2007 highlights

Well 2007 is nearly over. According to the official judge (my wife Marie) it's been a good year. Here's the summary and highlights:

• 37 days of skiing (21 in January-April and 12 in December) including my most epic day of powder skiing ever


• Seeing my first niece


• 125,000 miles of travel (so much for my resolution to travel less this year) including three trips to Australia and New Zealand, two trips each to Beijing and England, and one trip each to Paris, Hong Kong and Beirut.*

*I keep track of my flights at Flight Memory which has a neat feature to generate a map of all my flights for the year (below). Unfortunately it doesn't indicate how often I've flown a route, for example that I flew BNE-CBR about twenty times.

Cold, cold, cold

I went out today hoping to find some leftovers from yesterday's 12 inches of powder which I missed through sheer laziness.*

I had a few good runs, especially on the lower mountain, but generally the snow was quite wind blown and heavy and it was way too cold to stay out more than an hour and a half. So that's it for skiing in 2007.


* Yesterday wasn't a total waste since I watched Blade Runner, The Final Cut on DVD. The picture and sound on this remastered version are simply awesome.

Expectations exceeded

Today by the time I reached the top of the mountain I almost came straight back down again. It was cold (10F /-12C) and grey and the snow wasn't good enough to justify fighting the holiday crowds.

I'm glad I didn't though because it was quite a bit warmer at mid-mountain and I found some nice powder stashes. The trees to skiers' left of Sunnyside were especially good; good enough for a repeat performance. I also found some soft stuff off to the sides of Oops, Concentration and Ted's Ridge on the lower mountain.

All in all a day that promised little but delivered quite a bit. A day where you go out not expecting much and having a great time is almost as good as a day when you expect a lot and find it.

Leaving on a jet plane

The late, great John Denver wrote those lyrics back in 1967* but until now for a big part of the year in Steamboat the only way to come and go has been on a Dash-8 turboprop, a service I've previously criticised.

Finally we're moving to an all jet service year round come the end of this ski season! As a member of the Yampa Valley Airport Commission I've known about this for a few weeks (and I hate keeping secrets) but I'm still excited at the formal announcement.


* Just in case you've been living under a rock for the past forty years and haven't heard this wonderful song, here's a version performed by John Denver and Peter, Paul and Mary who made it a hit.

Day 10

It was a toasty 2F /-17C at 9am this morning so Marie decided it was too cold today to go snowshoeing as we originally planned, leaving me free to ski.

There was still plenty of leftovers from the foot or so that fell on Monday night especially in the trees where it was waist deep in places especially Twilight, Lights Out to skiers' left and the lower end of the Sundown liftline.

I skied the first hour by myself and then met up with a family I met last night at Christmas dinner, Roy and Ann from Oxford (England) and their son Luke who shares a birthday with my wife and turned 13 today.

After a slow start to the season we're now getting a constant powder pounding with more snow forecast over the next few days.

Christmas Eve

The downside to Friday's awesome conditions was that I was way too sore to ski the past two days despite it continuing to snow all through the weekend.

So today I took it a little easier, not wanting to be unable to lift a cup of Christmas cheer tomorrow. I did ski some trees - Shadows and 3:30 - where there was still plenty of powder, although it was quite heavy going in places. I also managed some bumps, the best being on Vertigo, my favourite lower mountain run which I hadn't skied yet this season but which was every bit as good as I remembered it. For some reason it gets surprisingly few people, perhaps because you can only access it from Heavenly Daze.

I probably won't get back on the slopes until Thursday. Tomorrow we'll be busy opening gifts and then preparing our contribution to Christmas dinner with our friends Vesna and John. Then on Wednesday it's Marie's birthday so we're going snowshoeing.

Lucky eight

As I've mentioned previously, in Chinese culture the number eight is considered lucky. Well today was my eighth day for the season and it was lucky for me. It's been snowing hard in Steamboat for the past 24 hours so it was another epic powder day.

I was out early anticipating a crowd at the gondola and I was right so I jumped on the new Christie Express instead and across to the Thunderhead Express which worked like a dream.

It was deep powder everywhere but nowhere better than the trees of Twilight and Shadows. Even late in the morning there were still plenty of deep stashes. For example, I found some waist deep powder around 11:45 am to skier's left of One O'clock.

I skied the first hour and half by myself and then connected with an Aussie friend Nicole around 10:15 (that's how long it takes to get her five year old and three year old daughters ready and into the ski class!) She's a former competitive skier with an old knee injury that's now more of a psychological impediment than a physical one, so I made a point of pushing her. It seemed to work, but I'll know she's forgiven me when she asks to ski with me again.

