Christmas Eve

December 24, 2010
9:48am

Well then.

For the first time in over a week I didn't hack up a lung when I got up. Only half a lung. We'll call that progress.

As one might ascertain from the date and time above, we're getting a fresh early start today. For anyone that questions our wisdom, I refer you to rule #3 of the local mountain guide (see post c.f. December 19, 2010). This early start allowed me to get going on dinner preparations (pork tenderloin with a teriyaki glaze, scalloped potatoes, broccoli, salad, and our own special basil garlic bread.) Come on over.

December 24th, 2010
8:00 pm

Home now after a great day of skiing. The illness got the best of Diane, so Dylan and I went up. We took a warm up, and then Dylan wanted to head to SDN to show my the cliff jumps. I struggled through the steep, narrow tree shots--there was no fresh snow to shred through.

Dylan hucks it in the trees.

Skies of wonder abound on the blessed eve.

Skies of wonder II:

Skies of wonder III:

Skies of wonder IV (note Dylan down below):

Skies of wonder V:

Skies of wonder VI:

Skies of wonder VII (Mt Yoran):

Skies of wonder VIII:

Skies of wonder IX (it's windy up here!):

Snowboarding gives you wings!

I'll go out on a limb and suggest this may be one of the best of the several thousand photos I've taken on the mountain. I'm no pro (it sounds like an ok job to me, however), but I seem to get a few good shots here and there. This one is enhanced by the cloud cover. I tried several times to get that shot; it was simply a matter of luck (and a lot of practice with the little Canon camera I use) that it turned out as well as it did. I got it by laying down on the ramp of the jump on riders right (to take advantage of the lighting). The shutter snap was instinctive--a millisecond separates a great shot from a useless one. All of the elements of this one work--the position of the sun and clouds, the grab, the rider's proximity to the trees, even the flex on Dylan's snowboard is just right.

I really enjoy ski photography. I have very few shots from when I was younger--it was not that I did not have the equipment--but more a function of the ordeal of toting it around and using it. Despite photography classes and considerable coaching in the darkroom by my Grandfather, it was very difficult for me to figure out the right exposure settings. The digital cameras changed all that. The camera I use is about the size of a wallet. I stick it in the chest pocket of my North Face jacket (which, by the way is a very intelligently designed piece of outerwear). I leave it on auto settings. It takes less than a second to switch from camera to video. Setting up shots is not a huge disruption--I usually peel down in front of Dylan and set up and within a few seconds it's all over and we're onto the next thing.

Word is that Santa (Diane) is upgrading my camera. Joy, excitement, photos! More about that later.

We head down to twilight to see if T-Dawg is around. He's helping out aspiring riders. What a good guy.

T-Dawg.

What a joy it is to spend a winter day in the mountains enjoying the outdoors. Even though we go to the same place all the time, each day is unique--the weather, the snow, the people. Thanks to my parents for instilling a lifetime obsession with skiing. Thanks to my wife for playing along and thanks to my kids for sharing The Love.

Merry Christmas!

Season's Change

Fall has now slipped into winter. The solstice this year was special--we were treated to a full lunar eclipse on the evening of December 20th. As is always the case in Oregon, we were concerned about the weather.

As it turned out, we had a high cloud layer that was moving through quickly. That meant we had a few breaks which provided an opportunity to view the spectacle. We brought the telescope out on the deck and used it for spying on the cosmos instead of its traditional use of spying on the neighbors.

The lunar eclipse from our back deck around 12 am December 22, 2010.

I've always enjoyed lunar eclipses--since the first one I witnessed. It was the summer of 1981 and I was camped out on the couch at my buddy Mike's house in Vista California. We knew it was coming up and invited sister Beth down for the viewing. We sat on the roof drinking G&T's and making comments about how amazing the event was. In the California night, the moon at full eclipse looked like a red super ball suspended in orbit. It was very cool, and very fun to share with my sister and my best friend.

There's been many since. One of the first ones we saw in Eugene was in the summer when we lived on Cleveland Street. It was a very early eclipse--just after moonrise--so Cleveland was not the best place to view it. We drove up on 28th Avenue and watched it. The irony was that it was only a few houses down from where we live now. My recollection was that Kayla and Dylan were impressed.

Back to the present day. Winter brings the puppies out in the parking lot. Of course, the puppies love frolicking in the snow...what pup wouldn't? This one looks a lot like Kodi did when she was a pup. Might be because this one is also a Retriever/Shepard mix.

That was a lot of action for the parking lot. Oregon welcomed winter with 50+ degree temps in town, which meant that temperatures at The Pass got well about freezing. My concern was ice/hard pack. At any rate, it was clear that today was not going to be a repeat of last weekend.

I planned ahead and left the Rossi's in the garage. I brought both pairs of K2's, but spent the day telemarking with Diane. Some readers of this blog might question whether I actually ever ski with my wife. Here's proof.

It was a good lower mountain day. The thermometer said 30 degrees in the parking lot; it was a cold Northwest 30. It was also a good day to strap on the teles and ski with Diane. I did a couple runs up top where it was windy. Moreover, all of the runs off the face were hardpack and pretty tough given my limited tele skills. The lower mountain was in remarkably good shape--the runs were groomed and good packed powder conditions.

