Kids Skiing Powder

Posted on by chris

We’ve been skiing with our kids for quite  a while now, and they can ski almost everything we can. We started them young, getting them to the mountain when they were 4 years old, and now they are great little skiers.

The hard work of teaching them to ski has been evident this year, because their skill levels have shot up. This was made crystal clear when we took the kids powder skiing.

Our local mountain got a fresh dump of 10 inches of light powder. It was hovering around 17 degrees keeping the conditions perfect. It was snowing at least an inch an hour the entire time, adding to the perfection.

We skied hard, not having to worry about lift lines because everyone was waiting out the storm (silly fair weather skiers).

You’ve heard the quote, “there are no friends on powder days”? If you can’t keep up you can’t ski with us…we aren’t waiting. I’m not saying I’d ditch my kids…but I didn’t have to, they were right there with us.

We skied the trees, the bowls, everything and we never had to wait for them. Sure the powder was light and perfect, but even then, skiing powder can be tough for kids. They’re used to groomers, but not our little powder skiers, they ripped it up.

All the hard work of the previous years was paying off. They weren’t only keeping up, they were begging for more; wanting to hit the trees and find all the fresh lines. One of my boys was even launching off some pretty serious jumps. We couldn’t stop laughing all day long.

I don’t have any tips for teaching kids to ski powder other than just doing it. There aren’t any magic techniques, there’s just practice.

The only thing we were careful of, was making sure one of us was always behind them, especially when we were skiing the trees. In deep snow, it can be dangerous if a kid falls. It’s damned difficult to get yourself up, and sometimes they need an adults help.

It’s important to keep sight of the kids and make sure you designate a meeting spot after the tree section. My biggest fear is losing them in a tree well. I’ve been trapped in one before and it can be a nightmare trying to extract yourself without some outside help.

We didn’t have any incidents though, and the powder day with the kids was more magical than any other powder day I’ve ever had.

Here’s a YouTube video of my wife tearing it up on that magical day

Powder skiing on Mt Ashland

 

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Mid-Winter Raft Care: 5 tips

Posted on by chris

A well taken care of raft

Were smack dab in the middle of Winter. Do you know where (how) your whitewater raft is doing? If you’re like most rafters, probably not. It’s mid-winter who wants to get out on a cold river?

Not me, but this is a good time to check in on your raft and see how it’s faring through the Winter. After all Spring is only a few short months away.

Here’s a list of mid-Winter checks you should do on your whitewater raft:

1. If your boat is deflated and rolled up, you should flip it onto the other side. Just  like humans, if it’s in the same spot for a long time, it can develop wear spots just like we develop bed sores.

2. Be sure the raft isn’t sitting in a wet spot (eww). Rafts love the water, but in Winter water can freeze and that can damage valves and even the raft thwarts and tubes. Wipe off any wetness with a dry towel. Wetness can breed mold which just doesn’t belong on a whitewater raft!

3. If your raft is inflated check to make sure the tubes are somewhat equal in inflation. You don’t want one a lot fuller than another, it can lead to a blown baffle. Inflate the less inflated one to match.

4. If you’re inflated raft is hanging, check to make sure there aren’t any wear spots forming. Sometimes a raft will deflate a bit and widen out as it does so; pushing up against straps and ropes.

5. If you have gear inside the boat, like coolers or dry boxes, take a look inside and make sure no mice are living there. Mice can destroy boxes as well as rafts, be sure these little beasts don’t have access to your precious baby.

If you find evidence of mice living in your raft, get rid of them. Pull your boat out, inflate it and spray it down. Put mouse traps and poison out.

Doing a mid-winter raft check shouldn’t take more than a few minutes but it’s time well spent. It could be the difference between a great whitewater rafting season and a completely missed rafting season. Neglect has killed more whitewater rafts than Blossom Bar rapid.

Have some more raft care tips? Post them in the comments section.

 

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Mountain Biking with Kids in Winter: 5 Tips

Posted on by chris

Ready for a Winter ride

This Winter on the west coast has been one of the driest on record. Normally the only thing on our mind this time of year is skiing. Skiing, skiing, skiing, the more the better.

This year though, has never happened, so instead of skiing, we’ve had to change our activities a bit. Were lucky to live in a place that offers a lot of other Winter activities. The one we’ve done most is mountain biking.

