All is Quiet on New Year's Day

1 January 2014
Steamboat Springs

It was cold and sunny today. Bonus: woke up without a hangover and went skiing.  Today was a bit of a photo-ganza. We got the big crew together (11 of us). The logistics of getting all of us in one place at the same time is like herding cats.

Quinn hits the bumps.  Note the photogenic trees.

Craig shows that he is ski-ready.

The Cousins on Vagabond. Or the Vagabond's that call themselves cousins. From top: Craig Jones, Heather Anderson, Beth Parker, me, Catherine Parker.

Kayla and boyfriend Eric are all smiles.

Dylan photobombs.

Craig and Ruthanne.

We picked a nice spot in front of Steamboat's photogenic trees. This is over in morningside bowl. Quinn, Parker, and Catherine.

The Parkers.

Dylan, Parker, Kayla and Quinn...

A little bit closer now.

Setting up for the big pic. Eric got elected team photographer by virtue of blood. He played along well.

The crew. Beth, Craig, Catherine, Parker, Kayla, Quinn, Dylan (kneeling), Craig, Heather, and me.

Kayla and Quinn show off their smiles.

Dylan shows off period.

Kayla and Eric.

Setting up to leave.

 Eric fishes for birds. He says the Gray Jays (aka camp robbers) will land on your hand because they think you have food. His record was two at once.

Kayla shows off her style on Buddies Run.

Other than that, all is quiet on New Year's Day.  Hard to believe another year passed. Happy 2015!

New Year's Eve

31 December 2014
Ski Inn, Steamboat Colorado
New Years Eve Day

A bright, sunny morning with ballons over Steamboat.

Dylan conquers Storm Peak.

Elkhead.  Note the gigantic mass of people in line at the Sundown.

 We met up with Parker and Quinn in the afternoon. At the top of Pony Express. We were doing hot laps on Middle Rib->Outlaw. It was in great shape.

Parker shreds the Middle Rib.

Quinn shows off her style.

Parker models his red scarf.

Quinn.

The crew.

Cath and Beth showed up a little later and caught up with us on the Middle Rib.

Catherine.

Elizabeth.

The view East. That's Perry Peak to the left--the big mountain across from Winter Park.

Dylan, Quinn and Parker.

Fireworks over the gondola at 6pm.  It was a nice little show at the right time.

Kayla, Dylan and Parker went out and partied with friends until around 3am. Diane was at home with Kodi and I missed them both dearly. I gave up on New Year's Eve and retired around 10:30. It will be nice getting up in the morning without a hangover.

Happy New Years!

Cold, Cold, Cold

30 December 2014
Granby, Colorado
9am

Getting up this morning was pretty difficult--day 3 and I'm feeling it. The fact that it was -18 out didn't help to motivate us.

 Practically a heat wave in Winter Park.

The view from the motel balcony. That's Ski Granby Ranch (formerly Stagecoach) in the background. They have night skiing at Ski Granby, but that didn't sound very appealing.

We parked in the Challenger lot today. We got second row parking, which was remarkable given the date and time we arrived. I've been skiing Mary Jane since it opened in 1975. It was the beginning of the end of my time on the Winter Park racing team--freeskiing at Mary Jane was more fun that bashing gates all season over at Winter Park. I hung in for another season on the race team, but was already having more fun skiing with my crew.

In some ways Mary Jane is still a lot like it was in 1975. The buildings are mostly the same, and the bumps are just as big as they were back then. In other ways, it's better. We didn't have access to the chutes or Parsenn Bowl or the high-speed Super Gauge Express. It's just as fun as it was back then, but it hurts more now.

I'm all Aces and Eights.

Dylan flies.

We met up with cousin Craig around 11 and spent the rest of the day dragging him all over the mountain. We went up to Parsenn Bowl since it opened today and I haven't been up in many years. The view is spectacular (photo courtesy of Craig Jones).

The requisite selfy. We've been doing those since 1984--before there was even a name for it.

Craig is clearly enjoying the day.

Well, it was cold today, but not as cold as yesterday. The lack of wind made it much more bearable than yesterday even though it never got over 10 degrees.

We packed up and left for Steamboat around 3 and go in around 5.

I'll close with some musical inspiration from Little Feat.

Winter Park lives up to its name!

29 December 2014

Winter Park, Colorado

We made the trip over from Steamboat this morning. We left around 7 and got to WP around 9. We parked in Old Town and bushwacked over to the base to get our passes.

I didn't take many photos today--it was too cold.  Took a run with old ski buddy Dan Hedrick in the afternoon. He drug me down Boiler which proved how bad of shape I'm in.

Looking down Boiler.

We had dinner at a nice restaurant in Granby called Brickhouse 40. The food was great, the owner really nice, and it was close to the hotel.

We got back to the motel at 8 and I was asleep by 9.  Tomorrow is going to hurt...

Snow Basin

28 December 2014

7am, Motel 6, Ogden UT

We get up and make the 20 minute drive to Snow Basin from Odgen. Must be nice to live that close to such a nice resort.

It was snowing hard at Snow Basin. Dylan on the gondola.

The view at the top of the Needles Gondola. Despite the limited visibility, the view from the top is spectacular. I'd love to get up here on a sunny day.

Dylan under the Needles Gondola.

Strawberry Fields (forever). It's a chute off the top of the Strawberry Express Gondola, which accesses a huge area. The early season conditions meant that a lot of the zones were closed. The potential in good weather and conditions would be amazing.

The view from the top of The Diamonds. Visibility was horrible most of the day and I popped my ski and yard saled all over the Grizzly Downhill course.

They opened up a chute called "I am the Walrus". It was pretty amazing.

The view from the base.

I would definitely come back to Snow Basin given the chance. Great area with tons of skiable zones that are like in bounds side country.  I'd also like to take the tram to the top of the downhill course. Snow Basin was the site of the 2002 Olympic downhill and Super-G. 

We left about 3 to make the six-hour drive over to Steamboat.

New Years Skitacular!

27 December 2014

Oregon/Idaho border.  Conditions are so crummy in Oregon that we had to bail and go to Idaho. Or through Idaho. We're on our way to Steamboat via Snow Basin, Utah. Day 1 was Eugene to Ogden.

We had some tire problems in Bend (blow out) and stopped in Burns to get some new wheels. Les Schwab had us in and out in 20 minutes...and $486. 

It's nice having another driver. 

We arrived at the Motel 6 in Ogden around 9pm. The accommodations were suitably sleezy.  Or unsuitably sleezy--this will be the last time we stay at a Motel 6. The blood on the floor did it for us.

Tomorrow: Snow Basin, home of the Grizzly downhill from the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics.