Fizzle. Or Drizzle. Either way, that's the sound of the season going down the drain. It was unseasonably dry and warm the last few weeks and then started raining Friday and has continued since. The Pass got a few inches of fresh overnight, but it's raining now and I just couldn't bring myself to haul up one more time and be disappointed.
A balmy 34.9 degrees. Just enough to make things unpleasant.
Friday was fun...we played acoustic music for about 300 people at Cozmic Pizza as a part of the McKenzie River Trust's McKenzie Memories program. They got a couple of old codgers in their 80's (kind of like my dear ole dad) to tell stories about life on the river back in the day. They showed a cool video from 1939 called "Shooting the Deschutes" and talked a lot about boats. It was a huge success and I was happy to play a part in my post-board member role.
MRT made the front page of the Register-Guard.
The Blue McKenzie trio chillin' in the green room.
About 1/2 of the audience as seen from the guitarist's chair.
What a privilege to play original music for such a large audience.
Well, back to the end of ski season. It was fun, but a little underwhelming this year. The storms were sufficient to keep the snowpack decent, but the number of powder days were disappointing. Total snowfall came in at a paltry 257". We had five decent days in December and two since the beginning of the year. Guess this climate change thing is real.
While I haven't lost my love for skiing, my body is definitely feeling signs of 45 years of skiing and 18 years of running. My right knee has an annoying chunk of cartilage that flares up pretty regularly now. My hips feel arthritic, and my back...well, it's never been the same since that day in January 2005 where I had what I thought was a minor fall on my ass. The left foot is sort of permanently numb now.
Not to complain or anything, but I'm not sure how many more years of hard core skiing I get to have. So I better get whatever I'm going to do done. Dylan has one more year of college so next year will probably be the last for me to have a built in ski buddy, and potentially the last for a season pass...at least until I retire.
Moreover, I'm getting more and more fussy and turning into a powder snob. That's what makes it for me. One of the very cool things about The Pass, and I think Oregon in general, is the snow conditions are such that you don't have to ski bumps on a powder day. It's been a while since our last Colorado trip, but I know what the conditions are on the stuff I like to ski, and it's bumpy...everywhere...even in the trees.
There's nothing like skiing the Great Northwest.
Well, that's all for this year. I'll be back when the snow flies again...or potentially this spring if we decide on a Batchelor or Hood day.
