Since Jen had a hockey tournament in Pinedale, Wyoming, and the inversion has made the air in SLC so thick that you almost have to chew it, I decided to come alone and check out some rarely traveled ice at the north end of Fremont Lake. When I walked into the local gear shop on Saturday morning and asked about the approach, the exchange went something like this…
Shop Guy: “Do you have a snow machine?”
Me: “No.”
Shop Guy: “Ohhhhh… Alright, hang on. Let me get a map.”
The approach turned out to be about 3.5 miles of skiing across a frozen lake. Having never been on a large frozen lake before, I learned a few things. 1: Large frozen lakes make a lot of noise. 2: When you are in the middle of a large frozen lake, every noise you hear makes you think you are about to die. 3: I am terrible at cross country skiing. Most of the ice was melted out, but the main line was nice and thick (if not a little sun baked), and I got in a few laps before reversing the long ski home. It wasn’t the most productive day of climbing I’ve ever had, but it was still nice to be outside.
