The Final Turn.

This is the end.

The last day.

The final turn.

Goodbye to the 2008-09 season. The last day is always a party. The mood in the parking lot is festive, the mood on the hill is festive. Even the lifties are happy. Dave joins the festivities with his helmet on. Dave knows the rules: Safety First. You would not want to have an unfortuate beer accident on the final day. Cheers!

Even the dogs were partying.

Last day is always a good day to fly and spin.

Or to work on your tele turns.

What a difference the new skis made. They actually turn! I love the K2 Whirled Peas, or is that whirly peace? Oh yea, World Piste. I think I've found peace with my tele efforts on these new boards. Thanks for hooking me up Pete! You truly are the Lord of the Boards.

Some day I might even get competent on these things. For now, I'll take the workout--it's like doing 20,000 vertical feet of lunges. No wonder I'm tired.

It was 45 degrees when we left Eugene and 45 degrees when we got to The Pass. That was about 10:15. It got warmer as the day went on. Probably because Diane was shredding on her hunka hunka burnin' luvs.

Hey, I know those people!

It must be getting warm. Who's got short shorts?

By the time we left at 2:00 it was 60 degrees in the parking lot. The party continued. Dylan looks like he's having the best time ever!

Live to ride, indeed.

By the time we got home it was hot.

It felt hot... this is too fast a transition from winter to warm. What are we going to do now? Work in the garden I guess. Or wash the ski wagon.

Which needed washing badly. The last time it got scrubbed was pre-season. We'll give our respects to the ski wagon... long may you run. It did a great job this year.

What a great year we had. We didn't get nearly as much snowfall as last year, but thanks to the magic of the Internet, it is much easier to determine what days are going to be good. What am I thinking... they are all good!

Here's the 2008-09 stats:

28 days
472 runs
652,762 vertical feet

That's pretty decent dedication for a ski enthusiast with some full-time jobs.

Signing off for now...