Epic, epic, epic powder day

Did I mention that today was epic? I didn't ski the mountain today but instead went out into the back country with the Steamboat Powdercats. And by an amazing stroke of luck I made my (advance) reservation for a day when there had been somewhere between two and three feet of fresh snow in the past 48 hours!

To understand how deep it was check out these shots.




Actually, they don't really show you how deep it was. To really understand what I mean by deep, try these instead.



And just in case you can't believe that I'm actually standing in that last shot, here I am emerging from the turn.

Face freeze

That's what happens when you spend the morning skiing 18 inches of fresh dry powder. Face shots here, there and everywhere is a surefire recipe for a frozen chin!

We had a late night last night, so even though I set the alarm for 7 am I didn't roll out of bed until 8.20 am and then when I saw 13 inches on the report I panicked! My wife kindly dropped me at the Thunderhead Express around 9.30 am and I shouldn't have worried because there was more than enough powder to go around (and several more inches fell during the morning).

I began with a few circuits on Pioneer Ridge which I've mostly avoided this season due to insufficient snow. But today it was divine, especially some of the lines through the aspens below Fetcher Glade. Only five days ago I skied the same stuff like a dog.

Once I exhausted those possibilities it was back over to my favourite hangout - the trees on the Priest Creek face. I skied a really aggressive Closet/Shadows run with Eric from Boston before continuing with Twilight, 3.30 trees and Sundown Liftline.

After that I decided my legs needed something a little easier so I explored some of my favourite stashes in 'Wally World' where there was plenty of deep and untracked snow. And then eventually my rational mind told me "getting (really) tired, time to go home" while the inner child was screaming "I want to play in the powder some more!" The rational mind won out. I am 43 years old after all!

Here's the map of today's runs for a total of 22,824 vertical ft and a season total of 405,465 vertical ft (or 40.5% of my season goal of skiing one million vertical ft).

It beats the gym

The skiing today was very ordinary. Windy, grey and crusty. But it still beats the gym as a form of exercise, and it still counts towards my season vertical. So here's the map of today's runs for a total of 10,556 vertical ft and a season total of 382,641 vertical ft (or 38.3% of my season goal of skiing one million vertical ft).

Hot or cold?

Today was one of those days that it was cold, windy and grey at the top of the mountain but warm and sunny everywhere else, so it was hard to dress just right. But the snow was good enough to compensate for that minor inconvenience.

The 5 am report said six inches overnight at the summit, but if it was that much it was just barely. Certainly not enough to justify getting out of bed early, but still worthwhile. Again it was a day where the best skiing was to be found in the trees on the Priest Creek face - Closet, 3.30 trees and Twilight. I started out skiing like a dog on Pioneer Ridge, but by the time I got to my favourite spots I was really ripping it up.

Here's the map of today's runs for a total of 16,100 vertical ft and a season total of 372,085 vertical ft (or 37.2% of my season goal of skiing one million vertical ft).

Easy to like

Today was not one of those days you rave about like Thursday, but it was one of those days which are easy to like. Good snow cover, plenty of sun and no wind, and for a major holiday weekend not even too crowded. I didn't ski anything special today, and yet it was all special. Just being out there is special enough.

Here's the map of today's runs for a total of 12,220 vertical ft and a season total of 355,985 vertical ft (or 35.6% of my season goal of skiing one million vertical ft).

Windy Friday

Today was every bit as bad as yesterday was good. It's blowing a gale - 40-50 mph - and messing things up completely.

First up the gondola was closed due to the wind, so I stood in a long line to ride the Headwall Chair, so I could ski down to the Christy Chair to stand in another long line, so I could ski across to the Thunderhead Express so I could, you guessed it, stand in a long line. I hope Steamboat's new owners were watching today, because this mountain really doesn't work when the gondola isn't running.

Then it was down to the Sundown Express because the Storm Peak Express was also closed. There was no line there, but the chair stopped for ten minutes just as I was about to get on. It could have been worse though. I might have been on the chair fully exposed to the wind.

When I eventually got to the top of the mountain after about an hour it definitely wasn't worth it. I expected to find some more powder in the trees since it snowed some more last night, but all I found was heavy, crusty crap. I did eventually find some decent snow lower down the mountain off to the side of Sunnyside, so I rode the Elkhead Chair a few times to savour that, and also some nice soft bumps on BC Liftline and Whiteout. But all in all, I would have preferred to stay in bed this morning.

Here's the map of today's runs for a total of 9,296 vertical ft and a season total of 343,765 vertical ft (or 34.4% of my season goal of skiing one million vertical ft).

Awesome powder day

We've been waiting a while for a really good powder day and today it arrived. The 7 am report said 10 inches at the summit and it's still snowing. There was only three or four inches at mid mountain so my first run down Vagabond was just a few inches on top of a groomed base. But once I got into the trees it was deep and largely untracked. So good that I tried Closet, Shadows, Kuus' Cruise, Twilight, 2.30 trees, 1.30 trees, Lights Out. Basically the whole Priest Creek face.

