It all adds up

The 5 am report said four inches in the past 24 hours and most of that fell during the day yesterday, but when you get a few inches on successive days it adds up into something nice, which was definitely the case today.

I wasn't pressing glass this morning, but I was out early enough that even after a run down upper Vagabond and the bumps of Surprise I was about number ten in the line at the Storm Peak Express. Fortunately everyone in front of me either went the other way or was a snowboarder who had to stop at the top to lock into their board (that's the skiing god's way of getting even with them for the comfortable boots) so I was able to get first tracks down Shadows. It wasn't super deep but it was soft and really got the heart pumping.

After that it was the trees between the Sundown and Priest Creek Liftlines which was sweet, followed by Two O'Clock where I totally pounded the soft bumps to skier's right just like an Olympic mogul skier (in my dreams at least) and then back into the trees to skier's right of Sundown Liftline. I then did some Wally World tress combined with some much improved switch skiing on the groomers followed by the trees between Westside and Broadway which were deep and soft at the top but a bit scrubby toward the bottom.

It was so deserted today I didn't see a single other skier on any of my tree runs.

Here's today's track. 14,454 vertical ft (season total 1,094,289 ft) in 2:13.

Almost powder

The report today said three inches at 5 am, so I went out around 9 am thinking that three inches on the fresh groomers would be nice. I started out that way on Cyclone and a freshly groomed Tornado, and they were very nice, but then the desire to ski Closet came over me.

What a pleasant surprise. It wasn't particularly deep, but it was soft and even around 9.30 am it was still largely untracked. Seeing how good that was I followed up with the 3.30 trees and the 2.30 trees which were also excellent, as well as some Wally World trees, but undoubtedly the best run of the day was the trees to skier's right of Rolex which elicited more than a few sounds of delight!

Here's today's track. 16,838 vertical ft (season total 1,079,835 ft) in 2:26.

Buddy's

Today was very much like yesterday. Again the early run down Buddy's was nice. The main difference today was that I threw in Kuus' Cruise which seemed to have about 2 inches of fresh snow on top (the report said 0.5 inches so I'm guessing this was wind blown accumulation) and was the best run of the day.

Here's today's track. 15,762 vertical ft (season total 1,062,997 ft) in 1:57.

Silver lining

When I ski as badly as I did yesterday, I'm always motivated by the fact that tomorrow will be better. Well tomorrow is today and it was indeed much, much better.

I was at the gondola at 8:40 am so I could ski the groomers while they were fresh. There was no line, although I did wait seven minutes for the Storm Peak Express to open at 9 am. It was worth it to be first down a perfectly groomed Buddy's Run.

Here's today's track. 16,540 vertical ft (season total 1,047,235 ft) in 1:59 - 8,339 vertical ft per hour which is my highest rate so far this season. It helped that I didn't ski a whole lot of bumps today - Storm Peak face and Norther was all.


I think I've earned the pancakes that Marie and I are about to have for Fat Tuesday.

Tired

Today my legs were tired from the last two days of powder and I just generally felt flat, so I didn't really ski that hard or that long.

Here's today's track. 9,932 vertical ft (season total 1,030,695 ft) in 1:41.

Pretentious BS

Apparently the world's best restaurant, El Bulli, is closing because it loses money.

If the amount people pay doesn't exceed your costs, your business is by definition a failure. You however may not be a failure; better to try an idea and fail than not to try at all. But if you've got a massive waiting list and you're too stupid to raise your prices, then you are a failure.

Yet we are supposed to get all excited about places like this, to lust after going there. Personally there's a thousand other things I'd rather do with the time and energy it would take to pursue this or many other over-subscribed events and locations. They may not provide the same bragging rights, but the choice between living your life for your own enjoyment vs. impressing other people seems a no brainer to me.

Valentine's Champagne

I had a late night last night, so despite setting the alarm for 6.30 am, I didn't get to the gondola until 9.15 where the line was surprisingly short for a holiday weekend. The snow report said three inches; I don't know what was going on, but it was a whole lot more than that, and with colder temperatures overnight it was true Champagne Powder to go perfectly with the bottle of French champagne Marie and I will open tonight to celebrate our 25th Valentine's Day together.

