Brisbane boys

The forecast yesterday was for a foot of new snow overnight, so in anticipation I stayed off the booze at the Australia Day party we went to last night.

Whilst the predicted storm hit us and hit us hard it moved through quite quickly so we only ended up with four inches. Still it was nice, although it was a bit windy and cold up top. The trees to skier's left of Cyclone were particularly good.

Here's the GPS data.


From the 1:10 mark I skied with Matthew from my old home town of Brisbane who I met on the Sundown Express chair. I think I might have freaked him out a bit in the 2.30 trees but he was a good sport.

More trees

Today was a day to ski some more trees which is what I did. Closet was good and Shadows was also nice, but there's a few exposed hazards lower down so the best run of the day was the 2.30 trees.

Here's the GPS data. No video today.

Trees, finally

At last we have enough snow to ski the trees with some confidence including Shadows which my favourite tree run. Plus it was a beautiful warm sunny day. Now I just want a storm that dumps 12 inches overnight so I can ski some serious powder trees.

Here's the GPS data. Note the long stop between the half hour and one hour mark. The Sundown Express stopped for some reason and was then closed after I got off.


Notwithstanding the return to the trees, the best run today was some lovely wind packed powder on Tornado.

Video to follow.

Update: Here's the video of that run down Tornado.

An unofficial power day

The 5 am report said zero inches, but it started snowing around 6.30 am and by the time I got up the mountain at 10.30 am there was at least six inches. So officially it was not a powder day but unofficially it was! On top of that, the snow was the perfect texture. Heavy and wet enough to stick to the layer underneath but light enough to still be a whole lot of powdery fun.

Here's the GPS data.

I skied with my Aussie friend Nicole today. Unlike Tuesday when it was cold, today it was warm. About 45F warmer!

Video highlights to follow later, probably tomorrow.

A very different Tuesday

As much as I enjoyed skiing with my Aussie mate Pete last Tuesday, with 11 inches of fresh powder this morning, today was a very different kind of Tuesday.

Here's the GPS data.

Here's the video highlights from the first half an hour before my camera died (the battery doesn't like it when it's really cold and it was really cold at -10F or -23C)


Best run of the day was the top of Sundown Liftline (which unfortunately funneled into the worst run of the day on lower Three O'Clock).

Snowshoeing Pearl Lake

I went snowshoeing with Marie out near Pearl Lake where her friend has a cabin. Between climbing up a decent size hill and digging one of the cars out of the snow twice (not quite as dramatic this time and I wasn't the driver so less ego damage) it was a pretty decent workout. Here's the GPS data.


I didn't realise until I got there that the friend's place is on the site of a defunct ski area - if you look at the satellite version of the map you can clearly see where the ski runs and lift lines were.

Next time I'm taking my skis (on my back) so I can add the old Steamboat Lake Ski Area to the list of places I've skied - all 370 vertical ft of it!

Skiing with Pete

I skied today with an Aussie friend Pete McMahon. We got out early while the tourists were still in bed and the first hour was awesome tearing up the groomers even if there was the occasional icy death trap to be avoided. It got a little busier later in the morning but the sun was out and the snow was better than I expected it to be especially on Buddy's Run, so all in all just another day in paradise!

Here's the GPS data.

And here's some nice bumps I found to skiers' right of Buddy's Run.

Much better

We just got back from two weeks in Australia and it looks like I didn't miss much. It was bad enough before I left - the last two days I skied before Christmas I didn't even bother to blog they were so bad - but word is that it has been even worse since.

Fortunately we had six inches of new snow yesterday, so today was surprisingly good. It was one of those rare occasions where the lower elevations got the most snow so the best runs were to be had on the lower mountain. Heavenly Daze in particular was way better than I expected it to be.

Here are some highlights.




And here is the GPS data.

Tim Tam contraband

Coming through Customs in LA yesterday, the agent asked us if the food we had declared was Tim Tams and said he'd have to confiscate them because they had too many calories!

Tim Tams are distributed in the US by Pepperidge Farm and are intermittently available at our local supermarket. All the friends we've given samples to have loved them. Looks like the Customs agents in LA like them too!