Bye, bye 2012

Another New Year's Eve...another ski day. It's sort of a tradition with us.

It hasn't snowed in a few days so the mountain is groomed as well as you'll ever see it. I chatted with Tim (the owner/GM) in the lodge. He said people were complaining last week that nothing was groomed. I'll cut him some slack this time--it's hard to stay on top of 8' of snow. Not that I mind--my M.O. is either powder or going really fast.

The park was up...but it wasn't much to write home about. Dylan wasn't too stoked. He did hit the jump once, but it wasn't really what he needed to practice his front side rodeos.

The view from the top. Clouds of wonder. And very chilly for here.

They had Good Time Charlie groomed today, so we hit it a few times. Diane shreds the view of Odell Lake.

Check out my new helmet. What a dude!

Diane stopped and snapped a few photos of me.

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What a dude. I clocked in a 51 mph on the ski tracks today. Going fast will always be a thrill.

Diane sets up for Eagle's Flight.

 Well, then,

 The view is all one can ever hope for.

See you next year. Happy new year, and a great 2013!

Is there such a thing as too much?

Snow, that is?

We got another 4" overnight. That makes 11 straight days of snow at The Pass. It's common knowledge (at least among Northwest skiers) that when it goes off here, it goes off big. But this is amazing even by our standards. The temperature has remained below freezing and the storms just keep on coming.

We got a nice gentleman to snap some photos.

Odell lake facing southeast.

 Diamond Peak, facing south.
 














 Dylan mugs on the lift.

 Diane tearing down the mountain.

 Dylan demonstrates the one-booted method. Note the right foot.

 It's a winter-y wonderland!

Word is that they'll build some park features tonight. We may come again tomorrow.

Still Snowing, Still Dreaming

December 27th

Well, another 10" last night. It provided a bit of motivation to get back up to the mountain. Two days of rest helped a little, but I'm definitely not as young as spry as I was a year or ten ago. We'll see how long I can keep this up.

As long as it keeps snowing, I'll keep trying...at least for now.

The standard Willamette Pass grooming program.

 Dylan brought along the Posse...Ian, Dylan, and Marty

It even got sunny for a bit today. That generally isn't good news here--with a south facing mountain it doesn't take much to ruin the snow. Diamond Peak sure is pretty though.

 The abominable snow Ian.

Looks like we'll get a little break from this weather pattern. Diane and Dylan are planning on coming up again tomorrow. Hopefully they'll get the groomers out to clean up the runs and build some park features.

Oh, and this is for Kayla.

Six Feet of Snow

Saturday, Dec 22nd

Well, that's it. Six feet of snow this week. Makes for some fun skiing, and reminds me of a Little Feat tune.



It's been an amazing week...season so far. We're six days into it and have been up four times. It's snowed every day since they opened last Wednesday.

Snow, snow everywhere. Looks like we're off to a great season. It was a great way to spend Christmas Eve!

Three Day Run!

Day Three. It's starting to feel like winter break.

Still snowing, still skiing. We got another 5" overnight. The snow settled a lot overnight, so the trees were heavy. So were my legs. I'm clearly not getting any younger. As such, skiing seems to just get harder. With a few more days, maybe my legs will get into skiing shape. I can only hope.

Today was family day.  Diane on first ride up the Twilight lift. The lower mountain was in fine shape.

Still snowing!

Snowing harder!

Taking pictures of you taking pictures of me. Near the race shack at the bottom of By George.

The trees are flocked in holiday style.

Dylan takes a dunk
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Riding up the EPA for a run down from the top of Eagle Peak. Dylan was a little tired since he stayed out late with his buds.

Diane tearing down Perseverance.

Diane models her new jacket. Looks great!



















To state the obvious. But it's always a good reminder!

Taking the day off to recover tomorrow. We'll likely head back up Monday.

The End of the World...

At least according to some who follow the Mayan calendar. We didn't let that stop us since the snow report at 6:30 am showed a foot of fresh.

Last night was a bit of an ordeal. After our holiday party I went to gas up and the battery on the ski wagon gave up. It's amazing that they can rate a battery for 84 months and it gives out in exactly 84 months. Not sure how they manage that, but it's like clockwork on all our vehicles. So, an hour and $120 later we're hopefully set for the next 8 years.

The snow report was another 12" overnight and only two lifts running. What that means at The Pass is that the lower mountain hasn't been groomed. Diane took a pass today--and it was a good call. Conditions were not ideal unless you wanted to spend the day poking around in the woods.

Twelve inches was more like 16. Not that we were complaining.

Dylan pushes through the deep.

We ran into ski buddy Mark and his friend Chris and took a couple of runs with them. Fun was had by all--especially Mark since he just bought a new pair of Rossignol S7's. I was envious...they looked like a blast.

The old S3's do just fine. Dylan stopped long enough to get a few shots of me in the woods.

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Kayla got a pass to The Pass. Maybe she will come and use it...probably not. But it's worth hoping! 

If this is how the world ends, then I can live with it!

It's about time

We're finally underway for the 2012-13 season. It took a bit. They were one good storm away from opening three times starting back before Thanksgiving. It's shaping up to be a good one based on today.

Marty and Ian tagged along for the fun.
















Dylan surfs on Timburr.

It's still a little weedy in places...

Not a problem if you leap over them.

I spent most of the day with Steve, Fraser, Maddie and Matt hitting Cherokee Ridge. I broke first tracks in there--it was pretty solid for the most part although caution was required for various monsters lurking just beneath the surface.

The weather report is for more of the same through the weekend. We'll see how things stack up.

Ski Tracks

April 16, 2012
Closing Day

Well, here it is too soon.

A few weeks ago Diane got me one of those so-called "smart" phones. I told her I didn't really need it, but my dumb phone was not only dumb and old, but didn't get reception in many places that it should (like my office, or at The Pass). So, these smart phones can use all these apps that do clever things that make the phone smart.

When we were in Colorado, Dave Henre had a program on his phone called Ski Tracks. It looked pretty cool--basically it keeps all kinds of stats about your ski day using the built in GPS tracking device that all mobile phones have.

Here's the main interface. It show speed, distance, vert, altitude, runs, slope, and duration. We didn't go for very long today, but I went fast as usual.

It also has the capacity to link in photos, music and other features that I'll probably never bother to learn.

It provides a graphic display of altitude and speed. I see a correlation in there somewhere...

It also plots where you went...down to the level of detail of showing when you stop in the trees to relieve yourself.

Pretty amazing stuff, eh? A little scary too--if you can track yourself at that level, you can be tracked...not that I can imagine any reason anyone would care to track me. Nonetheless, it's not more of an intrusion than the chips they stick in season passes at most ski areas. Moreover, it doesn't require me to log into a web site like EpicMix or other programs. It's cool that ski areas are making use of the technology to find better and less intrusive ways for people to record their experiences.

That all said, I've probably gone overboard and need to just chill on the photos and stuff and get back to skiing. I probably won't do that just yet, but at some point the blog will run it's course.

Shiny, happy skiers

It was pretty nice out today.

Dylan works his way down Success from the top of Eagle Peak.

You didn't...I did. Where do we go from here?

Diane charges By George.

Stung by the Rossingnol ski wasp.

The weather didn't cooperate this season. We got 47 cumulative days on our family pass (compared to 82 last year); I got 21 at The Pass and 3 in Colorado. Injuries didn't help either--Diane's ribs and my back both kept us from going more. But...I'll take 25 trips to the mountains any winter over the alternative of staying home.

Well, that's it for this season unless we decide to do a Bachelor or Hood day. Or get really crazy and hike to the top of a volcano and ski down. You never know.

See ya next season!