It's still snowing hard so it looks like more of the same tomorrow.

Carving

It's a little too early to be carving turkey, but not too early to be carving turns, so that was the main course on today's Steamboat menu.

Only an inch or so of fresh snow overnight but Marie had an early appointment so I was also out early and at the gondola as it opened at 8:30 am. In addition to carving up the groomers all over the mountain I also ventured into the trees on Twilight and Triangle 3, where the snow was a few inches deep if a little heavy, and the bumps of Hurricane.

It's been snowing all day and forecast to continue tonight which means that chances are better than even for a powder day tomorrow. So I'll leave you now so I can get an early night!

Apres ski was drinks at the Ptarmigan Inn with a colleague from Australia who has a condo here in Steamboat.

Cruisy

Cruisy. That's the word to describe a day like today. It was cold and overcast early but by the time I went out at noon the sun was out and it was a very comfortable 25F/-3C. The snow was perfect - packed powder kept soft and dry by cool overnight temperatures - and even though it's less than two weeks to Christmas and the winter jet services into Steamboat have started there were surprisingly few people.

Best run of the day was Rolex. Big bumps but still soft and forgiving which I skied very well. It's no longer my technique holding me back on the bumps so much as a lack of fitness from a very lazy summer. I'm stopping now not because I've lost the line but because I've lost my breath!

Unreal stuff

If Wednesday was the real stuff, today was the unreal stuff. Six inches of new powder by 5 am and still snowing hard when the lifts opened on top of a soft base. Plus they opened the Sundown Express this morning providing access to the whole of Priest Creek.

I was particularly lucky to arrive at the lower half of Three O'clock just as the rope was dropping (that's the second time this season!) That meant waist deep untracked powder over a flat base! The trees of Shadows and Twilight also revealed some deep stashes, especially on the lower half of Twilight.

The real stuff

The 5 am report said only five inches of new snow overnight, but what a five inches it was. Champagne Powder. Super light, dry and fluffy just how we like it here in Steamboat. The real stuff.

And since tourist season hasn't really started yet, there wasn't a whole lot of people competing to enjoy it - I arrived at the gondola around 8:15 and was only about 20th in line!

On the more heavily skied runs five inches is "dust on crust" but in the trees where the previous falls had stayed soft it was a full on powder experience. I found some especially nice stashes down Kuus's Cruise and Three O'clock (almost worth the traverse back to Rainbow Saddle) as well as in the trees of Triangle 3 and between Buddy's and Cyclone. My best skiing performance for the day though was the mid-section of Hurricane.

This is as good as it gets. No it isn't. It will soon be even better!

Lucky guy

Does it count if you ski a foot of fresh powder and no one's there to see you?

Of course. In fact it counts double!

I got a late start and there's been no significant new snow for three days, so how did I do it? I got lucky. Really lucky. I managed to get off the gondola just as they were dropping the rope on Valley View for the first time this season.

Now it's snowing, so it may be a powder day tomorrow. And my wife and I celebrated our 19th anniversary yesterday.

How lucky can one guy get?

Second day

Your legs always feel it the most on the second day. So today I just took a quick trip to the top of the mountain (Storm Peak Express opened yesterday). So in a way I'm glad the forecast storm didn't come through last night. I don't think my legs are really ready yet for a powder day!

My opening day

Today was day one of my 2007-08 ski season. I'm not too disappointed to have missed the first two weeks of the season whilst we were away in England, since the first week was cancelled due to lack of snow anyway.

In fact my timing was almost perfect - it only really started snowing properly in the last few days and today the snow was soft and dry just the way we like it here! I didn't ski a whole lot, having failed once again to keep my promise to myself to stay fit over summer, but the little I did was enough to remind me just how much I love this sport.

A couple of very good bump runs on my first day also confirmed that my progress last season was not imagined. Right now I could hardly be happier, unless of course it keeps snowing for the next two days, which is exactly what is forecast!

Back home

We've just arrived home after my five day trip to England turned into five weeks.

We flew as far as Denver last night and today took the shuttle van to Steamboat. Amazingly there was a family on board from the small town in Australia where I was born and went to high school!

Beirut churches

This morning my wife went to Mass in her old village. Despite the fact than most of the former Christian population have now moved elsewhere many still return every Sunday to the church which has been restored after being badly damaged during the 1975-90 civil war.


Actually there's three churches in the village of which one other has also been restored. The largest church is still a work in progress. Look closely at the column on the left. Yes, those are bullet holes.


