Random happenings.

Random. Let's start with some synonyms:

Chance. Accidental. Haphazard. Arbitrary. Casual. Unsystematic. Hit and miss.

Now that I think about it, that pretty much sums up skiing.

Enough of the English lesson. The cool thing about skiing is that you never know... All kinds of crazy (e.g., chance, accidental, haphazard, arbitrary, casual, unsystematic, hit and miss) fun stuff happens.

The cool thing about having a regular mountain is that you never know who you might run into. It could be anybody.

Today was one of those days. We had a little warming trend over the night, and it was still raining as we went through the tunnel (4,000'). The base is 5,000'. Fortunately the rain turned to snow as we got there. I did several laps on the EPA and then headed over to the backside. I took a quick shot down the trees on the left side of Escalator and hit the line. As I was getting ready to load, some random dude behind me with a group hopped on. No problem, you always meet interesting people on lift rides.

As we started up, this random dude asked me my name. Of course I answered "Bob." He said,
"I'm Ethan." I didn't recognize him immediately, with the beard an all, but then I figured it out. Ethan. Kayla's pal Ethan. Ethan, former Willamette Pass snowboard instructor. Ethan, rider extradonaire. Ethan, all star drummer from the PF Flyers whose EP I produced and recorded over winter break 2003. The Ethan who got married a couple of summers ago. Ethan, son of Robert who I frequently see and take runs with. Anyway, Ethan was riding with his wife Rachel (also Kayla's pal) and his mom Barb.



Let me explain why this is random. Ethan moved to Portland a year ago. He's not someone I expect to see, much less jump on the chair next to me.

Ethan can ride. You can't tell from the photo, but the snow is easily three feet deep. Five minutes earlier, Ethan spent 10 minutes extracting himself from a downed tree at the top of the 45-degree slope he's blasting down. Which reminds me, this run is a whole lot steeper than the photo makes it look (see comment about 45-degrees above). Yow.


We took a couple of runs and then they headed down for lunch and I took off looking for my crew: Dylan and his bud Tyler. I found them.


Then they rode.


And rode some more.


T-dog too.


It was a good day for The Pass. Lots of post-holiday folks enjoying the mountain. By noon the snow turned to rain, a hazard of Oregon skiing. By 2 the rain had turned back to snow. The forecast calls for a warming trend over the next few days. We'll monitor the weather closely and decide what to do in the morning.

Ciao for now.

Blue sky.

What a day!

Blue sky and powder. That's the holy grail of skiing. That's what we got today--the best Christmas gift I could imagine. We don't get that a lot in Oregon; it's usually a total white out, or worse yet... the dreaded rain on snow.

What an amazing day, what an amazing place.



Diane had fun.


Dylan had fun too.


Kayla, our daughter, wasn't here. She's still in Steamboat living the dream of being a poor rider bum.

The snow report claimed 12" of fresh pow; it felt a lot more like 18" in the trees that I usually inhabit. You know it's getting good when you get face shots.

Dylan got to test out the new experimental banana board today (more on that later). Reverse camber and built by monkeys somewhere near Canada in the US. How can he go wrong?



He can't.



No way, when you know how.



I was also enjoying it.



There's nothing like skiing through the trees in powder. It's indescribable... What a rush to turn into the trees and be able to cut turns all the way down a 35-degree slope with impunity. The trees flowing by, the snow flying up every time you step into the next turn. Turn after turn, until you reach the bottom.



And then do it again.

Family.

For me, skiing has always been a family affair. That doesn't mean that I always ski with family, as my family will readily attest. I've always been impatient; if there's fresh snow, there's a good chance I might not be seen until we regroup at the end of the day. My mom always complained that she never gets to ski with me. My wife claims I ditch her. I'm not going to get into that debate--it's a losing proposition. I'm a little better about that now--but not much.

Guilty as charged. Bottom line: if you can't keep up, you get left behind.

Today it was snowy. I present Exhibit A: Dylan at the end of the day.


And Diane at the beginning. Diane's my wife. I love her. I love her even more for letting me ski.


Diane looks a little snowy, and lonely... and left behind.


Dylan can keep up... and fly like a reindeer:


Yow! ~~~ Pow!


Kayla doesn't get featured. She moved to Steamboat Springs, Colorado to ride the dream. I'll put her in when she moves back to Eugene :-)>

Next, the snow report:

12 Hour Snowfall	6"
24 Hour Snowfall	7"
Total Annual Snowfall	152"
Snow Level at Lodge	40"
Snow Level at Midway	40"
Snow Level at Peak 2	65"

Today was one of those days when there was more snow on the ground at the end of the day than the beginning. The season is shaping up nicely.




Happy Christmas Eve!

Work...

There's now way around it. Work is a four letter word.

I should be skiing today--10" of fresh pow and the rest of the mountain is opening. We're up to 138" for the year.

I, however, agreed to attend a meeting around space. Space of all things. There's no way around it; space is the final frontier at the University of Oregon. We'll be plotting our strategy to figure what we need in the coming years.

But enough of that. I need to get back to work and stop dreaming about skiing.

Rain.

Rain.

Well, mixed rain and now. That's what the magical webcam at the Pass says it's doing right now. 33 degrees and raining mixed with rain and snow.

It rains a lot here in Oregon. Nothing will kill a good ski day like rain. To say the least, participating in a snow sport in the rain, is incongruous. Plus, it's no fun.

Where's the love, you ask? It's for the love of snow, not frickin' rain.

So, we'll tough it out and watch it rain from home today and give it another go on Wednesday.

Game on!

Snow, snow, snow.

Today was bottomless... The first three runs were the best I've ever had on the first day. The K2's are awesome. Lots of float and control.

Even in the early season, the trees at Willamette are among the best I've skied anywhere. If you know the mountain, you can find stashes all day.

Today's score: 21 runs, 32,000 feet. Not bad for an old man. My own personal Everest. I think I'll go find my wheelchair since I'm going to be crippled tomorrow.

Ski season begins now!

Well, actually tomorrow for us. Our main hill, Willamette Pass (Oregon), got 36" in the past 24 hours. Yow! Oregon weather is unpredictable at best--within the past five years we've had seasons where they nearly closed in February, to last year's 600" epic. Let's hope for a repeat.

Preparations are being made. I got a new pair of K2 Apache Recons back in October. I got the studs put on the Tank a couple of weeks ago. I put the ski rack back on tonight.

Snow's here. I'm ready.

Let's go!