A Day on the Mountain

Remember when I mentioned a while ago that Matt was hoping to snowboard down this really nasty looking mountain? I've learned that this is called the San Joaquin Couloir and the mountain is the San Joaquin Peak which at the top is 13,460 feet.

The guys got snowed out the first time they tried to go, but did manage to go this week. To snowboard this mountain, you can take the lift only so far. Then you get off and spend the next two hours hiking up the mountain to get to the top. Matt said some of the hike up was actually scarier than the snowboarding down. Something about some crazy cliff they had to walk along.

This is Chase, Matt's friend on the hike up the mountain. I thought it was interesting too that a teacher at Matt's school was the first person to ski down the San Joaquin Couloir, back in the late 80's.

Don't ask me how or why people would want to do something like that, because first of all, I am not a skier and second, I am not very adventurous. Here is Chase again....a little closer.

I am assuming that this photo was taken from the top, looking down. I am not a big fan of heights, but you have to be in awe of the mountains when you see them up close and personal.


See the little itsy bitsy speck a little bit below that great big rock? Yep, that is one of them!

Now see the little itsy bitsy spot almost at the bottom of the great big mountain?

I think their tracks look really neat.

Matt on the left and his good friend Chase enjoying a day on the mountain.

Why Moms Never Stop Worrying

I have a couple of neat things that I want to blog about, but right now I have things I have to do for the show. So, today I am going to show you this awesome picture.....


This is a mountain out in Colorado that my youngest son Matt and his friends are hoping to snowboard down this weekend if the weather permits! He insists that the photo makes it look much worse than it really is.

All I can say is......yeah, right!

Let's Go Snowboarding

I had planned to write about something else today, but when Matt sent me this photo and told me he was going to snowboard today, I had to change gears. This is the middle of June and there is still snow at the higher elevations out in Colorado. He actually did a little snowboarding yesterday, but today they are going to snowboard this.

I immediately get nervous because this isn't the ski resort. This is just out somewhere in the wilderness. Although the threat of avalanches is very, very small, I find the look of this mountain to be quite ominous. They saw this on their way back from snowboarding yesterday and went in to investigate. They found a way to get to it and decided that today they will venture on in.

He tells me it's no different than any other rock climbing he does, except they are taking ice picks, and if you are going to climb up the mountain for hours, then why would you climb back down when it's much faster to hop on your snowboard and glide on down?

I told him it looked really steep and he said that's just the way the picture looks. I asked him about him falling off a cliff and he laughed.

I know that Matt is very cautious snowboarding and he did say that if it didn't look safe when they got up there that they certainly woldn't go.

I have been in my worried mommy mode all day today and I am just waiting to hear his sweet little voice or see those texted words.....we're back.

Matt's Avalanche Adventure

Okay, so Matt (my youngest son) is on spring break for 2 weeks. He lives in beautiful Telluride, Colorado. Last week was the first week of spring break, and every day he was calling or texting to tell me where they snowboarded. They were having an awesome time. Then no calls or texts for about 3 days......Hmmmmmm, mommy is thinking...what's up?

So, I texted him Friday night....no response.

I texted him Saturday and just texted, "Hello???"

He texted back, "Hi". I called him a bratty boy and some other things and then a few text messages later, I get this one, "I got to see an avalanche up close and personal a few days ago."

I thought he meant that they were snowboarding and saw an avalanche on another peak. Uh, no...he meant up close and personal....like he was almost in it.

"Would you like to call and tell me about it?" I texted.

"No," was his reply.

WTF Matt....spill it already was my thought!


He did call and explained that they were snowboarding in the back country (that means not at the ski resort, but just off on the mountain somewhere) and he saw the snow give way ahead of him. He was snowboarding with his friend Joe and they had their dogs with them. When Matt saw the avalanche start, his first concern was for the dogs. They just run along with them down the mountain when they snowboard.

Matt quickly snowboarded over to the left into some trees to get away from the path of the slide. His dog Luna quickly followed, but his friend's dog was only about a foot from the avalanche! The dog did come over to him in the trees and Matt watched the avalanche from there.


It wasn't a big one, but a sheet of snow about 6-12 inches deep broke away and slid down the side of the mountain. It wouldn't have been enough to bury Matt, but it could have been a painful trip down the mountain with possible injuries. The dogs would have been a different story. They may not have faired so well.

Joe also told Matt that there was another break in the snow behind him when he was going down. He sure was lucky! Matt and Joe stayed near the trees for a while and then rode down.

The avalanche was actually moving fast enough to continue it's journey across a flat area of ground and then continue down the next section of slope.


I think what frightened Matt the most was that he thought the conditions were safe that day, and they weren't. He triggered an avalanche. When they got down, they reported the slide so it could be posted online. That way other snowboarders would know that the area they were in was not stable.

So, how does mom feel about Matt's adventure? It scares the heck out of me, but a lot of the things that Matt does scare me...I also look at it as a good thing. No one got hurt, but it was frightening enough to keep him off the slopes for a few days reflecting on what happened. I know that experience will always be in the back of his mind whenever he heads for the back country and hopefully it will make him even smarter and safer.

The pictures were taken after the avalanche and the last picture is Joe and Matt's dog, Luna.