I started out with a run on Vertigo on the lower mountain which was nice, but the real powder fun came when I hit the trees; Shadows (best run of the day), 3:30 trees, 2:30 trees and Sundown Liftline.

By that point my legs were tiring and I skied a few runs in Wally World with some friends from DC, before hitting a very sweet Closet on the way home.

Here's today's track. 19,282 vertical ft (season total 1,020,736 ft) in 4:18.


To top off a perfect day, Steamboat's own Johnny Spillane won silver today in the Nordic Combined.

One million vertical feet

Today I cracked one million vertical ft for the 2009-10 ski season in 80 consecutive days of skiing.

I set out once before to ski one million vertical ft in a season (back at the beginning of the 2006-07 season) but due to work and travel until now I couldn't do better than 60 days and 730,000 vertical ft way back in 2005-06.

What a day for such a milestone. The 5 am report said seven inches, but as always it was much deeper in places. It wasn't super light Champagne Powder (too warm overnight for that) but in some ways that was good given the lack of a solid base underneath.

We started out with freshies on BC Liftline to Four Points Chair, followed by slightly wind blown but hugely fun freshies on Hurricane. Up Storm Peak Express and then Shadows, Kuus' Cruise / Twilight and then Two O'Clock. At that stage my friend had to leave in order not to miss her flight out and I hit Closet. Without having to worry about leaving her behind (the saying that there are no friends on powder days is false, it's actually when you find out who your true friends are) I was able to hit it really hard. It was sweet, but the best run of the day (and maximum heart rate of 168) was Vertigo on the way home which I had all to myself.

Here's today's track. 12,584 vertical ft (season total 1,001,481 ft) in 3:00 (including 25 minutes in the gondola line, but it was absolutely worth if for fresh tracks today).

Sweet powder

It's finally snowing in the Boat. The 5 am report said three inches but it was at least six by the time I reached the top of the gondola at 9:45 am and it has continued snowing at a steady pace since then.

The powder made the bumps soft and friendly so I did multiple runs today down Surprise, Norther and BC Liftline. Shadows around 10 am was good, and the Pony Express for the first time in nearly a month was OK, but the best run of the day was undoubtedly the trees between Twister and Hurricane which was largely untracked even at 11 am, especially on the lower half.


Here's today's complete track. 15,054 vertical ft (season total 988,897 ft) in 2:41.

A little more snow

The report at 5 am said two inches of new snow and today was one of those days when it was spot on, although an inch or so more fell during the morning. It's not much, but on top of the inch or two yesterday it was just enough to soften things up. Plus there's always some deeper wind blown drifts to be found if you know where to look. Today they were on The Ridge but the best run of the day was the trees between Twister and Hurricane.

Here's today's track. 14,084 vertical ft (season total 973, 834 ft) in 3:08. It's forecast to keep snowing on and off through the weekend, so as long as these light falls keeping adding up, things should stay nice.

11 weeks

Today was day 77 of the season - that's 11 straight weeks of skiing.

It was trying to snow today but not succeeding, which has been the case so many times this season. Usually in Steamboat it's either sunny or dumping, but not this year. The damn Federal Government in DC is stealing all our snow. They must have introduced a snow tax with a 90% rate or something to pay for all the crazy spending.

Here's today's track. 16,268 vertical ft (season total 959,759 ft) in 2:19. Best run of the day was Closet once again.

Hard and fast

It was a gorgeous day today; a little cold, but the low temperatures have kept the snow in great condition, and there's barely anybody here, so it was a day for skiing hard and fast, and then practising skiing switch once the legs were tired.

Here's today's track. 17,714 vertical ft (season total 943,491 ft) in 2:12 - that's a ripping 8,052 vertical ft per hour.

Day 75

Today was my 75th consecutive day on the mountain.

There was an inch or two of new snow this morning but not enough to really make a difference. It was also a lot colder at the top than I expected.

I've been feeling a bit flat the last few days so I set out to take it easy. Despite the fact that I ended up skiing the trees of Closet and Twilight it seems that's what I did because my heart rate didn't get above 125 (my resting rate is about 50 and I have to ski really hard to get it to 145 or 85% of maximum, so that's not quite as slack as it first appears). I was skiing with an Aussie friend who hasn't done a heap of tree skiing so the pace was slow with lots of stops to make sure I didn't lose her.

