Yesterday was my last chance to get my June turns in, completing month 20 of my skiing-year-round streak. I'm proud to've crossed over to the 20s from the teens. I feel legit now.
Kevin joined me.
Kevin, Deanna, Jeff, and I all went up to Jeff's cabin on Saturday morning. It was beautiful and still very cool and spring like. Jeff thought there might be snow up by Conrad Meadows, so we headed that way. There wasn't. But, up there at the very end of a not-maintained-for-some-time Forest Service road was a lonely little Morell. I picked it and took it home. We made dinner.
Determined to get my turns in, we had dinner and headed up to White Pass. God Bless White Pass. Kevin and I were able to hike up a ways and ski quite a ways down. What an epic year. So, I got my June turns in. yay.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Someone's been a slacker
Well, lots of things sort of crept up and distracted me from skiing. For starters, there was so much stinkin' awesome snow inbounds that it sorta defeated the purpose of going out of bounds. Why hike for awesome pow when you can have lift-served? And, with Jeff having weekends off and a May departure for Italy, I ended up spending a lot of weekends around here. Oh, and my brother and I did a duathlon in April, which I spent a lot of time training for.
April 19th I did have an absolutely epically wonderful venture out to Hogback with Jeff. We are talking about 15+ inches of POWDER, 14 degrees... April. Incredible? Uh, hell yeah. We hiked and skied and hiked and skied Hogback and it was the stuff of very very very good dreams. By the time we got back to his cabin we were too tired to even stoke the fire, but it was so cold. So we made a fire and drifted off to sleep, blissful and exhausted.
The Scarpa Girls Reunion Tour
Ah yes, Scarpa Grrlz. Not only did we reunite, we expanded. We've added Barb the Inimitable. And she is a long-awaited addition.
Well, we hiked out to Bennett Pass and skinned around. Got one run in on some soft snow, then hiked some more. Found a nice big saddle of snow, where we laid our skis out and laid down on our skis so they kept us off the snow, and we took a nap in the warm sunshine. Then we skied back to the truck, had a beer, found a campsite, then drank a beer or two and sat around the campfire. The next morning mainly consisted of eating, napping, and drinking beer. We whipped together a gourmet dinner of grilled trout with pine nuts, panko breadcumbs, anchovies, and garlic; zucchini/basil soup, almond cake, miner's lettuce salad, and shiraz. Seriously, Sunset should be calling us any day now.
We parted ways and I headed up to Jeff's cabin.
I arrived, tired. In a "quiet" mood -- not grouchy, just not particularly bouncy.
He, on the other hand, was like a big Laborador Retriever puppy. I opened the door to the deck and discovered why: he'd made us a bed on the deck! There it was, a mattress and all the trimmings, piled high with blankets. And he was all kinds of excited for me to discover it. I wonder if he'd have let me go upstairs to the loft if I hadn't discovered the bed on the deck? I don't think so. The next morning I awoke to coffee in bed, and a little bouquet of teeny-tiny wild flowers. (Actually, I saw him picking the wildflowers when he didn't know I was watching. Melting = watching a 6'2" mountain man stooping over to pick wildflowers for you.)
All told it's been a fabulous couple of weeks of excellent skiing adventures and romance. I am envious of my own self!!!
April 19th I did have an absolutely epically wonderful venture out to Hogback with Jeff. We are talking about 15+ inches of POWDER, 14 degrees... April. Incredible? Uh, hell yeah. We hiked and skied and hiked and skied Hogback and it was the stuff of very very very good dreams. By the time we got back to his cabin we were too tired to even stoke the fire, but it was so cold. So we made a fire and drifted off to sleep, blissful and exhausted.
The Scarpa Girls Reunion Tour
Ah yes, Scarpa Grrlz. Not only did we reunite, we expanded. We've added Barb the Inimitable. And she is a long-awaited addition.
Well, we hiked out to Bennett Pass and skinned around. Got one run in on some soft snow, then hiked some more. Found a nice big saddle of snow, where we laid our skis out and laid down on our skis so they kept us off the snow, and we took a nap in the warm sunshine. Then we skied back to the truck, had a beer, found a campsite, then drank a beer or two and sat around the campfire. The next morning mainly consisted of eating, napping, and drinking beer. We whipped together a gourmet dinner of grilled trout with pine nuts, panko breadcumbs, anchovies, and garlic; zucchini/basil soup, almond cake, miner's lettuce salad, and shiraz. Seriously, Sunset should be calling us any day now.
