R.T.S.

A little known fact about our local hill is that it has the steepest inbounds run in the Northwest: R.T.S. Rumor has it that RTS is somewhere between 53 and 57 degrees. That's steep even by my standards. It's not long--maybe 800 vertical feet, but what it lacks in length is definitely made up by steepness. Note that it commands not one, but two of those black diamonds.

Nobody has been able to tell me what RTS stands for, but here's some possibilities that I just made up:

• Rough, tough, and steep
• Run too steep
• Radical training slope
• Rocks, trees, snow
  
• Run to ski
• Route to sea
  
• Real tough sh*t
  

I could go on, but you get the idea. Here's a perspective on how step 57 degrees is:

Note that Dylan is standing up straight and touching the snow with his hand. It looks like I'm nearly standing on top of him. That's because I'm nearly standing on top of him. I can't even imagine attempting this on a snowboard, but Dylan shredded it.

Here's another perspective.

And yet another.

Dylan and I hit RTS five times today. The cool thing about RTS is that every time you turn, little avalanches of snow fly past you. That, and the fact that if you fall, you'll probably slide the remaining 700' to the bottom. I've seen it many times, but never had the experience personally.

The conditions today weren't great--we got 15" of new snow on Wednesday; then it got warm and crusted the good stuff over. But RTS faces west and didn't get much sun so it was in prime shape. At any rate, what a privilege it is to have some extreme terrain at our local hill. It definitely keeps the skiing interesting.

Remember back in the early 90's when speed skiing was all the rage? Guys hitting 136 mph on skis--nearly terminal velocity. It must have been around 1992 when the resort carved out the outrun to nowhere at the bottom. Word is the speed record on RTS exceeded 110 mph. That's what dropping down an 800' elevator shaft can do.

The steepness of RTS exceeds anything that I had the opportunity to ski during my 25 years in Colorado. Mary Jane had some nice 45 degree pitches, but that pales in comparison to 57 degrees.

It wasn't all fun and games on RTS today. Dylan shows off his new pants and his electric coat on the C-Box. Whoa cowboy.

He got mad air off the kicker.

Log jam!

I spent the morning skiing with ski buddy Mark.

It's good to have a ski buddy. Mark is a good ski buddy. We powder hounds were sniffing out what was left from this week's storm. It was pretty ravaged by the time we got to it.

Who are the hoodlums in the back seat?

Dylan and boarding pal Marty.

Dylan and Diane went up yesterday to see if they could get in on the fun from this week's snow. It got warm before they got there, so the best was already over. I stayed home to drum up money to feed my skiing habit. A man's got to do what he's got to do.

That's all for the last day of February. 32 days and counting until the end of our season.

Yikes, this season is going fast!

Skis.

Yep, skis.

A prerequisite for skiing is skis. I've had a lot of skis over the years... Rossignols, Dynastars, Fischer, K2, Research Dynamics, Volant, and so on. The trend over the years has been shorter and fatter--a trend that I totally buy into. The technology advances in the new equipment make skiing both easier and more fun.

Many skiers are fussy about their skis; me, I seem to be more or less happy with whatever I have. In fact, I'm pretty sure than whatever skis I've had have been my favorite. I attribute that to a lack of opportunities to demo different skis. That's alright with me... my key criteria in a pari of skis are:

• Stablilty at high speed (45 mph or more)
• Stiffness (the stiffer the better--to a point)
  
• Grip--they have to hold an edge on ice
• Nimbleness--so I can mash bumps
  
• Float--so I can shred the pow
  

Since skis are really expensive (models for people my ability level retail at $1000 and up), I've been purchasing all-mountain skis because they are versitile. There's been days when I'd wished I had a pair of 200mm wide pontoons in the powder. Not so much a ski as strapping two reverse snowbards to your feet.

I've gone through three pairs of skis since we seriously started skiing again (2000-01 season). The first were 191cm heavy metal Volant Machetes. These had a high shred-factor as the the name implies. Then I got a pair of 181cm K2 Apache X's. These were the shortest skis I'd ever owned since I was a wee grommet. I loved them. My current skis are 174cm K2 Apache Recons. They are the shortest and fattest skis I've ever owned. I really enjoy them. Plus, they look really cool on the rack.

There is one exception to my favorite ski rule: my tele skis are 1998 K2 Piste Off's that I bought at the ski swap a couple of years ago for $50. It was a desperation purchase. I had been wanting to get a tele rig ever since the Free Heel Festival in 2001. The only problem was that every time I went to the shop I got serious sticker shock. So I have the 190cm Piste Off's that are stiff, narrow and prone to piss one off. No matter, I'm still riding them and am actually getting relatively procient at telemarking.

But, I think I would be a lot happier if I had a pair of these:

Then I could free the heel, free the mind and rip like a stinky hippie. Yea.

I'm going to buy Diane a pair of these Armada Beefcakes. How bitchin' would that be? Totally.

The fun doesn't just apply to skis. Dylan got a LibTech Skate Banana board with patented banana technology and magne-traction. The best part--it's handcrafted near Canada in the U.S. How cool is that?