Here's today's track. 14,042 vertical ft (season total 925,777 ft) in 2:25.

It could be a lot worse

I've been complaining about the lack of snow recently, but I realised last night it could be a whole lot worse. I was reading a history of Steamboat and discovered that the 1976-77 ski season had a grand total of 46 inches of snow!

Since we've had about three times that amount already, I'm going to be a whole lot more thankful for the snow we do have. On that note, here's today's track. 11,326 vertical ft (season total 911,735 ft) in 2:13. The best run of the day was definitely Kuus' - a little bumped up but still soft.

Race clinic

Today in my local's clinic we went to the race course. It was a lot of fun and a good training discipline. We then spent the afternoon in the trees - Closet (twice) and Twilight. With a few inches of new snow it was great and it's still snowing, so fingers and toes crossed for a proper powder day tomorrow.

Here's today's track. 15,962 vertical ft (season total 900,409 ft) in 5:06.

Stick a fork in him...

...he's done. Michael is heading back to Australia on Sunday and unless it's a powder day tomorrow, today is his last day. He skied fairly hard this week with me and then stayed out a couple of afternoons whilst I was working and trashed his legs. So we took it easy today, mostly cruising. Although we did a run through Closet which was still quite nice. Here's Michael in Closet.


Here's today's track. 15,226 vertical ft (884,447 season total ft) in 3:04.

Lifts

Today Michael and I set out to ride every open lift (that means everything except Priest Creek and the Christie triple which both operate very rarely). It also excludes the magic carpets on the beginner hill since we have to preserve what little dignity we have left!

The route was as follows. Gondola via upper Vagabond and Surprise (just to throw some bumps into the mix) to Pony Express, via Longhorn (horrible today) to Bar UE Chair, via Cowboy Coffee to Morningside, via The Ridge, Buddy's and Tornado Lane to Four Points Chair, via Tornado (very nice) to Storm Peak Express, via Closet (sweet), Sunset and Moonlight to Sundown Express, via Flintlock to Sunshine Express, via Tomahawk to South Peak Chair, via Westside (also horrible today) to Elkhead Chair, via lower Rainbow to Burgess Creek Chair.

We had to bail at that point because my sinuses were giving me hell and my head was about to explode. We figured out that picking up the remaining chairs on the lower mountain (Thunderhead Express, Christie Express, Bashor and Preview) would take at least another 45 minutes making this a four hour challenge unless I can think of a more efficient route before I try again next week.

Here's the track. 14,541 vertical ft (season total 869,221 ft) in 3:02.

Storm Peak

Today's skiing consisted of a ride up the gondola, upper Vagabond to the bumps of Surprise which I skied much better today than yesterday, and then six loops on the Storm Peak Express - a high speed run down Buddy's (maximum speed of 43 mph or 70 km/h - I've discovered that this is pretty much the limit on my soft, fat skis) followed by Storm Peak Face to Tornado, Storm Peak Face to Rainbow, upper Buddy's to Tornado, Storm Peak Face to Hurricane and then Storm Peak Face to Sunset and then to upper Vagabond on the way home.

Here's today's track. 15,160 vertical ft (season total 854,860 ft) in 2:03.


I also discovered today that there's a novel called Storm Peak set in Steamboat Springs. It's written by John Flanagan who is an Australian and also a New York Times bestselling author. I'll let you know once I've read it.

Lord of The Bumps

An epic skiing fantasy in three parts (the fantasy being that I can ski bumps well).

Part 1: The Fellowship of the Bumps

Michael and I started out on Surprise thinking that these bumps would be nice and soft after yesterday's new snow. Not really. And they haven't been groomed for a while so they're getting pretty big. We skied them only OK.

Part 2: The Two (Hundred) Bumps

Next up was Steamboat's quintessential bump run, Whiteout. We expected the bumps to be big and ugly and we weren't disappointed. But we probably skied these better that the bumps on Surprise.

Part 3: Return of the Bump King

Just when things were looking grim, Twister came to our rescue. The bumps here still had plenty of soft on top and were a dream to ski compared to what had come before. So nice that we did the top half a second time before heading over to Shadows for a tree run.

