Trees.

Trees.

They are growing everywhere. The forest, the woods, in my back yard. Maybe not so much in the desert or the ocean. But, hey, this is the Pacific Northwest. We're all about trees.

Most ski areas in the US have trees; a few have areas that are above tree line (which is about 8,000 feet in our part of Oregon). Eagle Peak tops out at a round 6,666'. It is covered with trees. But these aren't just any trees. There's douglas fir, white fir, hemlock, and maybe a little yew in there. Mostly, they are douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) in what I estimate are the 80-120 year old range. That also means that they are nicely spaced.

I've spent a lot of time in the trees during my 41 years skiing. I've skied trees at nearly every resort I've visited. The first rule of skiing in trees is: be kind to the trees. In other words, don't hit them. They don't hit back, but they don't move either.

Steamboat, where my daughter Kayla lives and rides, is widely acknowledged as one of the best tree skiing resorts. The mountain has large areas covered with quaking aspen--trees which are also nicely spaced. The downside of major resorts is that the powder is usually ravaged by noon--even in the most dense and remote of trees.

Back to Willamette. Our little mountain has awesome trees. Not only do they look awesome...

Especially, flocked in fresh snow... but they also ski awesome.

They are not bad on a banana board either...

When they fall down, they continue to serve multiple purposes.

You can play George of the Jungle. Watch out for that tree!

Or just ride silently through the snow covered trees... while looking AWESOME!!

We hit the "Ritz" today. It's in the trees. It's made of trees and blue tarps. It's not quite as ritz-y as some ritz's.

Look at that ripper.

And that one.

Finally, if you get bored, you can always just look up to the trees. They stand tall and proud.

It was a great day today. We didn't have any new snow, but the thing about little local areas is that you can find freshies days later. You don't get that at Steamboat or any other major resort. Diane stayed home to recover, so it was just the boys. I took Dylan to a lot of places on the mountain he had never been before. It's amazing how much variety Willamette Pass has in its dinky 555 acres. You just need to know where to go.

I encourage brave readers to watch the video below and provide your own captions. Fun!

Signing off for now. Dylan salutes you.