Our Fallen Brothers & Sisters

At the Five Year Anniversary of the U.S. invasion & occupation of Iraq, I think every American should spend time reading the Obituaries of the soldiers who have lost their lives. I'm afraid it's too easy to simply go about our daily lives & forget what is happening to our soldiers, friends, neighbors & families.

The Salt Lake Tribune put together a great article this week entitled Remembering Utah's Fallen that features a picture, brief quote & bio about every one of the Utah soldiers who lost their lives.

The Tribune article cites that 46 Utahns have died in the various U.S. conflicts since Sept. 11, 2001. Please take a minute to read the article, Remembering Utah's Fallen and the bios of each person. There are several photos of lonely children included with the bios, which is heart-breaking.

I've had a few friends do military tours in the Middle East, and thankfully return safely. A couple who are close to my in-laws had their son die - Blake Stephens was the first soldier to die from Pocatello, Idaho.

But the total casualty count is much higher. U.S. casualties, or those wounded or dead, are nearly 30,000 (29,314 as of March 25, 2008), according to icasualties.org . And a recent Reuters story cited a scary & very sad figure:

Precise Iraqi casualties in the conflict are not known but the widely cited human rights group Iraq Body Count said earlier this month that up to around 89,300 civilians have been killed since 2003.

I won't get political here - but we all need to seriously think about how the decisions of our elected leaders can affect us all.

The Black Diamond Wasatch Powder Keg

I've been Jones'in to do it for a few years now - finally 2008 was the year I was stupid enough to do The Black Diamond Wasatch Powder Keg. It was EXTREMELY painful, due to the horrible shape I'm in, but well worth the experience.

The Wasatch Powder Keg is a Ski Mountaineering Race, apparently very popular in Europe, but only just catching on the the U.S. So, what this entails, is a bunch of folks who love backcountry skiing, line up to "race" a grueling snow-covered mountain course as fast as possible. Using skies with skins on the bottom to hike up to 10,000+ foot peaks, people then peal off the skins & ski down as quickly as possible. Our course included three peak hikes & ski downs.

On Black Diamond's FAQ they describe the course as follows:

The race starts at 8,553', goes up to 10,619’ for both race and recreational categories (Overall vertical – Race: 5,514' / Rec: 3,811'). Both courses finish at 8,553’. The Racing Division course is 8.34 miles (13.4 km); the Recreational Division course is 5.73 miles (9.1 km).

Wisely, I participated in the Recreation Division - so bottom line: 5.8 miles and 3,800 feet of vertical.

Since I didn't decide to do the race until the Sunday before, my training consisted of four days of running between 3-6 miles & lifting weights once. With a new baby in my household, I had only been backcountry skiing three times before the race. Generally I can hold my own, but I quickly realized (about 2 minutes after the start of the race) that the people who are crazy enough to do the Powder Keg are in pretty damn good shape!

I was in the Telemark Rec division and finished in 2:37 (2 hrs 37 min.) - and 13th out of 21 in my division - and actually finished ahead of about a dozen men in the Rec division (both Tele & Alpine Touring) - so better than I feared I'd do!

Well, I wasn't in it to race, but to finish, which I did - yeah!

I have to say my favorite parts of the Powder Keg were being up at Alta at sunrise - watching the sunrays hit Mt. Superior at 7:30 in the morning was spectacular! Quickly hitting three peaks & the views they offered was amazing. And skiing in 14 inches of fresh powder on the first run down Patsy Marley was a blast. The following two runs down Black Bess & Davenport (course map) were really painful, as my legs had lost their juice by this time. In fact, my biggest weakness in the whole thing was my downhill skiing - I had no leg muscle left & had some decent wipe-outs, which sucks.

Best Part: The best part of the whole thing was pushing through the final little uphill to the finish & seeing my wife Alicia & our 11 month-old son Finn - along with some friends like Jimmy Mac & Pete there to support me & others who did it. Way cool.

I'm planning on doing it again next year - but being in better shape will help me feel mucho better.