mid week skiing

Pete, Bob and I headed to the hills this morning. It was dumping :)

Bob

Pete

snow angles

What a fun night! Pete had a group of us over for dinner last night to test out one of his new trip meals. It was snowing really hard so we decided that we needed to try out Ally's new b-day presents (she got a saucer and one of those fast plastic sleds :)! Pete lives half way up a very steep hill that had been plowed down to pure ice so we climbed to the top and let it rip. It was Chevy Chase style - good times, good times. We played for about an hour until the cops caught us and asked us nicely to stop. Since they were nice, we stopped, made a few snow angles and then rode the sleds down to the bar. It was quite a sight - a row of sleds parked outside the Beaux Club.

snow in town!

Pete and I were going to ski today, but due to extreme warm weather on the mountain, a lack of new snow, and then his guiltly conscious (he rented approach skies over a month ago and then forgot to return them - oops!) we went hiking instead. It great because I run these trails all the time, but Pete never goes above Litha Park so I took him to the place where the trolls live. The light wasn't as weird today so it didn't look as creepy as it did the last time I was there, but just imagine. The great part is we walked back there from home - no driving :)
By the time we got back to the Granite St. Res. it was dumping snow. It hardly ever snows in town, but this year is has several times. Of course, its always when I am gone and I come home to snow on the ground but today, I am watching it fall from the sky. I am glad to be inside now because it is a very wet snow and I was starting to get really cold on the way home. I am also glad that Pete wanted to go hiking because otherwise I would have taken the cross bike out for an adventure. I'd probably be out in the middle of nowhere right now hating it, but instead I am home, warm, and about to watch Jesus Camp. I've had the movie since Nov. so it is time.

it's my lucky day

too bad it's Thurs., because if it were Wed I'd pish my luck and buy a power ball ticket. I was starving this am and burnt my toast (a little back ground - I don't have a toaster so I sear bread in a skillet and call it toast - it's a bit more time consuming but since I eat toast only every other month or so I don't think it's a big deal). Anyway - i had to sear up a new piece of bread so I was running a few minutes late. We had a flight out of Medford so I picked up the boss man and hit I-5 like a bat out of hell. Plus, I really like driving my car and there was no traffic...except for that highway patroler - ooops! As I rapidly approached him at 80 I saw the yellow, but lucky for me he was in a good mood or something. He gave me a verbal warning (yeah - not even a written one - I love it) and asked me to please slow down. Can do. I feel paid back for all my time driving like a grandma this summer - a karmic kick back for creeping along all those backroads when I could have opened it up and had some fun. I'll go back to my grandma ways though - won't get lucky all the time.

team fun

A group of us ventured off to Bachelor for the weekend. We had a great time in the backcounty. The mountain didn't have any new snow so we decided to earn the turns. I wish I could spell the mountain that we climbed, but I can't. oh well. It was a short boot pack - only about 1 mile and it lead to a great bowl. I had a good time on that side, but realized that I am in dire need of some fat skies. The Cascade "powder" is a lot thicker than my old school thin boards have a chance of floating in. Good thing there are a few demo days coming up :) On Sunday I went and checked out the Bachelor Nordic Center because I have heard that it is incredible. I am happy to report that is in fact incredible! It was no Devil's Thumb though and it left me missing the Hammers. I thought of Sharon's perfect form as I glided along. It helped me maintain my composure :)

Off to Portland for the next few days. Rain in the forcast so hopefully that means more snow for the mountain - just in time for the weekend!

great days on the mountain

After 60 hrs of deadline hell, unproductive meetings and too much time in front of the computer, I ended this week with 2 fantastic days skiing. I am so bummed that I didn't take my camera with me, but after bending my driver's license that was in apocket that I crashed on...I decided I better not take it with me. Yesterday was a great day in the back country - heavy, wet snow but it was warm and sunny and great to feel the sun on my face. Today I decided to hit the mountain because I want to make a break through with the poles this year. One of my friends volunteered to help me out - he's a race coach so he picked apart my form and gave me some tips. By the end of the day I was feeling improvements and I am so excited about it! We had a great day on the mountain - it was really fun to have a tour guide at a new place. We skiied all the chutes (most of which I had to cheat and jump turn down hill style because they were way too steep and icey to be dropping a heal - I tried the 1st turn and popped right up and got those edges in as hard as I could.) I scared the crap out of myself on one of them too but the fear was much worse than the reality, thankfully. The best run of the day was off the backside. Perfect spring style snow! Grabby in places but still really carvey. It was an incredible day up there because there was a huge inversion layer over the valley floor so all you could see was the tops of mountains and then a sea of clouds. We stopped half way down the back side and ended up laying in the snow for a good 20 minutes just taking it in. It felt more like an April day than the 2nd weekend of Jan. and it was so nice to feel the sun on my face and snow on my back.

if we were...

in Florida - this might look like a hurricane. What a night - I thought the windows might blow out, we lost power, all sorts of down trees this am, and rain rain rain! I had a waterfall in the bathroom and mini pond by the back door where the wind blew the rain straight through the crack between the door and door jam. Six feet of snow predicted though :) Too much snow to ski in right now but after it settles a bit it will be great! Mt. A has been closed the past 2 days due to "blizzard conditions" - check out the cam.

Happy New Year!!!

To end 2007, Pete and I went back country skiing behind Mt. Ashland. It was a perfect day up there - fresh powder turns, good company, and calm weather. To top it all off, we rolled back to the car right at sunset and the color over Shasta was absolutely incredible! Good ridens to 2007.

To kick off 2008, Leah and I went back country skiing again today. I didn't make it far though because I cracked, and then watched in horror, as the toe pice of my binding broke right off. I should have taken a picture of my awesome tape job, but I wasn't thinking about blogging then, just getting back to the car with BOTH skies and 2 ahppy knees. I was able to make a strong enough duck tape toe to get to the top of Mt. Ashland and down the face. Unlike yesterday, we had high winds today. I thought Leah might catch flight when we stopped to take our skins off and prepare for the decent. The ice beating against my face took away any desire to take up mountaineering. Snow is one thing, but pieces of ice really hurt!
I hope that you all havea wonderful 2008 and were able to kick it off doing something that you love!