Here's today's track. 13,194 vertical ft (season total 839,520 ft) in 2:30.

Half way

Today is day 68. With 137 days in the 2009-10 ski season, half way through tomorrow will be the mid-point of the season.

It's been a thin season with only three full on powder days so far, but there's still 69 days to go. And there's been quite a few days like today where the report said only three or four inches but it seemed like more and made for some great skiing. Today Michael and I had some awesome tree runs on Closet, Shadows and Kuus' Cruise.

Here's today's track. 13,196 vertical ft (season total 826,326 ft) in 2:22.

More Aussies

I skied today with my friend Michael, his sister Amanda and her friends Therese and Vicky all from Australia.

It was a funny sort of day in terms of the weather. It was reasonably warm so we sat on the deck at Rendezvous for lunch and then it started snowing so heavily our lunch got covered in snow and then the sun came out again.

Here's today's track. 21,355 vertical ft (season total 813,130 ft) in 4:40.

Clinic 7

I had local's clinic again today and the focus was on bumps.

The Ridge was especially nice and fortunately I talked Jamie into doing it twice. Plus it was a beautiful bluebird day.

Here's today's track. 12,595 vertical ft (season total 791,775 ft) in 4:40.

Day 65

I was a bit busy this afternoon, so I'll blog today's skiing later, but here's today's track. 16,882 vertical ft (season total 779,183 ft) in 2:56.


Update 4:10 pm, 30 January: It started out misty like this in the morning but by lunch the sun was out and it was a beautiful day. Michael and I just cruised around working on his technique.

Hard to go easy

Michael took a rest day today. I've pushed him hard and to his credit he has managed 60,000 vertical ft in his first four days which with jet lag and altitude is pretty damn good.

I said to him when I came home "you know how I promise to go easy on you and I don't? Don't take it personally because I do it to myself." I had every intention of taking it easy today and I started out that way with a run down Vagabond. But the snow was better than I expected and before I knew it I was ripping up the trees. Closet in particular was excellent as was the middle of Storm Peak face.

Here's today's track. 15,124 vertical ft (season total 762,301 ft) in 1:58.

Pressing glass

We were are the gondola early enough this morning to press glass because the fly boys were heading out of town early this afternoon and wanted to squeeze in as much skiing as possible on their last day.




The report said one inch at 5 am but it seemed like more than that. First tracks on Tornado was sweet as was a freshly groomed 3 O'Clock. Closet was great, as was Sundown Liftline, 2 O'Clock and everything else we skied today. Here's the track. 16,456 vertical ft (season total 747,177 ft) in 3:19 (including 25 minutes in the gondola line).

Easy on Michael

It wasn't a powder day today which was good news for Michael since he was a bit wrecked after two powder days first up. So we just cruised around on the groomers on perfect packed powder (well apart from a few trees and bumps just to keep things interesting, like Vertigo on the way home).

Here's today's track. 15,968 vertical ft (season total 730,721 ft) in 2:52.

More powder

Today was a a powder day again, which took me completely by surprise because the report at 5 am said four inches in the past 24 hours and I'm sure at least that much feel during the day yesterday. Fortunately we were at the gondola early anyway.

Once we got into the trees it was knee deep all over the place with the occasional waist deep wind ridge, especially on The Ridge, 2:30 trees and Triangle 3. Skier's left of Tornado was great as was skier's left of Hurricane and skier's right of Sundown Liftline. But the best run of the day was first tracks on Buddy's; four inches on top of a perfect groomer is like flying.

Today was also day 61 for this season which is significant because the most days I've managed in a season to date is 60 in 2005-06.

Here's today's track. 16,372 vertical ft (season total 714,753 ft) in 3:40.

The powder arrives

My best mate Michael arrived from Australia yesterday and eight inches of fresh (and still snowing) arrived last night with him.

We met the Aussie pilots at the gondola at 8:15. Via Rudi's to Four Points first up and down to Cyclone which was nice, and then across to Pony Express since the Storm Peak Express was closed due to ice.