Like I said the snow hasn’t fallen, which also means it hasn’t rained much. All this adds up to dry Winter mountain bike trails.

Normally this is an adults only activity, but this past summer we invested in some decent mountain bikes for our kids. Nothing fancy, just decent, used bikes. The kids are big enough to use 26 inch wheels which makes a big difference when riding mountain bike trails. They can actually keep up with us.

We’ve been mountain biking quite a bit with them and they really love it. To make it more enjoyable for them we’ve learned a few things:

1. Get them on 26 inch wheels. These bikes are bigger but they have a lot of advantages over smaller kid bikes. First of all the bigger the wheel the faster they’ll travel along the trail. Second, you can upgrade them so kids won’t grow out of them so quickly.

2. Shocks are nice. these bigger bikes also come with front suspension. This isn’t essential for kids, but it does make for a smoother more enjoyable ride. If you have the kind that are adjustable, make them as spongy soft as you can to accommodate for the kids’ light weight.

3. Keep the pedals simple. don’t throw your kids into clipless pedals. Give them the downhiller pedals. These pedals have good grippiness but all they have to do to release is lift their foot. there’s no twisting or having to think about getting out of the pedals. Hell, I still have trouble getting out of clipless pedals.

4. Winter mountain biking requires stops and fuel. To keep the kids’ comfortable be sure to stop often and eat small snacks throughout the day. You don’t want them bonking or getting too tired. You want them to come back don’t you?

5. Choose an easy to moderate trail. don’t take them to some hardcore trail you love, take them to something you know they can handle. Remember, you may love slogging up steep hills, but I sincerely doubt your kids will.

There are probably a lot more tips and tricks for making mountain biking fun for kids. If you have any be sure to post them in the comments section.

 

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When should Kids get Ski Poles?

Posted on by chris

 

kids on chair lift

on the lift with ski poles secure


Our kids started skiing when they were 4 and 5 years old. Now they are 9 and 10 and can ski anywhere on the mountain.

When people see how well our kids ski they start asking questions and one of the most common is, “when should we give our kids ski poles?” Ski poles are an important piece of ski equipment, but not something they should start out with.

The simple answer is, give them poles when they’re ready for ski poles. It sounds flippant but what I mean is give them ski poles when they master these skiing moves:

1. They can stop and turn when they want. This sounds obvious but until they master these basic moves they don’t need to be thinking about ski poles.

2. They’re tall enough to have poles that fit. Kids’ ski poles can be cut down to    whatever size is needed but if you’ve got a real shrimp, the poles won’t do much good anyway.

3. They’re responsible enough to take care of them. I don’t mean taking care of them in the sense of keeping a pet safe, I mean able to take care of them while they’re in the ski line and on the lift.

They need to know not to swing them around using them as a sword or a bludgeon on other skiers. They also need to be able to get the straps off they’re wrists before getting on the ski lift. This takes practice but be sure they understand how it’s done before getting on the lift.

4. Give them ski poles when they ask for them. If they’ve met all the above points wait for them to ask for ski poles.

It’s pretty obvious how useful they are in ski lines. The kids see how easy skiers move in line when they use their poles to push them along. They notice how difficult it is for them to move, having to rely on their parents to pull them along.

Pretty soon they’ll get sick of not being able to move well, and they’ll ask for the poles.

Skiing with Poles

Once they have poles and they understand how the straps work, you’ll have to teach them what the heck they’re for. Skiing with poles goes beyond the basics of teaching skiing. Don’t get too involved with this step. Tell them to use them to help them turn. Have them try to plant the pole whenever they turn.

Most kids won’t do this initially. they’ll turn the same way they always have, not using their poles at all. That’s okay, don’t push them too hard or they’ll want to go back to no poles.

Eventually they’ll see other skiers using their poles to help them turn and they’ll figure it out on their own.

Once kids get used to having ski poles they’ll never want to go back.

 

 

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The Nook: Is it Right for the Outdoorsman?

Posted on by chris

work
Creative Commons License photo credit: Barbara.K

I’m an avid outdoorsman and an avid reader. In fact I can’t fall asleep unless I’ve read at least a page or two no matter how tired I am. So when I got a Nook for Christmas last year, I was excited, but apprehensive.

