OGE Outdoor Blog

We’re snow junkies..and I happen to be partial to Alta Ski Lift Co. …like it or not a lot of these posts will be focused on snow riding in Little Cottonwood canyon! (i say snow riding to not alienate the snowboarers ;))

Each new, crisp powder day I’ll post the ‘Alta Ski Area Powder Alert‘ (click the link to subscribe).

Here’s today’s juicy news:

Hello Alta Powder Hounds…

In the past 24 hours, Alta Ski Area has received: 19″ of new snow
The settled mid-mountain base is currently: 43″
So far this season we’ve received 81″ of snow
The extended weather forecast is: Heavy snow through Wednesday. Another 10″ of snow is forecasted for Today.

AltaCam has opened the voting polls in their monthly ski photo contest. Anyone can submit their photos. All contest submissions will be included in a monthly site image gallery. Winner gets a Backcountry.com gift card and their photo/link featured on the homepage of AltaCam.com for a month.

Click Here to cast your vote for the November photo contest winner!! (must be registered to forum to vote)

Local skiers and snowboarders…you may find this to be useful information. It’s a daily update all in one place of winter & turning conditions for all Utah resorts. If you’re coming out to Utah for a visit this winter this would also nice to keep track of. …it’s a quick and easy view of current ski and snowboard conditions for ‘The Greatest Snow on Earth’. Grab the RSS feed at Utah Life Outdoors (a site dedicated to outdoor living in our state) and plug into your favorite content or news reader. Another options is to have the reports delivered to your email inbox each day. Visit the Utah Ski & Snowboard Conditions Page to do either…

We’ve also included subscription links for this real time feed:

Utah Ski Resort Conditions  

Happy powder…it’s definitely lined up to pound on us in Utah week after Thanksgiving 2006.

On November 1st AltaCam announced a photo of the month contest. We blogged about it back at the beginning of the month.. Update: Submission deadline has passed for November, but don’t worry if you want to try again they’ll be accepting submissions all winter. This is a monthly contest, and the winner each month get’s their photo posted on the homepage of AltaCam.com and a $75 gift card from Backcountry.com.

And the big news, this contest has actually been posted on the Alta Ski Area web site: Alta.com.. Go to their homepage and Check it out!

Info on the contest: Photo of the Month Contest Page

Holy Crapola! See I told you holidays were good times to get the most out of your gear dollar. Looksie here: Hot off the press from Backcountry.com (visit site). There are all kinds of deals flying around that place!!

Ditch the Duct Tape…
How many times have you been out touring, at the resort or just around the town and seen a duct tape patch job on someone’s jacket? There’s one (or in the case of Alta, many) in every crowd, and every ski town. Time to ditch the duct tape and get a winter jacket that’s going to stand up to the rigors of your winter adventures. You know who you are…so DO-It.

You must click the links below to redeem discounts & savings.

Here are a couple of banners:

Here is a list of killer offers (click links below to redeem discounts):

• 15% Off ALL Clothing at Dogfunk through 11/30! (excludes Burton) Click Here
• 15% Off ALL Volcom Clothing at Dogfunk.com until 11/30/2006
• 15% Off ALL DC Clothing at Dogfunk until 11/30! Offer Applied at Checkout
• 15% Off Helly Hansen at Tramdock.com until Nov 30th! Click Here, Offer Applied at Checkout
• 15% Off ALL Oakley Clothing at Tramdock.com until 11/30 - Click Here
• 15% Off Spyder Clothing at Tramdock through November 2006!!!
• Burton Gloves On Sale
• Up To 50% Off Marmot Gear

Oh yeah! This is what you’re talkin’ bout! Watch these gear retailers around the holidays. There are usually some killer offers to take advantage of. For example, these exclusive web deals from Altrec are only good through midnight on ‘Cyber Monday’ (11/27/06)…so if you were thinking about that new ski coat or goggles DO-It now.

Here are the promo details:

• $20 Off orders over $200 - expires Cyber Monday at midnight, 11/27. Click on the following banner and use Coupon Code earlybird at checkout.