I also found some deep underneath the top of the Sunshine Chair and some nice stashes in the Wally World trees, but the really deep stuff was over at Morningside. It was so good I even hiked to the top to ski Wake Up Call. It was worth it - waist deep and steep and face shots all the way!

Here's the map of today's runs for a total of 25,232 vertical ft and a season total of 334,469 vertical ft (or 33.4% of my season goal of skiing one million vertical ft). That's my biggest day this season so far and in fact bigger than my biggest day last season.

Valentine's dinner

Marie and I celebrated our 22nd Valentine's Day together tonight with a very nice dinner at the Catamount Golf Club's restaurant. Every course was a delight, but for me the lobster risotto was the highlight.


I hope this one stays in business, because the restaurant where we celebrated Valentine's last year seems to have closed down.

Kiwis

I skied with some New Zealanders today - Liz and Rob from Wellington. It turns out Liz worked for my company until about three months ago (she now works for the competition but no hard feelings).

Today was leftovers from Sunday night's storm. The report yesterday morning said 8-10 inches, but I just couldn't get myself out of bed. I'm working on a big proposal right now and have been burning the candle at both ends and it just caught up with me. Although I probably would have managed if it had been true Champagne powder (which it wasn't because it was simply too warm).

So there was lots of tree skiing today. Closet, Twilight and the trees between Priest Creek Liftline and 3 O'clock (twice - does that make it 6 O'clock?)

Here's the map of today's runs for a total of 13,580 vertical ft and a season total of 309,237 vertical ft (or 30.9% of my season goal of skiing one million vertical ft). My legs feel like I skied a lot more than that today because it really is hard work skiing the heavy powder. But it still beats working!

Lower mountain

Today was one of the those unusual occasions when the lower mountain is the place to be. My first few runs on the top of the mountain were not good - the snow was hard and the visibility was poor. So I headed down below and spent the rest of the day riding the Thunderhead Express skiing Vagabond, Concentration and Vertigo which was the best run of the day - nice soft bumps and completely deserted. It remains my favourite spot on the lower mountain. I also swung by the Bashor race course to say hi to my mate Dave Willis who was working today - that's the price he's paying for a free ski pass.

It's been warm for the past week and we now desperately need some more snow, which fortunately is forecast for the next few days.

Here's the map of today's runs for a total of 16,228 vertical ft and a season total of 295,657 vertical ft (or 29.6% of my season goal of skiing one million vertical ft).

Lunch break

It's been warm the last few days and cold at night which means hard pack in the morning, so I didn't head out until 11 am today. The first couple of runs were still pretty firm, especially the bumps on vortex which were hard as hell, but after that I managed to find some softer snow and some really nice bumps, especially on the skier's left of Hurricane where the shade of the trees had kept the snow nice and powdery.

Here's the map of today's runs for a total of 11,912 vertical ft and a season total of 279,429 vertical ft (or 27.9% of my season goal of skiing one million vertical ft).

Get it before it melts

After last week's bitter cold, today and the next few days are expected to be quite warm - right now it's in the high 30's (F) and the forecast high for tomorrow is 40F. So my goal today was to ski some nice packed powder before too much of it melts.

My best run of the day was definitely Rolex - I skied the bumps at quite a brisk pace, with a tight line and was fluid and smooth all the way through and only stopped once to catch my breath. I could barely have imagined being able to ski bumps like this three years ago!

Here's the map of today's runs for a total of 11,468 vertical ft and a season total of 267,517 vertical ft (or 26.8% of my season goal of skiing one million vertical ft). Not a big day but I've got so much work to do right now that I couldn't really stay out any longer.

Yes we have powder

Only five inches overnight, but 18 inches over the past 72 hours means a lovely packed powder base. It's a little wind blown and crusty in places, and not really Steamboat's famous light and dry champagne powder, but when your skis disappear into it and you start to feel like you're floating it still feels awesome.

Marie dropped me at the Thunderhead Express early this morning so I could avoid the big weekend crowd at the gondola and it was cold, cold, cold. Plus it was windy at the top, so I headed immediately into the trees in Closet where it was like another world and the snow was deep and largely untracked. And then when the sun came out mid-morning it was gorgeous all over.

I met up with my wife's friend Julieann and her husband Bruce around 9.30 am and skied with them the rest of the morning. Bruce is a brilliant skier which is great, because I find when I'm with a really good skier I ski a lot better. I think it's because I'm more aggressive and tend to ski a more direct line as I attempt to keep up.

Here's the map of today's runs for a total of 15,776 vertical ft and a season total of 256,049 vertical ft (or 25.6% of my season goal of skiing one million vertical ft).

It's been 31 days since my last fix

My last powder fix that is. Actually no, it's been zero days since my last powder fix! The 5 am report said 5 inches at the summit but it was more like 7 inches by 8.30 am and 10 inches in the trees. Shadows and Lights Out were fantastic and Twilight was even better.