Excited because the thought of having a device that holds more books than I could read in a year made me think of long river trips without having to fill my bag with a bunch of paperbacks. Apprehensive because…well it’s an electronic device exposed to the harshness of the outdoors.

First Generation Battery Life

It was apparent that the first generation Nook had one major flaw, it only held a battery charge for maybe 10 hours of reading. Hardly sufficient for long river trips. Can you imagine running out of juice in the middle of a 7 day Salmon river trip? Unacceptable.

This Christmas I turned my old Nook in for their new version, it promised to hold a charge for up to 2 months. This sounded like the answer to my problems.

I certainly saw the difference at home. I never seemed to have to charge the Nook. It lasted for weeks.  I started thinking this might be the ticket.

Then, last weekend I went on a trip to eastern Oregon to do some Chukar hunting. Eastern Oregon in Winter is cold…very cold. The nights dropped to 13 degrees and the days barely got above freezing. We were camping in our tent trailer so the Nook was never in a warm place.

New Generation Battery

After a long day of chasing Chukar around steep Eastern Oregon canyons, I was excited to crawl into my warm sleeping bag and do some reading. I turned on the Nook and lo and behold the damned thing was out of battery power. I’d fully charged it only 2 days prior.

It seems the Nook’s new longer lasting battery can’t take the severe cold of a Winter hunting trip. To be fair, this is harsh country and harsh conditions. I’m sure it would have worked out better if I’d been hunting in more moderate climes, but I was disappointed.

This leaves me with ambiguous feelings about the Nook. I love it at home, but won’t be taking it on any more outdooring adventures.

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Kid’s Ski Gear Programs: The most Bang for your Buck

Posted on by chris

Heart and Cross Ski's
Creative Commons License photo credit: CraigMoulding

Our local ski shop, Rogue Ski shop, has a great way of getting families into skiing painlessly, both financially and effortlessly.

I’m not sure if this system is a common occurrence in other parts of the country, but if you’re lucky enough to be somewhere where there’s a similar program, it’s definitely worth doing.

Here’s how it works. Basically, it’s a ski exchange. When kids reach an age, or more exactly a height and weight, they are eligible to join the Rogue ski shop junior ski exchange.

It’s simple to get started and doesn’t cost much when you look at everything you get. For around 300 bucks per kid you get three years of ski gear. I’ll walk you through it.

When my oldest was 8 we enrolled him in the ski exchange program. He had been skiing since he was 4 so he was a decent skier, a perfect candidate for the exchange. The ski technicians measured and weighed him then found ski gear( boots, skis and ski poles) that fit him perfectly.

That first year he was given a pair of used skis and bindings that had been turned in by a young skier the previous year. Since there weren’t any good ski boot matches, he was given a brand new pair of boots. This gear isn’t chincy or cheap either, good stuff like Rosignol and Volkl.

Once he was outfitted the ski techs adjusted the ski bindings to the boots and adjusted the settings that were appropriate to his height, weight and ablility, they even tuned the skis. All I had to do was show up and take the gear home.

It was ours to use for the rest of the season. If anything went wrong with the gear (it never did) we were assured that it would be replaced or repaired at no charge.

The next year we got a call from the shop in early November asking us to bring in the gear to be evaluated and exchanged out for more appropriate lengths and sizes.

Since my son had grown so much over the year, we exchanged our gear and got a second set of  boots, skis and poles. Even though the gear had been used, it had only been used a couple of times, it was still in pristine shape.

The following year, same thing, only this was the final year of the three-year program. This third set of gear was a little different.

This gear we’d get to keep. We wouldn’t turn it back into the exchange program. this year all the gear is brand new. It’s all top of the line, name brand ski gear.

The techs made sure to get us dialed with gear that we’d hopefully get more than one season out of. For instance, they put my son into a more aggressive ski, knowing that as he gets better he’ll want the more aggressive style. they also tried to size the skis and boots big to give us some growing room.

My oldest is done with the program now. For that 3oo dollars, I got 3 different sets of ski gear, the third set we keep. If I had to buy new skis, boots and poles every year, it would have cost a lot more.

It was also a relief to rely on the experts to outfit my son with the perfect gear, set to the perfect settings. There was no guess-work and no fuss.

My youngest son is in the ski exchange now and  were just as pleased with the results.

