Wet

It's snowing today but with the temperature hovering just above freezing, well it's wet. It almost reminds me of skiing in Australia where you'd finish the day feeling like you had taken a shower in your ski suit!

The good news is that wet snow sticks much better to the hard layer underneath setting up a much better base for when the real powder comes (soon, please!)

I have no track today due to a GPS technical error (nothing more complex than the stop button being accidentally pushed) so I'm back to working out vertical based on the lifts I rode. 8,264 vertical ft (season total 120,728 ft) in approximately 1:15.

It's all in the hands

I had the second of five sessions in my Locals' Clinic today and what I've concluded is that the improvements I need to make in my skiing are all in my hand position. It seems counter-intuitive because you think of skiing being about using your legs, but the principle is that where the hands go the body goes, and where the body goes the feet go, and where the feet go the skis go.

It was considerably warmer today which made five hour on the mountain much more bearable than it would have been a couple of days ago.

Here's today's track. 11,619 vertical ft (season total 116,530 ft) in 5:08.

Day 16

It was a beautiful bluebird day today, still a little colder than normal but much warmer than the past two days.

Here's today's track. 11,589 vertical ft (season total 104,724 ft) in 1:52.

Warmer, or at least not as cold

The temperatures today were very similar to yesterday (about 5F/-15C) but today the sun was out and the wind was gone which made it much more pleasant. Buddy's Run was OK today vs horrible yesterday, and lower Rainbow was perfect packed powder. I also skied upper Vagabond for the first time this season, as well as the middle section of BC lift line.

Here's today's track. 9,109 vertical ft (season total 93,387 ft) in 1:30. Despite the cold the skiing was good enough to stay out a little longer today.

All the way to the top

The Storm Peak Express opened today so finally we can ski all they way from the top of the mountain (well almost, if you don't count the top of Morningside or hiking to the weather station). Unfortunately it was bitterly cold and windy with zero visibility at the top of Storm Peak so it was strictly a once only deal today.

It was a bit warmer mid-mountain where some new terrain also opened today including Whiteout which was OK for the first part but then turned very scrubby, so I bailed on that and hit lower Rainbow which was very nice.

It was too cold to stay out long, so today's track is 6,436 vertical ft in 1:10. The season total is 84,288 vertical ft in 18 hours and 20 minutes.

Lucky 13

Day 13 of the season and it is continuing to snow. Only a couple of inches of new snow overnight, but enough that some new terrain was opened this morning (Surprise and upper Norther) so I hit those multiple times where the powder was a good 6-9 inches deep (but quickly tracked out).


Here's today's complete track. 6,234 vertical ft (season total 77,843 ft) in 1:16.

Skiing with Jim

I skied today with my friend Jim Sitlington who was kind enough to wait for me even though I was 15 minutes late (sorry mate). Jim is a part time ski instructor. It's fun skiing with instructor friends, but you do feel conscious of your technique.

Yesterday's snow had packed down nicely providing a lovely packed powder surface instead of the ice of earlier in the week. But it's getting a whole lot busier, which is normally not a problem with more terrain open but means crowded runs right now.

Here's today's track. 5,234 vertical ft (season total 71,609 ft) in 1:15.


We had an inversion going today so it would have been 10F/6C warmer at the top of the gondola than at the base, so a quite pleasant temperature despite the overcast conditions (which hopefully mean more snow very soon).

At last!

Not only was their new terrain open today (lower Vagabond) but there was six inches of fresh powder when I got to the top of the gondola. It was a little too dust on crust to fit a strict definition of a powder day, but the contrast with previous days was so great I'm going to count it.

Here's today's track. 7,218 vertical ft (season total 66,336 ft) in one hour and five minutes.


The forecast is for snow all week, so it is going to get really good very soon!

Clinic

Today I did an all day clinic as part of a series of five clinics on successive Saturdays. It's a great deal - five all day lessons for $225 - but you really need to be a local for it to work, which is why they call it a Locals' Clinic. Although we did have a couple of ring ins - travel agents on a "familiarization" tour - including one guy from Christchurch, New Zealand (you know who I'm talking about Milson).

Here's today's track.


Not much different from previous days since no new terrain is open, except that I did every run multiple times for a total vertical of 14,512 ft (season total is 58,833 ft).

