This is Pine Creek Canyon looking up at the Mescalito.  This is one of my favorite spots in all of Red Rock.  Mom and Dad and I hiked out here on one of their last days and were lucky enough to see it with some rare snow on the ground.

Right after Mom and Dad left, I went up to Bend, Oregon to do some snowboarding and hang out with a friend of ours, Abbie and her fiancé Nate, who used to live in Blue Diamond.  I was able to use airline miles from work trips and I had 3 free passes to Mt. Bachelor with my Mt. Charleston season pass, so it was nearly a free trip.

I rode Thursday, Friday and Saturday.  Abbie and Nate had warned me that the conditions were not good but we got fresh snow Friday and Saturday and even with only part of the mountain open it was easily some of the best riding I'd ever done.  Here you can see I just missed first tracks on this run on Friday!

The view from the mountain is not too shabby.  This whole region is volcanic in origin.  Apparently if you know where to look you can find steaming vent holes and cool basalt lava tubes on the mountain.

In addition to world class skiing and the highest brewery per capita (20+ for a city of 90,000!) Bend also has Smith Rock State Park which has over 1800 climbing routes and is the site of the first sport climb in the U.S. bolted back in 1982, I believe.  I took my harness and shoes but the skiing was so good I never even thought about climbing!  On my last day before the flight I drove up there just to see it and ran into a bunch of old friends!  Left to Right:  Kirk, Jason, Mike, me, and Clay.  Clay's from Salt Lake but the rest of the guys I know from my days at the New River.  So cool to run into these guys randomly. 

The obligatory artsy airport shot.