot canyon. But during the spring the North fork of the Virgin river is full of runoff water and allows you to navigate through the canyon in kayaks.

It is a 15 mile paddle that starts up high in the snow covered hills. It was 28 degrees when we put on in the morning so we were sure to put on plenty of layers to stay warm. When we got the permit to paddle the canyon, the ranger asked us to keep our eyes peeled for any belongings of the two men that died in the canyon the week before. They entered the canyon unprepared trying to run it in a homemade raft. They likely died of Hypothermia. As far as we know we were the first kayakers to get a permit this season so we would have to be extra careful for any surprises. We had a great team for this trip that made it even better. The trip consisted of all members of the Rapid Progression Kayak School team, Pitt G, Mark G, Smitty, AT, Curtis C, Jake M, Jake S, and Garrett from Hammers Inc. Photography.

The first 3 miles were spent hiking, dragging our boats, deeper into the canyon. There was not quite enough water to make the paddling enjoyable at first but we eventually got in our boats. We put on at 8am and reached the Temple of Sinawava parking lot at 5:30pm. It was a full day. Every hour was full of the best scenery this world has to offer. It was a great kick off to the 2010 kayak season!

Now this is Kayaking!!

Curtis taking advantage of a little bit of water before entering the canyon

Snow bridge in the desert

15 ft waterfall that would have been a highlight but it was full of logs so we had to walk it.

Jake asking himself "How did I get here?"

Hammers Inc. photography came along with us and is producing a video that will be off the hook. Check back later for that. If any of you have questions about the run feel free to leave a comment or email any of the Rapid Progression team.

The future of Kayaking

2010-04-13T13:29:00.001-07:00

Rapid Progression Kayak School is always on the front end of a progressing sport. Kayaking gives us so many opportunities to see great place and try new things.

Last fall we purchased a Jackson Dynamic Duo and we are ready to push the limits of the sport. The Duo is a great teaching tool. We are able to take people down the river with confidence and the assistance of an experienced paddler in the boat with them. Come join us this summer and see what we mean. We are able to take even the biggest novice with us to experience the river.

Here is a funny video about Tandem kayaking to the extreme. I love the quote at the end. Enjoy!

Westminster Roll Clinics

2010-04-09T19:43:00.000-07:00

Rapid Progression Kayak School hooked up with the Westminster Outdoor Recreation program last fall and began teaching kayak classes once a week. We have gained quite a following at the school. We have a great turnout each week and are excited to welcome new faces. Ross, a student there has even taken the initiative to get a whitewater club going.

The sessions usually consist of going over basic paddle strokes, play an aggressive game of kayak polo and then finish it off with rolling practice. Roughly 90% of the students end up rolling after one session! I guess college students just know how to snap those hips!

Westminster has a great pool facility and the students are geared and ready for anything that is outdoor related. It is easy to make great things happen with the students.

We hope to go on some trips this spring so all the students can try their skills in the river! Rapid Progression wants this program to continue for many semesters to come.

Yurt Trips are good for the soul

2010-03-29T08:46:00.000-07:00

Last week was the annual Blind Hollow yurt trip for a few members of the Rapid Progression Kayak School team. It happens each March and is always a highlight of the ski season. This year we did not have the entire crew there but we had a new addition and good times were had by all.

The Blind Hollow yurt is located up Logan Canyon. The trailhead starts just below Temple Fork. The ski in is just over for miles and about 2000 vertical ft. once you are at the yurt, the skiing options that are endless. All aspects have great terrain from mellow meadow skipping to big open bowls to narrow chutes. This trip we decided to cross Cottonwood canyon and head towards Mt. Elmer. Just east of Mt. Elmer we found some north facing chutes where the snow was deep and creamy. I truly was shocked at the quality of snow we found. It has been weeks since a significant storm in Northern Utah and we were skiing great powder on 35-40 degree slopes. Some of the best skiing I have had all season.

Here is a map of the area and where we skied.

If any of you are interested in skiing to any of the 3 yurts up Logan Canyon, contact The Utah State University Outdoor rec.