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Klamath Duck Hunt: Final Days of the Season

Posted on by chris

Before work the other day I went duck hunting with my brother. We had a great hunt, ducks were everywhere and we limited out within 2 hours. If we’d been shooting better we could have limited in under an hour. The ducks were low and decoying like crazy.

It was a beautiful day with clear skies and storms in the surrounding mountains. This may have been the final hunt of the season since the weather is starting to get cold, and the open water will start freezing hard.

Here are some pictures and a youtube video of the hunt. Pay close attention to the  youtube video, watch the duck on the far left get shot out of the sky.

Last duck of the day  (youtube video)

Here are some random pics from this awesome day of duck hunting.

Early morning duck hunting

Golds and Blues of the Marsh

 

A full limit of ducks

 

A full day of Retrieving ducks makes for a dirty dog

Hopefully we’ll get another hunt in this year, but with the weather turning colder, the marsh will probably freeze up in the next couple of days. Then it’ll be time to Chukar hunt!

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Duck Hunting in Klamath Marsh

Posted on by chris

last weekend I went duck hunting with my brother and nephew. This is the 4th time hunting this year and it’s been pretty good. We’ve been shooting limits of ducks mostly consisting of Widgeon, Mallards, Pintail, and Gadwall.

Normally I take my two boys, but it was supposed to be really cold and possibly rainy. I thought it would be a good idea for them to stay home this time out. My youngest was pretty bummed, but my oldest convinced him how nice it would be to sleep in for a change.

We went to our normal spot, rode our bikes the 2 miles in the dark, and made our way across the marsh.

crossing the marsh

It’s always a bit brutal, no matter how cold it is you end up sweating profusely. Of course once you stop moving the sweat turns to ice and you shiver.

Walking through weeds, tules and ankle-deep water while carrying a heavy decoy bag wearing neoprene chest waders and carrying guns, shells, food, water and everything else you need out there makes for sweaty grueling work. This kind of thing is the reason I work out.

Once we got about a half mile into the marsh we came to a canal. This is the same canal we used to be able to cross, but now there’s so much water, we would fill our waders with the attempt (I learned this from experience). So this time we brought a blow up dingy. It’s not the normal duck hunting gear, you won’t find it in a Cabela’s magazine, but hey it worked…barely.

My brother and I were able to lay on the thing and kick our feet to cross, but my nephew is too little and had to use his hands. Dipping your hands into icy water at daybreak isn’t something that’s fun or wise, but that’s what he had to do.

It was a foggy day and the hunting was actually slow. Erik and I shot 8 ducks, each of us killing 4, but that was only because we hit most everything that came in. We missed a few, but for the most part we shot well.

Duck hunting in early morning fog

We hunt on this great little pond with light tule cover. In past years you could stand on solid ground, but this year there’s so much water we have to stand in shin deep water. This isn’t too bad for us humans in waders, but the dogs suffer a bit. We were careful to walk them around  to keep their circulation going.

Poor dog has to stand in water all day

I had been hunting only two days prior and had limited out. There had been a lot of ducks around, the only difference was the fog, but that cleared up around 9am. It seemed like the ducks I’d seen had packed up and headed south. Damn.

As we were packing up and preparing to re-cross misery canal, we happened to look to the north and saw clouds upon clouds of ducks getting up. Something had spooked them. So that’s where all the ducks were…north of us about 3 miles.

Shit, oh well I guess next time we’ll bike further north.

biking back to the rig...loaded

 

 

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The Big Wood River Fishing Report for First Week in October

Posted on by chris

Just spent 6 glorious days in Ketchum Idaho  trout fishing the Big Wood River. The river was low, around 235 CFS and gin clear.

Rainbow fishscape
Creative Commons License photo credit: El Frito

I arrived in the evening, went straight to Lost River Outfitters, bought an out-of-state license and asked the helpful staff what the hot fly was.

They suggested some number 14-18 parachute adams type flies and a small bead headed zebra nymph as a dropper fly.

I don’t usually fish a dropper fly on the Big Wood because I love it as a dry fly fishery, however, I hadn’t fished here in a long time and bought of few of the dropper flies.

I walked the 50 steps from my parents’ time share and casted a number 12 elk hair caddis into the Big Wood. That’s right, I completely ignored the fly advice and stuck with what I know works, or thought I did.