And the local Muslim population quite happily send their kids to the local convent school. My wife thinks these are signs of hope. I see them as evidence that people of different races and faiths can live together only until cynical and evil leaders exploit these differences for their own ends - which unfortunately happens all too easily.

Beirut

Last night we flew from London to Beirut where we're visiting Marie's relatives.

The drive from the airport to my father-in-law's house provided a personal snapshot of Lebanon's troubled history since it passes through the 'village' (suburb) of Mreijeh in west Beirut where my wife lived as a child.

During the 1975-90 civil war west Beirut became the Muslim sector and Christian families like my wife's were almost entirely driven out in fear of their lives. To make sure they didn't come back the houses were usually destroyed. This is what happened to my wife's home which had been moved by my wife's grandfather stone by stone from its original site a few kilometres away when Beirut airport was built in the 1950's. I saw the ruins of the house on my first trip to Beirut in 1993. My father-in-law still owns the land but it's now a petrol station.


So I really hope that there's a special place in hell for people responsible for ethnic cleansing.

My father-in-law was elected mayor of the village in 1967 and remained so by default until 1998 (since the Lebanese were too busy killing each other to hold elections). Interestingly he was re-elected in 1998 by a population which by then was overwhelmingly Shiite! He retired in 2005 only to be replaced by his former deputy who of course is also Christian. Who said Lebanese politics is confusing?

After a quick nap this morning (the flight last night was too short to get much sleep) my wife's youngest sister showed us her new apartment which at the moment is a construction site, but it should be fantastic once it's finished. As you can see from the photos, it's in one of the older neighbourhoods of Beirut.



In the afternoon we visited one of Lebanon's most famous Christian shrines at Harissa (Our Lady of Lebanon). I was surprised to discover a significant number of Muslim visitors. I discovered that they were there because Mary is also venerated in Islam which I didn't know.

The shrine is located at the top of a steep hillside overlooking Jounieh bay north of Beirut. This area became a stronghold of Lebanon’s Christian community during the civil war as they were driven out of mixed communities like the one my wife grew up in.

As this shot shows, the mountains rise quite steeply from the sea which is a key part of Lebanon’s natural beauty.


Beirut like most cities in developing countries is not so nice (lots of traffic, smog and general grime), but the suburbs and villages in the mountains are quite lovely.

English weather

Today was spent driving from Cornwall back to London. For those accustomed as I am to the distances and wide open spaces of Australia and the US, driving from one side of the country to the other in a few hours is an interesting experience. Not much to see today apart from lots of typical English weather – overcast and damp! I shouldn't complain since we were blessed with beautiful weather the past two days.

King Arthur was here...

...or so legend says. Here being Tintagel in Cornwall, legendary birthplace of King Arthur.




More likely it was the stronghold of a Cornish king who came to be celebrated by the Celts for holding out against the Anglo-Saxons.

Tonight we’re at Land's End, the most westerly point in England. We're staying at the historic hotel.



Dinner and breakfast are included with the room and the food and service are great and the hotel has lots of charm, but it's a little tired and ready for someone to do a major renovation and turn it into something really special.

Oh, to be in England*

Today we arrived in England. The 8 hour 30 minute flight between Denver and London with British Airways seemed quite easy compared with regular 14 hour flights to Australia.

You might notice that my previous post on 30 September was titled "Back home" so, yes, we only spent two weeks at home before heading overseas again. It's not all work this time though. I’m attending a conference in London later in the week so we decided to spend the next two days visiting Cornwall and next week I'll be taking some vacation and we'll be heading to Beirut to visit Marie's dad and sister (and a whole bunch of aunts, uncles and cousins).

Since we only arrived earlier this afternoon we travelled only as far as Dorset today. We’re spending the night in Charmouth, a lovely little seaside village filled with old buildings, narrow streets and cosy pubs including The George where we had a delicious treacle pudding for dinner (we don't usually eat just desert for dinner, but with the time zone changes your eating patterns get all messed up - that's my excuse anyway!)


* Home Thoughts, From Abroad (Robert Browning)

Oh, to be in England
Now that April's there,
And whoever wakes in England
Sees, some morning, unaware,
That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf
Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf,
While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough
In England—now!

And after April, when May follows,
And the whitethroat builds, and all the swallows!
Hark, where my blossomed pear-tree in the hedge
Leans to the field and scatters on the clover
Blossoms and dewdrops—at the bent spray's edge—
That's the wise thrush; he sings each song twice over,
Lest you should think he never could recapture
The first fine careless rapture!
And though the fields look rough with hoary dew,
All will be gay when noontide wakes anew
The buttercups, the little children's dower
—Far brighter than this gaudy melon-flower!