Skiing by touch

It was snowin' and blowin' up on the mountain today. I had to tough it out alone as Joani was driving Bob and Cheryl to the airport of their return home. I got some good powder skiing in, as we had about 6 inches overnight. It finally cleared up and the crowds came out. So, like locals do, I called it a day, and went home.

Elusive TriBird photographed

Today was Bob and Cheryl's last day visiting. We skied all day and had lunch at Ragnars Restaurant up on the mountain. We were surprised to see that we had captured a photograph of the rarely seen TriBird. Normally on the other side of the lens, he is rarely captured on the slopes.

Thanks for visiting us, Bob and Cheryl.

Skiing with Santa

Christmas day at Steamboat was like Springtime. Temps were warm enought for us to lunch outside without jackets. There were no crowds, and the snow was hard and fast. We spotted Santa several times, sometimes with Mrs. Santa. Go figure!

Happy Holidays to everyone and have a Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous New Year.

Skiing with Bob

Bob and Cheryl arrived late last night and we were in line waiting for the Gondola to open this morning. We skiied the mountain as you can see by today's Most Recent pictures. Conditions were excellent...sun, hard pack snow, and no crowds. The luck of the Bob.

May the Force be with you

It was quite a day out there. It was foggy when we got to the top of the Gondola, but it was "blind man skiing" once we got up to Storm Peak. Check out this photo. We made it down (obviously), skied a few runs on the lower mountain, and headed in. It's nice being a local yokle.

I spent the rest of the day working out, and cleaning and cooking in preparation for Bob and Cheryl's arrival :-)

Special Blog Post - How to use this Blog

If you are not familiar with Blogs, here are some suggestions for getting the most out of the Steamboat Blog.

I will be publishing an update daily, except when I don't.

You can enlarge the picture included in the daily update by double clicking it.

To view the entire Blog (which I highly recommend) click here or go to http://steamboatblog.blogspot.com/. I'll put this link on the daily postings too.

Once on the Blog, check out "Most Recent" photos, or "Photo Library" to see what things look like up here. Also on the Blog are other Links you may find interesting as well as all of the daily postings.

And finally, you can add your comments to the daily postings from the Blog, or to the photos once you bring them up in Most Recent or Photo Library.

Heat wave fades

After hitting 49 degrees yesterday, temps were more normal today, and the snow was pretty good. Joani an I were on the slopes after a two day layoff. It was overcast and windy, but the hills were well groomed and fast.

The picture on the right is the restaurant at the top of the Gondola (Thunderhead). The other images I uploaded today, shown under "Most Recent", give you a tour of some the runs I took today.

Oh no!

It was 38 degrees in downtown Steamboat today! That's nearly 60 degrees higher than when we arrived two weeks ago. We didn't ski today, but heard reports of ice and crud up on the mountain. We have had rain and ice falling from the sky instead of snow. What's up?

Oh wait...I know...the dreaded Global Warming has arrived in Steamboat.

Snow, snow, snow

We had another great day on the slopes. It snowed all day. We plowed our way through the stuff, and had a great time. Joani took me where this man had never gone before and I survived (down the Burgess Creek lift line). I put up some new pics of our travels...see "Most Recent" on the right.

Click on the new link to the right labeled "Daily Snowfall" to see how much snow we have gotten over the past few days.

Another tough day at "work"

Oh the pain. It was snowing. It was blowing. It was cold. It was foggy. The crowds have begun to arrive.

In other words, it was great out there! The slopes were coated with about 4 inches of fresh, feather light snow, so the early runs were particularly sweet. You can tell we were having fun by the expression on ski-buddy Carol's face in this pic...Orange Joani is smiling under her mask too.

Back at it

Joani and I had another great day on the mountain today. I had taken two days off due to a pulled calf muscle, but felt ok this morning. It was cold and snowy (same ol', same ol'). There were a few inches of powder over groomed runs and we took advantage of it. We were out for about 3 hours and got in about 17k vertical feet. I managed to get in a swim afterwards.