  

• 70% Off Select Items - Altrec has over 150 products at 70% Off RIGHT NOW, also expires midnight 11/27 so act fast.

  

It seems to happen every year. Well a couple of times each year, even. The debate sparks over heli skiing the Wasatch Mountains of Utah. This is primarily a debate between Wasatch Powderbird Guides and all the non-motorized backcountry access advocates including Save Our Canyons. We just posted about the recent Salt Lake Tribune article that ran about how the courts ruled in favor of the heli-skiers.. this should get pretty interesting in the next few weeks.

Here are a few active discussions on the topic:

AltaCam: Wasatch Powderbird Guides Special Use Permit Renewal

TelemarkTips: Bomb-Free Wasatch 2006

TGR: Utah Heli-Skiing - Court rules in favor of WPG

What are your thoughts on this issue?

Here is another re-purposed article from the archive of the good ole’ GravityFed classic content. I remember back in the day this article by Fish Solo (aka Fish Bartlett, Fish Solo Bartlett or ‘gasp’ his real name Brett Bartlett…see what he’s doing now) caused quite a stir in the letters to the editor section. I specifically remember one guy crying because he no longer can ski 20 days a season, but that didn’t mean he’s not a true skier or some shiznit like that. Yeah…that guy cried a thousand tears over anything, though.

The point is, this article stirred up some controversy back then so let’s see if it happens again..

“If you ride less than 15 days a year, you’re probably a weekend warrior with no real skills anyway, so any one who’s better than you is a threat and any one worse just plain sucks. If you ride less than 15 days a year, you’re probably a weekend warrior with no real skills anyway, so any one who’s better than you is a threat and any one worse just plain sucks. But the real problem here is that you’re not on the hill enough to make an educated guess. Wait until you’ve ridden your first 100-day season to badger one about how to ride…”

read more | digg story

The age old debate between backcountry skiers and helicopter skiing outfitter Wasatch Powderbirds just flared up on popular web forums again with a recent ruling in favor of the helicopter skiing company.

Article Last Updated:11/21/2006 01:55:42 AM MST: “U.S. District Judge Ted Stewart said Monday that the U.S. Forest Service complied with federal environmental laws when it renewed the heli-skiing company’s permit in 2004, rejecting a challenge by the environmental group Save Our Canyons.”

An official hot topic on the AltaCam ski forum was just bumped from the depths of debate last ski season by DSpoon!

AltaCam Thread: Wasatch Powderbird Guides Special Use Permit Renewal - Most Recent
Salt Lake Tribue: U.S. Court rules in favor of copter skiers

This is a fairly new merchant we’ve added to our gear search engine. I think we’re up to like 58 merchants or some shiznit. Skis.com’s tagline: The Ultimate Online Ski Shop! They seem to distribute a lot of the top ski gear and apparel. Whenever there’s a discount involved it’s worth trying out a new merchant. Especially for holiday shopping madness 2006-07!

Hot off the press. Skis.com (view site) is offering a coupon from now through January: Receive $10 off any sub-total of $200 or more from now till January 31, 2007. You must click the link below to activate coupon..

Shoppers CLICK HERE to redeem this savings. After on site use Coupon Code: AFF10OFF at checkout. Gear up for the season yourself, or gear your friends for the holidays..

Here are a list of coupon offers that will help you get the most out of your holiday shopping dollar. These are valid now through the end of 2006 at Travelershoppes.com (visit site). You must click the links below to redeem special discounts, coupons or savings.

Great Gift Ideas

• Victorinox Messenger Bag for 17″ Laptop - Front flap-over pocket features extra storage for cell phone, pens, credit cards, keys and more. Great gift for a student or urban comuter.
• Columbia 30″ Deluxe Wheeled Duffle - This is a gift for an adventurous traveler. This Duffle is water resistant with a Grip Tek handle, Wet pocket, mesh pocket, In-line skate wheels, reinforced bottom and curb bumpers.