Longhorn first up was excellent (apart from a couple of spots where all the powder had been blown off the ice) but Royal Flush was a little too bumpy for the snowboarders in the group so we cut across Nash Junction to the Bar-UE chair. Deep wind-blown drifts of powder in Triangle 3 were so nice we had to go back to seconds.

We then decided to hit the other side of the mountain. Priest Creek liftline and the trees to skiers' left were totally sweet, but by then most of the group were tired so we decided to leave some fuel in the tank for tomorrow which is looking like another powder day.

Here's today's track. 15,233 vertical ft (season total 698,381 ft) in 4:08.

Another clinic

Today was my sixth local's clinic. We learnt something but I was too cold most of the day to remember what it was. But at least there was a couple of inches of fresh snow.

Here's today's track. 13,702 vertical ft (season total 683,148 ft) in 4:52 (lots of standing around).

Windy

It was tricky deciding what to wear this morning since it was warm and sunny at 10 am but the weather forecast said windy with increasing cloud. I erred on the side of warmth. I was glad for the extra layer because it was windy enough that the gondola was closed this morning and it was certainly quite chilly at the top of Storm Peak.

Here's today's tracks. I skied with the Aussie pilots again today. 14,207 vertical ft (season total 669,446 ft) in 2:35.

Waiting for the snow

The weather forecast seems to be indicating that we will finally get some serious snow over the next few days. We had a couple of inches in the past 48 hours, and even that is an improvement, but what we really need is a couple of feet. Fingers crossed!

In the meantime, all there is to do is keep skiing. Here's today's track. 17,814 vertical ft (season total 655,239 ft) in 3:53.

Aussie pilots

I skied with some Aussies today who are friends of friends and are all pilots for Virgin Blue.

Here's today's track. 17,491 vertical ft (season total 636,902 ft) in 3:05.

A little snow...

...makes all the difference.

Between the 5 am report of no new snow and 10 am when I hit the slopes an inch or inch and a half of snow fell. With high moisture content it stuck to the hard pack making a nice surface to ski on.

Best run of the day was Westside. It was nicely groomed, deserted and unskied, but by the time I returned for seconds only twenty minutes later it had been skied out.

Here's today's track. 18,004 vertical ft (season total 619,411 ft) in 2:23.

At least it wasn't crowded

That and the fact that it wasn't windy are the only good things I can say about today. The snow is not good - thin in places, icy in others - and it was overcast (sort of snowing but not really). Best run today was Vagabond / Betwixt / Lower Concentration.

This is on track to be the worst of the six ski seasons I've live in Steamboat (granted I've had a great run of above average seasons). Let's hope February turns out to be a bumper month to prove me wrong.

Here's today's track. 14,894 vertical ft (season total 601,407 ft) in 1:58.

Bump Sunday

Today was mostly practising moguls wherever I could find bumps that weren't to hard or too big, mostly off to the sides of the groomed on Storm Peak face.

Here's today's track. 12,637 vertical ft (season total 586,513 ft) in 1:59.


Whilst the fine weather we've been having for the past week and a half is nice, please, please, please let it snow!

Final clinic

Today was the fifth and final session of my local's ski clinic (except that I'm planning to sign up for the next round of five lessons starting next Saturday!)

Today we took what we've been learning and applied it to the bumps. Big difference. It seems once you get the fundamentals right, even the hard stuff comes easier.

It was warm today; warm enough to have lunch on the deck at Rendezvous.

Here's today's track. 12,966 vertical ft (season total 573,876 ft) in 4:57.

Rinse. Repeat.

Today was very much a repeat of yesterday and the day before and the day before that and I expect that to continue while we wait for snow (last night's reported quarter of an inch doesn't count!)

Here's the track. 13,674 vertical ft (season total 560,910 ft) in 2:10.

Half century

Today was my fiftieth consecutive day of skiing this season.

Conditions were very similar to the last few days (unfortunately the snow forecast for last night did not arrive), so it was a few high speed runs (Cyclone early was excellent) followed by practising skiing switch in Wally World.

Here's today's track. 15,610 vertical ft (season total 547,236 ft) in 2:13.

Shaped skis

There was a revolution in ski design in the mid-90's resulting in shorter skis with wider tips and tails and narrower waists (greater sidecut). These are the skis that 99.9999% of skiers use today. But there are still some old timers like Nicole's dad Tony who are only now catching on. We finally got him on shaped skis today and it only took him a couple of runs to realise what he'd been missing.

