"spring" skiing

I am beginning to redefine what I think about spring skiing. In CO it was all about blue skies, soft snow, warm weather and a cold beer on the patio at the end of the day. Apparently spring skiing in the Cascases is arctic winds, freezing ice called snow, bullet proof snow pack (because it is rather warm, just very wet), and white out conditions. It's more about the wind burn than the sun burn I am realizing. Derek and I went out to Grouse Gap today for a nice tour and we were both feeling pretty hard core about it. It was a nice tour though and come May, we might see that thing I love called the sun :)

Am I really getting paid to do this???

I started my new job last week. I spaced bringing my camera on any of the hikes that I got paid to go on, but we'll be beack out there several more times before the season starts. It was a very intense week of training and I'm really glad we have 3 more before we start leading hikes. There is a LOT of information to absorb. Luckily, it is all very interesting, at least to me. I am currently studying up on all the plants, birds, mammals, etc. that can be seen at the Table Rocks. Last week we also learned about the fire ecology, ethnobotony, and Native American history of the region. This week we have firts aid/ CPR training, geology talk, we are learing the kits (the kits are games that we play with the kids to teach them about different animals that can be found on the rocks. We dress a student up as a turkey vulture, a lizard, or a ring tail cat), and whatever else we can fit into a 40 hr week. It's been a great time so far. Derek let me practice talking about all the neat stuff I've learned this week by hiking with me in the watershed this weekend. I bored him to death with every detail that I could remember. It was really helpful and I hope a few more people want to hike before I have to convey all of this information to classes of elementary and junior high school students. Must admit, I'm a bit nervous about that part!

ski touring in the sun to bike races in the rain

We went to San Fran lasst weekend to see Peter and Melissa and to watch a few stages of the Tour of Cali. It was a very cold, wet weekend, but fun to watch the big dogs duke it out. We watched the women's crit in Santa Rosa on Sun. I really wanted to see Sharon the Hammer put the smack down, but she had some unfortunate luck in the 3rd corner of the 1st lap so we just hung out with her after the race instead. It was a short visit, but so it goes when it's 43 degrees and pouring rain.

It was Derek's first bike race. What a great one! We saw a bunch of the fast ladies and of course we saw the men's finish. It was very impressive, even though every one was wearing rain gear so it was hard to tell who was who.

It has been a fun few weeks on the government ski team. Jake and some of his buddies and I all weent to Brown Mountain last week. It was a beautiful day and the snow was perfect. We got 2 laps on the top and then one long 2500 vertical foot run. It was a perfect powder day and so far, the best turns of the season. Yesterday it was a Mt Shasta lift day. They got hammered with snow last weekend so we had to go check it out. It was a load of fun and cheaper than Mt. A! Today we went and got a few runs on a nice north facing slope behind Mt A. It was ok snow, but I struggled with it. Definately challenged me due to my bad habit of over turning. I had some good crashes today - keepin it real. I start my class tomorrow. I am very excited to be back in a classroom and to learn about green building practices.

Mt Shasta

I finally made it down to Mt Shasta for some back country skiing. The conditions were variable but it was fun to be back on a huge mountain. We had a few good powder turns in the morning, hit some hidden rocks and then fought through the crust the rest of the day. We started out with a calm, blue ski morning but by the time we were back at the car the storm had moved in and we were in picking our way back in the freezing fog. When we got to the car we saw a Lemurian
hunter though. She had her face painted green and kind of looked like a witch. The full Mt Shasta experience.

Ranger Rick

I found out this week that I got the job as an interpretive park ranger with the BLM. I am soooo excited! I'll be working out at the Table Rocks in the spring and then out at McGregor during the fall months. I am really excited to learn more about the natural history of this area and be outside for most of the summer. I'll work for Momentum packing trips this spring and summer so I should stay pretty busy. I'm also volunteering with The Green Building Council and have enrolled in a green building practices class. I am really excited about some of the fun opportunities that this horrible economy has created. This is going to be a fun summer!

Annual Bend trip

We ventured off to Bend last weekend to enjoy some skiing. HA! We didn't even get the skies out of the car. It was cold so the bullet proof snow never got soft so we just hiked. Derek decided to brave it and tried to fish for awhile. His line was icing up but it was entertaining to watch him try to stealthily approach the hole. Overall, it was a great weekend of hiking and hanging out. It's warm here in Ashland so I think I'll enjoy my afternoon off and head out on the bike :) Base miles in warm, dry weather - gotta love it!

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Years! I spend the holidays with the family this year. It was really nice to get back to CO and see everyone. Holly and Dave came to CO this year so we spent Christmas with Mom and Dad. It was really fun. We played a lot of board games and drank a few martinis. Then they headed to WY to snow mobile and I headed to the lodge to cross country ski for the week. I hadn't seen cousin Matt in 3 years so it was great to catch up with him. He's in Seattle now so I hope to see hime more than once a year.

There wasn't a lot of snow up there, but the skiing was still pretty good. We had quite a few wild life sightings. I saw a bull moose on my way back to the lodge one evening. I also saw a porcupine climbing a tree on an afternoon outing. Peter, Matt and I were lucky to see several elk and a moose with 2 calves on our telemark hill hill day. For the most part, we had sunny skies and warm weather. It was great to catch some rays and be warm!