Holiday Coupons

• Now save 10% on orders at Travelersshoppes.com. Use code SAVEMORE expires December 31st (Excludes TUMI).
• Save 10% on these great gift ideas for the traveler in your life (Excludes TUMI). Enter code GIFT10 at checkout. Valid through Dec 31st.
• Save up to 66% on Luggage Sets. Now save an additional 15% with this coupon (Excludes TUMI). Use code TSET at checkout. Valid through Dec 31st.
• Save 12% on Briefcases at Travelersshoppes.com (Excludes TUMI). Enter Code SAVE12 at checkout. Expires Dec 31st.
• Now receive FREE shipping at Travelersshoppes.com (Excludes TUMI orders). Enter code FSHIP at checkout. Expires 12/31/06

Happy Holiday Shopping! (you’re doing your shopping online…so you should be smiling instead of standing in lines or waiting in traffic ;))

Daily deals around the web are very popular this year. And they should be. Merchants are using daily deal promos to clean out inventory and create a great viral marketing channel.
OGE just launched a goodie (well two goodies, theJaw from Moosejaw also went live on OGE): tha Lowdown is Moosejaw’s Daily Gear Deal site and it also happens to be an entire catalog of gear and outdoor apparel discounts. These are killer deals that go until gone at 65-75% savings on retail!

Subscribe to tha Lowdown’s Daily Deal RSS Feed

Found a great article from the Salt Lake Tribune that’s featured on Alta’s web site. It’s a tribune reader poll from over 1100 Utah skiers on their favorite ‘Greatest Snow on Earth’ to ski. Nice choices we have here in Utah My favorite reader poll quote was “The least of Utah is better than the best of most states” from Rick Carter.

Here’s a snippet from the article…

“More than 50 percent of a SL Tribune’s poll (1,107 participants) designated Alta or Snowbird as the best, primarily citing their exquisite snow and varied, challenging terrain. And when it comes to picking one special place to carve turns, more people would choose to do so on either Alf’s High Rustler at Alta or in The Cirque at Snowbird.”

Quickview of the 2006 Salt Lake Tribune Skier Poll for Utah Resorts:

Read Entire Newspaper Article…

Here is a good idea for holiday gift giving.. Alta Ski Area is offering gift cards available online through their store. Give the gift of skiing.. crave that powder junkies fix!

Details as follows:

Alta Gift cards start at $15.00, in increments up to $500. The card can be used at Alta Ski Area Ticket Offices, Alf Engen Ski School, Alf’s Restaurant, Watson’s Shelter, Collins Grill or Alta Ski Shop & Demo Centers. Additional value may be added to your gift card at any time. Order Alta Gift Cards online or by calling (801) 359-1078.

More info..

I know I know…Shoes.com isn’t an outdoor gear merchant. BUT, they do have a wide selection of footwear for hiking, trail running and winter activities. This is a killer coupon that you can use through December. Knock off some holiday gift shopping. Details are as follows:

Use Code: GIVE10OFF @ checkout
10% off $75 or more
Valid Nov. 15th to Dec. 31st

• Not valid on Sale items
• Not valid on excluded brands
• Valid on all sites powered by Shoes.com
• You MUST click the banner below to redeem savings
  

** Shoes.com is also running some special sales for direct savings **

• Thanksgiving Sale: Running from November 23rd to November 25th
• Cyber Monday Sale: Running from November 26th to November 27th

News is makin’ its way around the ski industry now. Steve Lloyd (check out his photography) had someone or something watching over him yesterday. News reports say he was buried for 10-15 minutes in upper Silver Fork basin - Big Cottonwood Canyon, Wasatch Mountains. This was a very experienced group of skiers and his friends knew how to react with their beacons and affect the rescue. When we was uncovered he was blue and unconcious, but apparently gained conciousness shortly after he was dug out.

We’re all very grateful to his friends and for the outcome. Now…back to the powder! More news:

AltaCam Forum: Steve Lloyd Buried in Avalanche for 15 Minutes and Survives!

Channel 2 News KUTV: Four Caught In Canyon Avalanche, One Buried