Diane tears it up.

Dylan tests his balance on the rail. He griped all morning about how slow we are and then took off as soon as we hit the lot. He found a couple of buddies to ride with so we only saw him a few times before 4pm.

Dylan spins a '3 off the jump.

Frequent readers will note the early season presence of park features. We were pretty amazed they got anything up this early. The new feature for today was the jump. Maybe management is taking a new approach.

Nah.

Seasons change I:

Seasons change II:

Today was a good ski on the eve before Christmas Eve. We'll head up again tomorrow and keep the ski tradition going.

Bob's Local Mountain Guide

I've been skiing at Willamette Pass ever since we moved to Eugene in 1987. I can't remember the first time I went up there, but it was a pleasant surprise to find that such a small mountain had such challenging terrain. It's like a mini Mary Jane only with better trees. Of course, you have to accept the fact that the steep part of Eagle Peak is about 800 vertical feet, or about 1/3 (one good pitch) of the Challenger lift at Mary Jane.

Nonetheless, it is by far (IMHO) our best local option. Hoodoo is for families, and the 1000 vert is 50% less than Willamette. Bachelor is a 3.5 hour drive...each way...on a good day. Hood is overrun by those people from Portland.

Back to the topic...local mountains. Right. Lots of people have their local mountain and are hard core supporters even though they are never ideal (unless you live at a major resort...which is in a different class). I thought I would list some of the advantages of being a regular at your local mountain. Here's a provisional list:

1. It doesn't cost an arm and a leg and your first-born

2. You are supporting your local economy

3. You can leave at 10am and still bag 20,000 vert and be home before dark

4. You never have to go solo, even if you drive up alone. There's always another regular around to ride with, or a work acquittance, or the crew you just rode up the lift with

5. You get to know the lifties

6. You are familiar with every square inch of the mountain...both in- and out-of-bounds

7. Related to #6, you can get freshies all day, if not three days after a storm

8. You don't have to put up with the big resort posers, or wanna be pros

9. You always know where to find your wife

10. If you have a beef, you can take it up with the owner (not that you'll get anything other than the satisfaction of telling him what's on your mind)

There's more, but I'm going to stop here for now. I'm sure I'll get comments like "Bob, you can get that at any mountain." There is, however, is certain ambiance you get from your local mountain that resorts can't offer. Like the fact that regular people that did not participate in the robbing of America can actually enjoy the snow. Like the fact that you can grab freshies hours or days later that you can't at a major resort.

Case in point: December 25th, 2007. Kayla had just moved to Steamboat Springs. My lovely wife purchased me a ticket to visit my daughter and my family (my parents and my two sisters) in Steamboat. It snowed 16" on Christmas eve. The line at the gondola was extensive at 8 am. By 11 am, the entire mountain was ravaged. A great powder morning, but at major resorts it doesn't last very long. Enough ranting for now.

Maybe in a future post I'll make suggestions about how to make the best of your local mountain. Maybe not.

On to today.

Snow conditions are a repeat of yesterday, but with a little less fresh. I would estimate that it snowed about 4" overnight. The ski report was generous at 10". They counted some of yesterday's epic dump.

SDN is lookin' snowy.

Related to item #4 in the list above, sometimes you bump into work acquaintances on the mountain. Today it was Steve, a colleage at the UO.

Steve did a heroic job of keeping up the pace. Those who have skied with me, know that things can move pretty fast in the right conditions. I sure could not keep up with my alpine self on tele skis.

Good times on Good Time Charlie. Good skiing and good conversation.

Back at the lodge, it snowed another couple of inches through the day.

Another epic early season day. It's not even Winter yet!

White Out!

Technically the title could be considered hyperbole, but there were a few moments on the drive up where visibility neared zero. A rather unnerving experience that generated a lot of excitement on my part. Not because of the driving, but because of what was ahead at the mountain.

Conditions did not disappoint. The ski report said 8"; it was more like 14"-24" depending on where you found yourself at any given moment.

Baby it's cold outside!

We start on the easy stuff on the frontside.

Woah, what's this? Park features!

Frequent visitors may recall published rants about the, uh, management, and their seeming ignorance of the whole concept of customer service. According to Jamier L. Scott. (2002)

“Customer service is a series of activities designed to enhance the level of customer satisfaction – that is, the feeling that a product or service has met the customer expectation."

Ok, that seems straightforward enough. I'm still pondering why such a simple concept in theory is apparently so difficult to put into practice.

The presence of park features at the beginning of the holiday break is a welcome addition. Could it be a new approach?

Nah.

Dylan and I rode up with the park maintenance dude (who shall remain unnamed, but has been around long enough to know Kayla). He was giving us some line about only 15" of base and not enough snow to put features in, blah, blah, diddy, blah, blah. We weren't buying any of it. Even if the 80" of snow this season had consolidated down to 15" of base, there was still two feet of fresh on top of that. Plenty of snow to build features or to stick in the four rails that are leaning on a tree down at Sleepy Hollow. If you can even call a 10' rail a rail.