Here's today's track. 13,126 vertical ft (season total 531,626 ft) in 2:20. The forecast is for snow tonight. Only an inch is forecast, but you never know in the 'Boat - sometimes an inch turns out to be a foot!

A good kind of boring

This morning in the gondola one of the other passengers said something like "it's getting boring skiing all these perfect sunny days" to which I replied "yes, but it's a good kind of boring". It was good enough that I skied 21,409 vertical ft, my biggest day for this season so far, without even trying.

Here's today's track in 3:30. The season total is now 518,500 vertical ft.

One third

Today was day 47 of 137, which is a close to one third of the season down as you are going to get.

I skied today with my Aussie friend Nicole and her mum (Midge) and her dad (Tony).

The sun was out and the crowds weren't, so again it was just another day in paradise cruising around the groomers.

Here's today's track. 12,330 vertical ft (season total 497,091 ft) in 1:50.

Switch

I had to drop Marie and her mother and sister at the airport this morning for a short trip to Vegas and LA, so I didn't get out on the mountain until 1.30 pm.

It was another bluebird day and it's been a while since we've had fresh snow, so it was definitely a day for the groomers. I did some of my normal high speed carvers, but where it was flat enough I practised skiing switch (backwards) which we started learning in yesterday's clinic.

I think I mastered it turning right (or to my left since I'm facing backwards) but not so much turning in the other direction. I'll try again tomorrow and if I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong I'll have to give my instructor Jamie a call.

Here's today's track. 14,423 vertical ft (season total 484,761 ft) in 2:06.

Clinic 4

Today was the fourth session of my local's clinic. Whilst it was very cold this morning, thanks to an inversion it was much, much warmer on the upper half of the mountain. The sun was out, there was no wind, and not many people, so all in all a beautiful day.

There's no track today due to a problem with the GPS. I can still calculate today's vertical of 15,758 vertical ft (season total 470,338 ft) based on the lifts I rode.

Forget about Yemen

After the Christmas Day bomber it seems the focus is now on Yemen as the safe haven for terrorists.

Well it's not Yemen I'm worried about; it's those damn Canadians to the north of us. If Canada Geese bringing down US Airways Flight 1549 didn't alert us, those Canadians sending us their frigid air once again really ought to ring some alarm bells; it was -17F/-27C at 6 am this morning!

I waited until noon to head out, by which time it was 10F/-12C; with the sun out and no wind it seemed quite bearable, until I came back inside and my face began to thaw. Only then did I feel it. But at least the snow was still awesome today. One O'Clock was the best run.

Here's today's track. 13,049 vertical ft (season total 454,480 ft) in 1:48 (plus a 35 minute stop for lunch with Marie, her Mum and sister who came up in the gondola for a look around and to take some pics).

Cold vs powder

With the 5 am report showing six inches of new snow (although much of that falling during the day yesterday) today was technically a powder day. Today was also very cold early; too cold to head out first thing for only six inches (12 inches would have been a different story).

So I didn't go out until around 10.30 am by which time any freshies were well and truly gone. But the quality of the snow was still awesome. Deso's Descent to Flying Z for the first time this season was sweet as was Twister (first time top and bottom this season; the bottom half has been too rocky until now). 3 O'Clock, groomed for a change, was good but 2 O'Clock was even better.

Here's today's track. 14,971 vertical ft (season total 441,531 ft) in 2:25 .

Snowing again

The report at 5 am said three inches, but it starting snowing harder after that, so it was more like six inches by the time I hit the mountain around 10.30 am. A cold front is moving down from Canada and is meant to bring more snow over the next few days. It's snowing big fat soft flakes right now and forecast to increase in intensity tonight but at the moment it's still surprisingly warm at 32F/0C.

The trees to skier's right of Tornado were particularly good today. Kuus' Cruise and Sundown Liftline were also nice; a little wind blown, but consistently so, meaning the crust was predictable and therefore wasn't that hard to ski (especially on the fat boys).

Here's today's track. 12,924 vertical ft (season total 426,560 ft) in 2:12.