Ruby Mountains Part 4

2010-03-11T22:10:00.000-08:00

The Final Day and there is not much to show. We woke up to 100 feet of visibility and howling winds. We did not take many pictures do the fact that we could not see anything.

Liberty Pass- our final high point before thousands of feet of downhill.

We made it to the car though after a few hours of wandering around above 10,000 feet. we had to ski a steep couloir and ski past 3 high mountain lakes. It was a strong finish to a epic weekend. Here are my final thoughts on the Ruby Mtns.

Lamoille Canyon= The Finish Line

This is how we both felt. It felt good to reach the car.

When seeing the Ruby Mountains for the first time, there is a certain aura around them that causes to conjure up ideas of great, unskied lines, or impassable ridgelines. They come out of nowhere in the desert of Nevada and for a few moments it takes your mind away from never ending strip of pavement that you have been staring at for hours while motoring on Interstate 80. Your thoughts are lost in couloirs, bowls and powder. They stand as an oasis. Mark was the one that took those thoughts and acted upon them. After 3 years of plans not working out he finally quenched his wonderment about what the Rubies really hold. I was lucky enough to be a part of it.

This curiosity is the basis for most epic adventures and the force that drives us to do what we do. We all love to make turns in soft snow and scare ourselves on steep slopes, but what we really want is to see what is out there and feed the imagination with even more images and more possibilities. I guess it is a perpetual cycle with no end. And those of us that attempt to satisfy the curiosity seem to only become more curious.

Ruby Mountains Part 3

2010-03-04T21:28:00.000-08:00

Another morning and this one is the most beautiful of them all. It is Valentine's day and the Rubies have a lot of love in store for us. On this day we cover the most ground of any day. We start our day by working across boiler plate snow conditions that is impossible to get grip on. We have to be creative and pick just the right spots to step to insure that our skins grip. We quickly are looking down on Overland lake and we have 1,000 feet of beautiful bowl skiing all the way onto the lake. Above the lake is an amazing blue ice fall. All around us are long, steep lines which have probably never been skied before. You could spend an entire ski career in the Overland Lake drainage.

Yeah We got to ski this!

Epic lines. This is the kind of stuff movies are made of!

We were able to traverse across the bottoms of huge cirques and cover a lot of ground in just a short period of time. Then it was time to climb again. The sun had warmed the south facing ridge we were moving on and we went straight up it. After a lot of sweating, we reached the ridge at the top of Long Canyon and get a view of Ruby Dome and the other monster peaks of the range.

The Infamous Ruby Dome

We are now on the crest ridge and ready to move and move we did. We were practically running along the barren ridge and were driven like two kids in a candy shop. Upon topping out on a small peak we look down on the saddle and see a herd of mountain goats. Just looking at their tracks and where they had been scared me and I envy their mountaineering skills!

Mountain goats standing on the edge of the world.

We finally stopped moving when we realized that we were about to bonk. We had been moving non stop and covered over 9 miles. We found a clump of trees to hunker down behind and spent the rest of Valentine's day at 10,500 feet enjoying some classy dehydrated meals.

Tune in later for the the final day of action!

Ruby Mountains Part 2

2010-02-25T18:27:00.000-08:00

When we woke up on day 2 feeling that the hard part was behind us. Our plan for the day was to get back up on the ridge and cruise. It ended up being another day very similar to the first. We quickly reached the ridge in the morning and found that we would have to rip our skins and enjoy some of the great Ruby powder. When we looked out over the ridge we saw nothing but impassible ridge line. Our other option was to ski down about 2,000 vertical feet, cross over 2 drainages and ski a few miles up the third drainage. Needless to say it was not what we had planned. But we did get some good downhill.

Once we reached the top of the drainage, there was a pretty large headwall. We climbed up to the pass expecting to see Overland lake on the other side. We reached the top and decided that we were sufficiently spent for the night. So we set up camp on a pristine ridge at almost 10.000 feet that gave a us great view.