After 25 casts I finally got a nice rainbow to rise and take a look at the caddis. He flashed at it, smacked it with his tail…a refusal.

I noticed a small hatch of something grayish coming off the water. I realized it was some kind of baetis fly so I took the proffered advice and tied on a small parachute adams. Things changed quickly. I got more rises and even managed to hook one or two nice rainbows. But one or two rainbows? I was used to catching far more in the 2 hours I’d fished.

I was reluctant to try the dropper, I’d just come from fishing Steelhead on the Rogue river with a nymph setup. I wanted to dry fly fish dammit.

Oh well, the next day I tied on the zebra dropper about 10 inches from the bigger, purple haze fly, (a purple parachute adams) and immediately I went from fishing to catching.

The nice thing about the zebra’s is they don’t sink too far down, in fact they’re just under the surface and pretty close to the dry fly. So, when a fish hit the dropper I could see them rise, which is what I love about dry fly fishing. I was loath to use the dropper for fear of not seeing the take on the surface. I was pleasantly surprised.

By the fourth day on the Big Wood I was consistently catching 30 to 50 fish a day. Most weren’t much bigger than 8 inches but many were over 12 and a few were in the high teens.

On the 6th day, however the rain started coming down. I have never dry fly fished in a rain storm and was unsure of the outcome. In short the dropper fly saved the day.

Since there were no hatches I put on a number 10 stimulator as my dry fly and continued with the black zebra as the dropper. I caught more fish in a shorter amount of time than any previous day. Every single fish was caught on the dropper.

Unfortunately the rain continued all night and didn’t stop or even let up the next day. Within a few hours of daybreak the Big Wood River was chocolate-brown and rising steadily. My fishing was over. It was okay though, I’d gotten 5 really excellent fishing days, I can’t complain.

 

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Dogs on River Trips: Tips and Tricks

Posted on by chris

A constant companion on our river trips is our dog, Zipper. She’s a black lab and loves river trips. What’s not to love: water, family, sticks, wild animals and dropped smores? It’s a river dogs dream.

We’ve learned some tips and tricks on making a dogs’ river trip even more enjoyable.

1. Buy a Good Life-Jacket. It might seem silly to have a life jacket for a dog but even though most dogs are great swimmers, they need one on a river. Dogs don’t have a lot of fat and sink easily in rapids. Do em a favor and buy a life jacket.

The first doggie life jacket we bought lasted about half a season. It seemed like it was well made and was definitely easy to use, however the front straps came loose after 3 river trips.

As with most things in life we learned you have to spend more to get more. My brother bought his dog a life jacket made by Ruffwear. It cost around 50 bucks but he uses his even more than we do and it’s still in great shape.

ruffwear life jacket

Zipper's new ruffwear life jacket

We followed suit after our first one died and are very happy with our Ruffwear doggie life jacket.

2. Bring a leash and Stakeout. It seems counter-intuitive to have a leash on a river trip…leash laws on a river? But it’s not for legality but sanity. You don’t want your dog running around a busy put-in while you’re trying to load your raft.

Not only will you piss off other boaters, you’ll also put your canine in danger of being hit by cars backing in raft trailers.

While were floating the river we don’t use the leash but when it’s time to camp we sometimes bring it out to keep Zipper out of our way while were setting up.

At bedtime we usually use a stake-out, driven into the sand with a long strap and leash attached and put Zipper near our sleeping area. We don’t put it too close, otherwise she’ll end up in the sleeping bag with us.

The stake-out not only keeps her out of our bedding but also keeps her from wandering, checking out all the various smells and night critters.

stake out

Stake out with orange flag to help us find it in the sand

Bring extra food and treats. When dogs are on rivers they play hard, they need extra nutrients to keep going.

We always feed her an extra cup of food with her morning and evening meals. We also have treats readily available and give those throughout the day. It keeps her energy up for those long summer days.

Bring a small poop shovel. Be sure to respect the river and bury any droppings your best friend leaves.

I know dogs are animals, but they’re not indigenous to the river corridor and their poop shouldn’t be left on beaches.

Zipper loves river trips and we love taking her. She’s part of the family and we would consider any river trip without her sub-par.

The little tricks we’ve learned over the years have helped to make Zipper’s trip and ours smooth and easy.

 

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