We parted ways and I headed up to Jeff's cabin.
I arrived, tired. In a "quiet" mood -- not grouchy, just not particularly bouncy.
He, on the other hand, was like a big Laborador Retriever puppy. I opened the door to the deck and discovered why: he'd made us a bed on the deck! There it was, a mattress and all the trimmings, piled high with blankets. And he was all kinds of excited for me to discover it. I wonder if he'd have let me go upstairs to the loft if I hadn't discovered the bed on the deck? I don't think so. The next morning I awoke to coffee in bed, and a little bouquet of teeny-tiny wild flowers. (Actually, I saw him picking the wildflowers when he didn't know I was watching. Melting = watching a 6'2" mountain man stooping over to pick wildflowers for you.)
All told it's been a fabulous couple of weeks of excellent skiing adventures and romance. I am envious of my own self!!!
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
avy death toll thus far: 6. Other News
A snowshoer was killed by an avy last week. That takes the death toll up to 6 now (in the pnw). That is quite a few. Heartbreaking.
We're getting a lot of new snow. Think I'll dig a few pits this weekend, for the sake of interest.
Skied sweep Christmas eve with some other instructors and patrol. They had so few people on hand, it was tough. 7 skiers were missing, one an 11 year old boy. The boy was found pretty quickly, barely out of bounds. The other six were in 3 pairs, and had gotten turned around trying to find the Doughnut. Ended up circumnavigating the back side of the mountain and went down the Hell Creek drainage (I think?). They were all very lost. The first pair hosed it up, and the next two pair of skiers followed those hosed up tracks. One kid fell into a creek, over his head, with all of his ski gear on. Amazingly, he was the first to make it out. He reached a payphone and called for help. He was the worst off of all of them and is in the hospital. Everyone else -- while shaken and cold, made it out eventually with the help of patrol and SAR.
That was my first taste of skiing sweep. All i did was ski down the hill and then wait around for a few orders, got none, and went on about my business. Saw Jefe a couple of times but didn't get a chance to talk to him obviously. I would not like to do ski patrol. It was scary. And I was stressed out all night worrying about the patrollers and worrying about the kids. What a crummy Christmas eve for those families. So glad that it turned out okay with everyone alive.
We're getting a lot of new snow. Think I'll dig a few pits this weekend, for the sake of interest.
Skied sweep Christmas eve with some other instructors and patrol. They had so few people on hand, it was tough. 7 skiers were missing, one an 11 year old boy. The boy was found pretty quickly, barely out of bounds. The other six were in 3 pairs, and had gotten turned around trying to find the Doughnut. Ended up circumnavigating the back side of the mountain and went down the Hell Creek drainage (I think?). They were all very lost. The first pair hosed it up, and the next two pair of skiers followed those hosed up tracks. One kid fell into a creek, over his head, with all of his ski gear on. Amazingly, he was the first to make it out. He reached a payphone and called for help. He was the worst off of all of them and is in the hospital. Everyone else -- while shaken and cold, made it out eventually with the help of patrol and SAR.
That was my first taste of skiing sweep. All i did was ski down the hill and then wait around for a few orders, got none, and went on about my business. Saw Jefe a couple of times but didn't get a chance to talk to him obviously. I would not like to do ski patrol. It was scary. And I was stressed out all night worrying about the patrollers and worrying about the kids. What a crummy Christmas eve for those families. So glad that it turned out okay with everyone alive.
Monday, December 17, 2007
No Hogback This Weekend (12/15 - 16/07)
Instructor clinics still. Avy danger considerable to high. Coverage: windloaded on the leeward aspects and bare on the windward sides. New snow too. And nobody to go with by the time i was ready to get out to the doughnut and stuff.
They've started cutting runs and a lift line. The USFS is being sued for their handling of the expansion.
We're getting snow though, and my time will be freed up soon for clinics and stuff. Plus, I have (yet another) sinister master plan which involves night tours. I can't say anything more.
They've started cutting runs and a lift line. The USFS is being sued for their handling of the expansion.
We're getting snow though, and my time will be freed up soon for clinics and stuff. Plus, I have (yet another) sinister master plan which involves night tours. I can't say anything more.