That's the green skiing machine flying down Lights Out in the picture.

Special Blog Post - Email alerts working

It has come to my attention that you may not have been receiving email copies of my Steamboat Blog postings. If you are reading this, I have fixed the problem.

You should now receive an email copy of my (sorta) daily ramblings and pictures from Steamboat.

You may want to check the Blog website to catch up on the last few days. Also, I have separated my photo's into those just posted ("Most Recent") and the complete library of photos taken this season ("Photo Library"). You should be able to browse my pictures when you click on those so named images on the website.

Your comments are always welcome.

Cold snowy day

Wednesday (12/14) was cold and snowy. The wind made it worse. After skiing the morning with Joani and friends, I took a lesson in the afternoon. Great lesson until I fell and pulled a calf muscle. I'll take Thursday off, and plan to be back at it on Friday.

Great day on the slopes

We had another great day on the slopes on Monday. The crowds had thinned (not that they were ever very "thick"), the weather had warmed, and the snow was groomed and fast. We got in over 36,000 vertical feet and were out there from the time they opened until about 3:15. Yahoo!

I lifted and swam afterwards.

Skiing and shoeing

Joani and I had a great day skiing. It is warming up here (10 above when we started), so the already great snow was even better. We got in over 20k vertical feet for the first time this season.

I when snow shoeing after skiing. Once I started hiking up the mountain I decided to carry the snow shoes and stick with my boots. That worked fine given the hard packed snow. The hike turned out to be a very challenging 2.5 hours. I started off with normal ski wear, but by half way up I was hatless, coatless and gloveless. Fun!

Skiing and a swim

Had another great day here in Steamboat. Joani and I and our local buddy, Mac, spent the morning exploring some of the newly opened slopes. Most of the mountain is now open for skiers. We found lots of deep, untouched powder. We also found many more skiers so we bailed out early.

I took advantage of the time and did my first outdoor swim of the season. The water was 80, but the air temp was a brisk 9 (above)! As I have said before, "you gotta be tough". I've posted some new pictures.

Another day on the slopes

Joani and I hit the slopes again today. Very sunny with excellent groomed ski conditions. The temperatures has moderated, so it was nice out there. AND, there was no one out there, 'cept for us. Sweeeeet.

You gotta be tough

I braved the cold and took on the mountain for about 3 hours. The mountain is still there and so am I.

Brrrrrr!

Baby it's cold out here. Twenty below at the golombo chateau, and reports of 35 below in town. However, it's a balmy -8 on the mountain so I'll be hittin' the slopes shortly.

If you would like to receive an email each time this Blog is updated, email me and I'll add you to my notification list.

First snow for HG

I went out for my first run today. It was bright sunny and very cold. It was so cold, that my skis froze to the snow as I tried to ski down to the Gondola. I had to walk down...how embarassing. Apparently, if it is cold enough, and if your skis are warm (as mine were), ice can form on the bottom of the ski and freeze solid. The ice sticks to the ski and unless you are on a very steep hill, you can't slide the ski. Life is tough out here.

I made a few runs, stopped for cocoa a couple of times and called it a successful day.

I've posted more pictures...click on the images to the right.

First day on the slopes

Joani made it out today, while I continued to acclimate. It was snowing hard and cold.

Check out Steamboat Temperatures link on the right, AND try clicking on today's photo's over there too-->

We're here! The 2005/6 ski season begins

We drove up from Longmont yesterday. Steamboat had already received 100 inches of snow and conditions were reported to be dicey. We got lucky and only encountered a bit of white-out and snowy roads.

The condo was in great shape. A five star hotel could not have been nicer.

Importantly, we got the phones working, our DSL connection back up, and all was well with the world. No skiing yet, but we'll likely head out tomorrow (Tuesday).

On the way to Steamboat, we visited family.