Enough about skis. Dave Striffler came down last night and we went up today.

Dave has improved significantly since last year. He's moved on from the snowplow to solid intermediate. The best part is that he's a lot faster now. We skied the backside most of the morning with Willamette regular Rick. Dave tore up June's Run.

And ripped down Eagle's Flight a bunch of times. Dave bagged a cool 30,000 vert today. His reaction: woo-hoo!

It was partly sunny today and lovely as always.

Love.

Love. We went to the mountain for some outdoors, snow-filled love today. In case you haven't figured it out yet, the title of this blog is "For the Love of Snow." In the tagline, I state that I love skiing more than almost anything else. Except for my wife and family.

I expect the statement above to be vigorously argued by Diane. So I'll make a preemptive strike. I submit Exhibit A for the record:

This week we got the first substantial snow we've had for the past five weeks. Dylan and I headed for the woods to sniff out the fresh pow (my first punishable mistake). Note the barely buried orange depth stick in between the sign posts.

We found it. Or at least a little. A few inches on top of an icy crust.

Dylan found love in the trees!

After a while, I thought it was time to hunt down my sweetheart and take some runs with her. I switched into the tele gear and found her.

I was informed that I was a "butthead" for my morning antics.

Guilty as charged.

I was eventually forgiven for my sins of the morning.

On an historical note, today was Oregon's sesquicentennial. The state was officially admitted to the Union on February 14th, 1859. Happy Birthday Oregon!

We left early and went to celebrate with pizza in Oakridge where Dylan snapped this work of art that I titled "Brown and Yellow."

Feel free to submit alternative titles. The winner gets a cup of brown and yellow at Timber Jim's Pizza Parlor. Note that root beer and Mountain Dew usually mix.

We attempted to figure out Keno while dining and picked numbers on a card to see who got the most matches. I won. A dollar. Pay up Dylan.

Dylan got the lumberjack vibe from Timber Jim's.

I love you Diane. Thanks for letting me ski.

Happy Valentine's Day.

Peak 2.

Peak 2. That's where you go when the snow is crap (e.g., bulletproof ice riddled with death chunks) on Eagle Peak. Affectionately known as the "backside," Peak 2 is 1,000 vertical feet of primarily expert runs, outrageous tree skiing, and cliffs. Plus, the backside faces north--an attribute that allows it to hold snow much longer and in much better condition than the southern exposure of Eagle Peak. It is not as susceptible to the freeze/thaw cycles that happen every sunny day on the front side. Best of all, the snow socks in there like crazy. Today the base at the lodge was 34" while the base on the backside is 68."

View from the top down Northern Exposure. That's Maiden Peak in the background.

Of course there is a downside: a 10-minute ride on the diesel powered triple. The lift is a little slow for me (well maybe a lot) and on powder days I'll bounce back and forth from frontside tree shots to Cherokee Ridge on the backside. Cherokee Ridge is 500' of old growth awesomeness. It's also out of bounds... but that doesn't stop people from poaching it.

View from the bottom of the Peak 2 lift.

Where's Waldo? Must be off to the left someplace, but not quite down under (a 45-50 degree pitch through trees).

There's Waldo (lake) frozen off in the distance.

For any ski area to command respect, it must have cliffs. 20'-30' hucks on the right; 10'-15' hucks on the left; chutes down the middle. Not much snow right now, so the cliffs are bigger and badder than usual.

The Dragon's Back. Not much skiable area this year, or any year for that matter. The scree field at the bottom collects snow an is an awesome 8-turn powder shot on snowy days.

It hasn't snowed more than a few inches since January 3rd. The base is getting thin; rocks, bushes and stumps are showing. We've had our share of 45 degree spring skiing in January and February. Time to get back to the normal storm pattern. I watch them every day on the web (www.eugeneweather.net). This year they build up 500 miles off the coast and we watch them break down before they get here. Word is that all the resorts on the left coast are not in good shape. We'll do a snow dance and hope it doesn't get to crisis proportions like it did in 04-05. The run in the photo below was just bushes, dirt, and rocks.

Despite my carping about the weather patterns, it was still a beautiful day.

Super Sunday.

Any Sunday at the mountain is super, but Super Sunday is extra-super. That's because all of the football fans leave early so we can have the mountain to ourselves. Thank you football fans. You're awesome.

This little grommet and his dad are having a Super Sunday. Give him a few years and he'll proceed to shred. Thanks dad!

Dylan, who is the stunt man in most of our pictures, had a Super Sunday.

This log ride is more fun than Disneyland.

360 off the Wu-Tang.

Method man.

Super Sunday was pretty and sunny.

Close it down--but not until we have one last run.

Even the lifties had a Super Sunday. Thanks lifties!

I might watch the game later, I might not. I would probably forget it (including the humorous ads) right away. I'll definitely remember our ski adventure today. We left at the crack of noon, arrived around 1:15 and closed it down at 4:00. Diane even drove home so I could experience the palatial back seat of our skimobile. Thanks!

See ya' on the Funway!