Monday, December 3, 2007
Hogback Expansion
After some 20 odd years of trying to expand lift-assisted skiing out to Hogback, White Pass is finally on it's way to getting lifts out there. This is good for White Pass, and will open up a lot of area for people. It just makes me sad to think of Hogback being bridled and passive rather than wild and at times unattainable. Of course, there is even more territory beyond Hogback that will be opened up as a result of the expansion... but damn. So, my goal this year is to get as many trips out there as possible. I will write reports about that.
My other fear is that White Pass will lose a lot of its current charm. The R.V. lot will start charging, locals will be crowded out by new blood, prices will increase and drive the "usual suspects" out. Already a bottle of beer is $4.25 in the bar. I will not be drinking in the bar. Yet another place where I fit will become foreign and hostile toward me and people like me. Perhaps this won't happen, but we'll see. Until it does, I'll be enjoying the hell out of my little world as it is now, and as I love it.
So, I'll be posting a number of Hogback trip reports on here. This will be somewhat of a project -- posting conditions, pictures, and details of the trip -- moreso than my usual lah-de-dah trip reports. If you ever want an update on the Hogback Expansion, look for my posts with the "hogback" category label.
So, Hogback this weekend (12/1 - 12/3): unattainable. Base is unstable. Avy just waiting to happen anywhere you look. With some sloughs in-bounds, I didn't even consider trying to get out to hogback. Hopefully warmer temperatures in the next day or two will consolidate the base and firm things up. Next weekend I have avy class, so Hogback will likely not be an option as I'll be in Hood.
My other fear is that White Pass will lose a lot of its current charm. The R.V. lot will start charging, locals will be crowded out by new blood, prices will increase and drive the "usual suspects" out. Already a bottle of beer is $4.25 in the bar. I will not be drinking in the bar. Yet another place where I fit will become foreign and hostile toward me and people like me. Perhaps this won't happen, but we'll see. Until it does, I'll be enjoying the hell out of my little world as it is now, and as I love it.
So, I'll be posting a number of Hogback trip reports on here. This will be somewhat of a project -- posting conditions, pictures, and details of the trip -- moreso than my usual lah-de-dah trip reports. If you ever want an update on the Hogback Expansion, look for my posts with the "hogback" category label.
So, Hogback this weekend (12/1 - 12/3): unattainable. Base is unstable. Avy just waiting to happen anywhere you look. With some sloughs in-bounds, I didn't even consider trying to get out to hogback. Hopefully warmer temperatures in the next day or two will consolidate the base and firm things up. Next weekend I have avy class, so Hogback will likely not be an option as I'll be in Hood.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Saturday, October 20, 2007
SPAM
I tried Spam last night. I'm getting in the mood for the White Trash Party. I never knew what the hell the stuff was. Now I do. This has not enriched my life in the least, but has given me noxious gas and bloating. Can you get Irritable Bowel Syndrome from Spam? Seriously. I had to take two tagamets.
I cut it up into patties and pan-fried it. Holy hell it stunk. It's almost convinced me to go vegetarian.
The Mud Wrestling pit is coming along very nicely. Got it all dug out yesterday. Today i'm laying the tarp and filling it back in. I'm thinking i'll add clumping cat litter -- it has a high clay content and will make it a bit more slippery... Rather expensive additive... but our entertainment depends on this.
No other news to share.
Oh, Ron is coming over this morning so we can practice our bad-ass Meatloaf karaoke. It'll be da shit. Or just shit. ~WE~ will have fun.
I'm caring less about how the house looks and focusing my energy on how much fun I want everyone to have.
No, i gotta go fry up some balogne for the party. ;)
I cut it up into patties and pan-fried it. Holy hell it stunk. It's almost convinced me to go vegetarian.
The Mud Wrestling pit is coming along very nicely. Got it all dug out yesterday. Today i'm laying the tarp and filling it back in. I'm thinking i'll add clumping cat litter -- it has a high clay content and will make it a bit more slippery... Rather expensive additive... but our entertainment depends on this.
No other news to share.
Oh, Ron is coming over this morning so we can practice our bad-ass Meatloaf karaoke. It'll be da shit. Or just shit. ~WE~ will have fun.
I'm caring less about how the house looks and focusing my energy on how much fun I want everyone to have.
No, i gotta go fry up some balogne for the party. ;)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)