Colder

Today was even colder than yesterday (-6F/-21C at 6.30am) and only 10F/-12C when I went out around 1 pm (and no sun). I should have stayed in, but I had some adjustments done on my boots overnight which I really wanted to test today; that they made a big improvement sort of made freezing my butt off worth it.

I did enjoy a hot chocolate when I got home, but the funny thing is I still feel like having a cold beer now.

Here's today's track. 4053 vertical ft (season total 44,603) in 45 minutes. Just enough to test the boots and no more!

Cold

It was cold today, around -1F/-18C when I got out of bed this morning and still only 10F/-12C when I went out around 11:30 am.

On a day like today when the snow is less than good and it's that cold the only thing to do is ride the gondola. Which is what I did today (twice) and that was it. It was actually very nice inside the gondola with the sun out - a bit like sitting in a greenhouse.

Here's the track. 4,379 vertical ft (40,336 season total) in 46 minutes.

First week

Once more, today was much like yesterday except colder, especially at mid-mountain (and it's forecast to be even colder tomorrow).

Here's today's track: 4,168 vertical ft (35,956 for the season to date) in 46 minutes.


To see how repetitive this week has been, look at the track for the week.


Fortunately it's forecast to snow for the next two days so hopefully there'll be some new terrain open by the weekend.

The same, but not

By all objective measures today was almost exactly the same as yesterday, but for some reason I skied much, much better and not surprisingly enjoyed it a whole lot more!

Here's today's track. Same runs but a few more repetitions for 8,254 vertical ft in one hour and 40 minutes and a season total of 31,789 vertical ft.


I rode the BC lift today with the president of the ski area who I know from other activities I've been involved in - it's a small town so even an anti-social geek like me knows a lot of people after five and a half years living here - who says the snow will come on December 12. I don't know if that's a promise or a prediction.

Just the numbers

Today was so much like the last few days that I can't think of anything original to say, so I'll just give you the track and the stats: 59 minutes for 5,371 vertical ft and a season total of 23,535 vertical ft.

Deja vu all over again

With a couple of slight variations, today was a repeat of yesterday. Now I'm really hanging out for it to snow so some new terrain can be opened!

Here's the track. One hour and fourteen minutes and 6,139 vertical ft for a season total of 18,164 ft.

More of the same

No new terrain was open today, so today's skiing was very much like yesterday except not as good since it was overcast rather than sunny and being Saturday more crowded.

And if I was bored repeatedly skiing the same intermediate runs yesterday, I was even more bored today, so much so that I even skied a couple of beginner runs. Actually I have goal of skiing every named run on the mountain at least once this season. For the beginner runs, once will be enough. But hey, it's still skiing and before you know it the powder will be here and I'll be ready for it!

Here's today's track. One hour and three minutes and 4,453 vertical ft bringing the season total to an unimpressive 12,024 vertical ft.

A little more

Today the Gondola and Burgess Creek chair were opened adding a little more terrain to yesterday's very limited skiing.

Today's track consisted of three times on Rudi's/Lightning/Ego followed by a home run on Heavenly Daze and Vogue for 5,332 vertical ft in one hour and four minutes. Total vertical for 2009-10 is now 7,571 ft.

It's back!

Today is opening day of the 2009-10 ski season in Steamboat.

It was cold early (9F/-13C) so I waited until mid morning when the sun had time to do its thing and it was a toasty 25F/-4C before heading out.

Only the Christie Express is running today and the only decent runs open were Vogue and See Me, so I did each once and then called it quits after a mere 38 minutes and 2,239 vertical ft, which was fine since I always intended to ease into the season. Even though I worked harder on my fitness this summer than in previous years, it's hard to fully cross-train for skiing; there are just some muscles you don't use for anything else.

The great thing about a season pass and living in a ski resort is you don't have to go flat out on day 1. There's always tomorrow (at least until the end of the season).

Word is the Gondola will open tomorrow.

Here's today's track.

Mum Visiting

My Mum arrived from Australia today.

She arrived via the Amtrak train from San Francisco, with Qantas taking care of the Sydney-San Francisco leg thanks to the miles I used to get her a business class ticket (I think she liked that a little better than flying at the back of the plane).


These long distance Amtrak trains are a black hole for taxes; but if my taxes are going to be wasted, they may as well be wasted on my Mum!

Beaver

We were out for a walk this afternoon passing by Casey's Pond when some movement in the water caught our attention.