Nothing beats this view out your front door

Mark chasing the sunset

We ate 2 dinners that night to help prepare for the next day and give us the much needed calories. Life just keeps getting better in the Rubies!

Mission Accomplished!

2010-02-20T17:22:00.000-08:00

The trip went off without a hitch. Well almost. We headed off to the Ruby Mountains of Nevada for an epic journey. I am currently writing an article that is explaining everything in full detail. So for now I will post the stats of the trip with a few photos and a just a couple of the highlights. Keep checking back for updates because I will do it in sections.

Total trip details:

February 12-15, 2010

Mileage-37 miles

Vertical feet climbed-11,300

High Point-10,860 ft

Pack weight- 36 pounds

This was probably one of the most physically demanding trips I have ever done. Part of the reason for that was due to the fact that we were not always completely clear on our route and what we were capable of each day. Along with the physical effort put forth we were able to really test our navigation skills.

We were about 2.5 hours into our drive to Elko, NV when Mark realized that all of our topo maps were sitting on his kitchen table. The next morning we stopped everywhere we could looking for a topo map that would help to gives us an idea of our route. Luckily Cowboy John, our shuttle driver, had a recreational map of the area which we were able to use and totally saved us multiple times.

Cowboy John

We skied from Harrison pass up past the Green mountain trailhead and headed north. Our ultimate goal was Lamoille Canyon via the Ruby Crest ridgeline. We were very anxious to get up on the ridge so we could get a view of our objective and we also thought that once on the ridge, we would be sprinting along it and cruise on through. Boy were we wrong! For the first 2 days it seemed like every ridge we reached was nye impassible and we were forced to find a safe route down and try to access in another drainage or location.

Typical view of the ridge we were supposed to be "cruising" along

So after a few ups and downs (about 2500 feet each) we finally felt like we got on course. Our nights seemed to be perfect. we stayed warm and always had great views when we woke up.

Camp 1

I know the average attention span for blogs is usually just a few photos and even fewer paragraphs. Tune in for the next update and more photos. I have lots more to share. Feel free to ask questions. I love talking about this trip.

I would be a rich man

2010-02-07T23:12:00.000-08:00

If I did not have such a healthy outdoor recreation obsession, I figure I could retire somewhere around the age of 35. I do not even want to imagine all the money I have invested in gear! It is an ongoing problem in life. And no matter the size of my paycheck there always seems to be a percentage of it that is budgeted to buy some climbing hardware, camping amenities or skiing paraphernalia. I do not have a solution to my problem and luckily my wife is aware of my problem and tolerates me the best she can. Over the past few years websites such as Steep and Cheap have played the devils advocate for people like me. I have a love hate relationship with it, but my wife probably wishes she could block all discount gear websites from my computer.

Here is one corner of my happy place, There is also a closet that looks like it vomited after a lunch at REI.

One of my proudest accomplishments while being a homeowner is the transformation of a bedroom into a gear room. I show it off to everyone that visits and sometimes when no one is watching, I enter my gear room, close the door and play with all my investments. I also enjoy seeing other peoples gear rooms and checking out gear that others have that are on my list of future purchases. I know I am a total nerd, but I figure there are worse habits out there. Share your thoughts on gear rooms, storage techniques or addictions to gear that you have. I would like to know if there are more people out there that share my illness.

There is no such thing as too many kayaks!

Sometimes you got to beat the winter blues

2010-02-01T20:05:00.000-08:00

Bek loves when she can shed the winter wear for a weekend and get the blood pumping!

One of the greatest things about living in Utah is that you can have the best of both worlds all year long. Everyone knows that winter in northern Utah brings the greatest snow on earth. But when you need to thaw out from too many face shots and chilly dawn patrol mornings, we like to head south and feel the warm red rock on our hands. One of the best places for mid-winter climbing is Snow Canyon State Park. It seems to get great sun exposure and always warm enough to climb or hike. It is super accessible from St. George and there are all types of levels of activities so that you can take a versatile group and everyone can find something to do.