Here's the map of today's runs for a total of 13,933 vertical ft and a season total of 240,273 vertical ft (or 24% of my season goal of skiing one million vertical ft).

Big food, little exercise

It's amazing what five weeks back in Australia with lots of eating and very little exercise will do for your conditioning. Not good. Although I could use altitude adjustment as my excuse for taking it so easy today. But having set out to take it easy and just cruise around on the groomers, I couldn't resist Shadows!

Here's the map of today's runs for a total of 10,482 vertical ft and a season total of 226,340 vertical ft (or 22.6% of my season goal of skiing one million vertical ft).


Because I've missed the last five weeks I'm now a long way behind my total at this time last season (375,639 ft) but I missed a lot of days late in the season last year while I plan to ski pretty hard from now on, so I'm still pushing to make my goal. Let's see.

Homecoming

The downside of living in Steamboat is that it's tough when you have to leave. The upside of that is that it feels fantastic to come back. I've liked most of the places I've lived (Manila was 'interesting' but I don't think I could actually say I liked it), and there's several cities in various parts of the world where I've spent enough time that when I return I immediately feel at home, but I've never had the same feeling that I get when I come home to Steamboat.

That's a long winded way of saying we arrived back last night from a month in Australia and it feels great to be home. It's especially tough being away during the ski season, but at least I didn't miss a lot of snow.

So now I can continue to work on achieving at least one of my resolutions for 2007, to ski a million vertical feet this season. My other resolution was to spend less time on planes, but given that I've already done 11 flights and 13,000 miles since January 1 I don't think I'm doing so well on that one!

Time for George to fall on his sword

Once again George W. Bush blames those who don't show him absolute loyalty, removing the commanders who disagree with his desperate last roll of the dice "troop surge".

There's only one commander who deserves to be relieved of his command and that's the commander-in-chief who so willfully and arrogantly led the United States into this unnecessary and disastrous war.

My 2006 in review

So 2006 is over. Time to look back and reflect on the year that was.

For me it was an incredibly busy year.

A year with 57 days and 740,000 vertical ft of skiing, including some awesome powder days like this epic powder Monday on March 13 and the blizzard bonus on December 21.

A year where I took 75 flights travelling a total of 109,000 miles to Australia (four times), NZ (twice) as well as Malaysia, Hong Kong and China and spent 178 days away from Steamboat (most of it fortunately in the company of my wife). Those 75 flights included plenty of engine trouble as well as last week's three day weather delay.

A year with lots of business success, where I played a key part in helping my company win contracts in Australia, New Zealand and China (including one deal which just closed today) worth more than $50 million and potentially much more.

A year with lots of visits to family and friends. My good friends Michael and Peter in Canberra and John in Brisbane who've been my best mates since military college more than 20 years ago. Our German friends Bert and Claudia who live in Switzerland and we hadn't seen in more than ten years but we ran into on our way to Hong Kong. Our friends Dan and Joyce from Wisconsin who we saw in Australia. My father-in-law who lives in Beirut and who my wife hadn't seen for nearly three years, and all the rest of her family in Brisbane who must almost be sick of us visiting by now. My mum and dad, brother and (small) nephew in Tasmania and my sister and (big) nephew on the Gold Coast, and my wife's cousin Naji in LA who must also be tired of us 'passing through' on the way to Australia.

So what are my resolutions for 2007?

First is achieving my 2006-07 ski season goal of skiing one million vertical feet.

And second (two is enough if you're serious about them) is to reduce the amount of flying I do. I figured out that I spent something like 240 hours on planes this year, and in terms of total travel time at least 300 hours getting to and from wherever. If you think of it in terms of an eight hour shift that's an extra 30 or 40 days work which is crazy. So my aim is to make fewer but longer trips, and maybe even spend the entire (Steamboat) summer in Australia.

Every cloud has a silver lining

Including the cloud that brought last week's blizzard.

First there was the extra day of skiing I got last week.

And second travelling on Christmas Day made it easy to upgrade to business class using miles since there's not many paying business class passengers wanting to travel then. LA to Brisbane in the front of the plane (well upstairs actually) is a million percent more enjoyable than travelling down the back!

So we celebrated Christmas today with my wife's family and the kids especially got into the spirit of celebrating Christmas Day again. I was particularly impressed that our nephews had opened only one present each and had saved the rest until we were there. Well done Alex, Aiden and Ramzi.

Bonus day

Today I was supposed to be in transit to Australia, but thanks to the delays caused by this week's storm, I got to ski instead.

It was a lovely sunny day with lots of packed powder and surprisingly few people. I suspect that a lot of the people who were planning to be here this weekend were delayed coming in by the storm, so that just meant more for me!

I found some small stashes of powder hidden in some of the trees, especially in 'Wally World'. All in all a wonderful day that I didn't expect to have.

Here's the map of today's runs for a total of 18,706 vertical ft and a season total of 215,858 vertical ft (or 21.6% of my season goal of skiing one million vertical ft).