Word is there will be no straight box this year; the cat operator drove over it. Mad skills I tell ya.

In the absence of manmade park features, Dylan seeks out natural features. Do the stump launch!

You can't tell it from some of the previous shots, but it snowed...hard...all...day.

Nice tips.

Snowplosion!

The trees are finally getting to a point where it is less scary. There's still gators and snow snakes and various critters lurking in there, but the snow is starting to get the best of them.

Indy grab.

SDN lived up to both its name and reputation today. Dylan catches a fresh line through the woods.

The above picture validates my choice of fatty skis. They are a real kick on stuff like that. They turn like butter, float, and are generally a joy to ride. I never knew riding 2' of fresh could be so easy.

Dylan shows off the spoils of victory.

What a great day--especially considering it is December 18th. It is really shaping up to be a good season.

Foggy Top

Fog, that was the word for the day. I had to wear sunglasses the entire drive up -- until the last 10 miles -- then it was socked in. The good news was fog keeps the sun from shining and therefore the snow from melting. It's a little early for ice. The bad news was that visibility was pretty limited at times.

Dylan finds his way through the fog at the top of High Lead.

The view into the fog looking up EPA. Oddly, it was foggy at the bottom and foggy at the top, but frequently there were breaks at midway.

Watch out for the snags.

Yea, I'm awesome.

Dylan pulls the tail grab on Eagle's Flight.

Dylan works on his spinning.


Riding through the fog was an adventure--light was really flat in some areas requiring one to stay loose over the compressions. The trees really weren't in play--pretty crust in there. That said, it was a beautiful day--lots of snow on the trees and a small crowd.

We're off to a great start this year. The mountain is in great shape, the storms are here with more on the way this week, and management seems to be getting a grip on some of the bigger issues. I'm not holding out, but it could be another epic year.

White Saturday

Nothing like following Black Friday with White Saturday. The resort said 3", the dept. of transportation said 6", and I said 9". No matter who is right, conditions today were much better than yesterday and completely awesome for the 27th of November.

Nice to test out the powder boards so early in the season. Dylan gets the money shot as I hop the pillow.

As it turns out, the S3s live up to their rating in the pow. It's a whole new ballgame with the fatties. They mow right through the deep stuff and bomb the crud. The technique is different than what I'm accustomed to. A lot less standing on the and a lot more finesse. With the rockers there's also a move called "smearing" where you push out the tails to scrub speed. It works wonders for ripping.

I think I'm gonna like this new ballgame.

Diane and Dylan came up today. They waited to get their passes and Dylan caught up to my on the third ride. Dylan avoids the alligators in the woods.

A little rotation on the kick.

Diane tears it up on Rough Cut.

And shows the smile that comes from snowsports.

Dylan puts the Skate Banana through the stress test.

And rips a grab off the stump at the bottom of Timburr.

Dylan punches through the pow.


Rippin' through the trees.

We're all beat. I'm probably going to be sore tomorrow, but it was a great day for day two. The storms keep coming and the base is already as good as it was most of last season.

I should probably catch up with end-of-term work tomorrow... we'll see.

Black Friday

Black Friday. Opening day...for the second year in a row landed on Black Friday. Steely Dan once wrote a song about Black Friday, but that was about the stock market crash of September 24, 1869. Apparently the panic cause collapse of the gold market. Could have happened today, but the markets are closed so everyone can go spend money at the mall. Here's a sample of they lyrics:

When Black Friday comes
I'll stand down by the door
And catch the grey men when they
Dive from the fourteenth floor

Enough already... you can watch it on youtube.

I would dive from the 14th floor if I was at the mall today...but I went skiing instead. When the going gets rough, the masses go shopping... and the wise go skiing. So, I got wise.

Dylan was on call to work at the board shop, so I went solo. Took all the skis today...two pairs of K2s and the new Rossi S3's.

The good news is the storms last week left us with nearly 4' of base. Not bad for Thanksgiving. If you review the history of this blog, you'll see the last 2 of 3 years the season did not open until December 20th. Last year was El Nino... this year is La Nina. Odds are it will be a good year.

I waited 30 minutes to get my pass and then hopped onto the Twilight lift. T-Dawg (Tyler Giard--Dylan's good buddy) is working at The Pass this year and has the Twilight assignment. We'll be riding him hard all season.

After three laps on Twilight, the EPA opened. I got on the second chair to the top. I had great hopes, what with the fatty S3's and the possibility of bottomless pow.

Alas, it was not to be. The maritime climate of the Pacific Northwest left an ugly crust on top of the snow. The S3's cut through pretty well, but it wasn't ideal.

Speaking of the S3's...

I got the 178s. They are 130mm at the tips and 100mm at the waist...with rocker. I was concerned that they would be too short since they are twin tips, but they ski great. The rockers ski different than any boards I've ever ridden. I bought them for the pow.

Well, actually they were a birthday gift from my parents. I guess they figured since they supported my ski habit for 40-some years, why stop now? I sat on the check for months since my birthday is in August. I waited until the buyers guides came out and then figured out what I could afford. The S3's rated best ski under $750 and got the highest score in the powder category.

More on that later... but thanks for the skis mom and dad!