December climbing at its best

For the climbing, there are tons of sport routes and trad routes. And if any of you have not climbed sandstone/red rock, I recommend it. There is something different about it that makes it rad. The route pictured is a 5.7 name Twist and Shout. It is a good warm-up route on the way to the next tier of routes. I took my father-in-law on this route and it was his first climbing experience. He loved it and decided that your early 60's is not too old to pick up a new sport. I am happy to share it with him because that just means another partner option when I am looking for a belay!

I hope I am still scaling rocks like this my sixties

Next time we have a dry spell or you just need to get out of the inverted Salt Lake Valley, pack up and take the short drive south for the weekend. Even us snow lovers need the sunshine to keep us going!

Be Prepared

2010-01-28T17:34:00.000-08:00

I am going to give you a sneak peek at an adventure that is just around the corner. In preparation for this trip I have been trying get some exercise on a regular basis so that I do not get half way through the journey and start asking my cohorts to carry me. The trip could be a great experience in the mountains or a death march to insanity. We have a solid crew lined up and I really can't wait to get started. So now that I have built it up are you ready to hear what it is.

We are traversing the Ruby Mountain range of Nevada. Oooooh, Ahhhhh! Alright, for those of you that have no idea what I am talking about here are the details of the trip.

The Rubies are known as the Nevada Swiss Alps.

Distance- 35-50 miles (depending on the side trips we take)

Elevation 6500 ft. - 11000 ft. With lots of ups and down between.

4 days to do it with everything we need on our backs!

Wish us luck as we prepare and keep checking to see the trip report on this epic journey. If any of you have any valuable info that will help make this trip epic, please fill us in.

It is always nice to go home

2010-01-26T18:04:00.000-08:00

Winter has finally arrived here in Utah. It took a little longer than expected but for those that were patient, this week it has paid off. Most areas in Northern Utah received anywhere from 2 -5 feet over the past week. With all the snow, came avalanche warnings and lots of natural and skier triggered activity. Check out the Utah Avalanche Forecast center's account of some of the action. As for me, I stuck to the lift serviced powder while the backcountry avalanche danger was high. I returned to my old stomping grounds of Beaver Mtn, in Logan Canyon. There is something to be said about pulling into the parking lot of a ski resort on a monday morning and only seeing about 25 other cars. No lift lines, no avoiding other skiers, and plenty of beautiful Utah powder to last all day (or probably a few days). It is nice to get away from the chaos of ski in- ski out condos, jam packed backcountry trailheads, and an endless train of cars going up and down the canyon. Sometimes it is worth sacrificing the pure size of a resort or peak when the pay off is solitude and serenity.

Pannic is a long time Beaver Believer!

Beaver Mtn. is a special place for locals. Ask anyone that has spent a season or more there, they will tell you stories of bottomless pow, no frills or extras and a solid crowd of people that are there for one reason and one reason only, the skiing. I would not usually spill the beans about such a special place, but it seems that no matter how much I talk up the Beav, people still tend to get sucked down to the bigger brothers to the south so I am not worried about too many people discovering this gem!

Pannic, Jax and Pitt reminiscing about the good old days

On the next Utah powder day, I dare you to not line up behind the thousands of cars at the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon and head north to the Bear River range! Whether you are touring or riding lifts I guarantee you will leave with a smile on your face and stories to bring back to your friends.

Feel free to comment and tell me about the places you love to return to and never leave you disappointed. I am always looking for new places to explore and write about.

Who are we and what are we doing?

2010-01-22T20:56:00.000-08:00

Welcome everyone!! Magog Corp is here to take over the world! We are an up-and-coming outdoor recreation and events company that is based out of Northern Utah. We have grown up with the Rocky Mtns as our stomping grounds and playing in them anyway we can. Kayaking, rafting, skiing, climbing, and general Tom foolery is our specialty. The members of Magog Corp. have an accumulative of about 1 million years of outdoor experience and are excited to give you a taste of what we do.

Updates will come often as we tell you what we are doing, review gear, and keep you posted on events and classes.