AM - 8.6 miles up to work, slowly. PM - 11.2 miles home. Nice outside. You might have seen in the news over the weekend that there was an avalanche fatality in Big Cottonwood Canyon. We saw the rescue helicopters flying around while at Alta on Saturday, and a patroller filled me on the news. It wasn't until we got home that the name of the victim was released... Alecs Barton (KSL article). While I didn't know him personally, Andrea and I did run into him one day last February while touring in Beartrap Fork (our recap of that day). It was one of the "perfect" days where every photo we shot was good enough to go on the cover of a ski magazine. When we crossed paths with Alecs, I could sense his excitement and enthusiasm (you immediately could tell he was a great guy), and he wanted to shoot some photos of me skiing down towards some low clouds in BCC. He sent me several photos that night like the one below of me skiing: 
These kind of tragedies hit home especially hard when you know who the person was. It sucks. Backcountry skiing is very scary this year. We are taking no chances - and pretty much just waiting until the spring (and after Boston) to do any real serious BC skiing.
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