Here I sit on a mountain top waiting

[mattfidaho]

well here I sit, trusty laptop and air card, as I wait for the radio guy to get done working, clouds rolling in
he said there was guys on sleds waiting to come up after the cat..... maybe they will after I head down... hard packed melting snow, /i hardly used the blade at all on the way up...
on the snow conditions today it took 32 deg before I had to start crabbing across the side hills. that sure makes the people in the cat quiet
I will post more pics when I get back to a real internet connection.

 

[pixie]

Tough job you have

 

[snow dog]

Nice pictures, Matt,

 

[2datop]

thx for keeping us... posted!

 

[mattfidaho]

thx, and i'm still just sitting here... :-/ about to break out the dvd player lol

 

[muleman]

The hard life of a snow transporter! Well at least you have a great view and looks like a good day weather wise.

 

[snow dog]

At least you are not stuck and waiting for rescue

 

[snow dog]

Cheer up,,
It's not 45 below and 60 mph wind and snowing hard

 

[northeastheavy]

Keep the pictures flowing!! I look forward to them!!

 

[Northcoast]

Really enjoy the pictures,and story behind them. Thanks.

 

[Snowtrac Nome]

keep the adventures comming out standing photo's

 

[mattfidaho]

well I made it back, and just one seat teepee moment I would have paid top dollar to have some one video taping that trip. oh well, I did take a few pics and video from the top that I will post tomorrow. we only had about 45 min of nice weather...
clouds rolled in and it got nasty quick, but that is normal for around here.

 

[Cowboy]

Fantastic pics , thanks for sharing .

 

[mattfidaho]

clouds start rolling in

 

[mattfidaho]

360 video click the pic



one more little video looking down, keep in mind you can see both tracks.... normally the road is flat and you wouldn't see the tracks



after the clouds started in

 

[Mtn-Track]

NICE!

 

[tommu56]

That is awesome what are the towers for?
Maybe Al can actually get cell service?

tom

 

[mattfidaho]

That is awesome what are the towers for?
Maybe Al can actually get cell service?

tom

there is about everything at this site, TV broadcast, FM radio, AM radio, Cell, 2 way radios, internet, on this butte the equipment that I deal with for my real job is located on the other top that you can see in the pictures...
yesterday I was just a taxi for a radio station guy. from the sounds of it, it was left in worse condition then when we got there... and they are taking sleds up today..
even though I bladed a lot of it on the way down, unless they are good riders I don't see them making it today, (they tried last week and couldn't make it)
there is still a few spots where I crabbed across and couldnt use the blade.

 

[snow dog]

Matt,

How far do you travel on the snow for this trip?

 

[mattfidaho]

over the snow 6 miles one way, only the last 1 1/4 mile is the suck part

 

[mattfidaho]

if anyone uses google earth,
43.500786°
-112.662837°

 

[DAVENET]

Hey- I see you!

What is the zig-zag path off the back that doesn't appear to go all of the way to the bottom?

 

[mattfidaho]

Hey- I see you!

What is the zig-zag path off the back that doesn't appear to go all of the way to the bottom?

the last couple of years we have had big brush / grass fires that burned the area, they had to replace power poles so they build a trail to get equipment down to where the poles were.

 

[tommu56]

You mean they didn't go with underground service's

tom

 

[mattfidaho]

You mean they didn't go with underground service's

tom

they did in places, but where we are there is lava rock everywhere, so I think they had issues trying to trench it

 

[night-owl]

wow ,looks like my driveway , can a guy buy 1-2 acres up there ?

 

[Cali2Idaho]

Matt- where in idaho are you? I didnt get a chance to cross reference your coordinates.
Surprisingly it doesnt look too deeply covered in snow in the pics. What elevation are you at and how much of a base do you have under you in those previous pics?
Looks like a fun job to have.

 

[mattfidaho]

Matt- where in idaho are you? I didnt get a chance to cross reference your coordinates.
Surprisingly it doesnt look too deeply covered in snow in the pics. What elevation are you at and how much of a base do you have under you in those previous pics?
Looks like a fun job to have.

East idaho, I Live in idaho falls,
this tower site the valley floor is 5200ft, and the top of the butte is 6500ft
it is out by the test site. the weather had been warm so all the snow and drifts had melted in to rock hard snow.

some of out other tower sites are up in the 9800ft range, and snow in the mountains is a lot deeper

 

[aksnocat]

Google Earth is amazing.

From the coords Matt left I went to GE and plugged 'em in, zoomed right down to the ground at the spot and rolled my view to a perspective one. In a matter of seconds I had a view very much like Matt's photo.

The attached photo is Matt's photo on the left and my GE view on the right. The cross hair with "43.500786°..." is the position of the coords Matt left.

So, so, so cool!

 

[mattfidaho]

I love google earth, I use it almost every day