Longmont: Jan 20-23

We spent a long weekend in Longmont. Josephine (9 months) is coming into her own. She sits up, slithers along the floor, pulls herself into a standing position. And she flirts...unashamedly.

Charley continues to wow and amaze with his puzzling skills, vocabulary, sports knowledge and overall 3 year old energy level.

(Yes, the Bronco's lost, but then, so did the Redskins...such is life.)

Only the tough survive

It was another typical, tough winter day in Steamboat today. Snowing and blowing as usual. This picture is from the top of Storm Peak.

We've had measurable snowfall every day for the last 6, with more predicted. Ya gotta love it, even when the sn-rain freezes on your goggles and forms a nearly scrape proof blind fold. The last few days have also delivered heavier than normal snow (consistancy, not amount), so you have to work to ski it. Life is hell, sometimes :-)

Can't see the skier for the trees

It has been snowing and snowing. A good two feet over the last four days. Fresh snow makes skiing in the trees easier. It slows you down and (heaven forbid), if you fall, it's soft. So, the trees are where we've been. That's Joani hiding in the trees on the right.

Also, check out the pitch near the top of Chute 1.

Steep enought for you?

The Chutes and The Cowboy Downhill

We now have photographic evidence of Joani skiing the Chutes. Check out "Most Recent" photos to see for yourself. It's mighty steep, and very scary up there, but Joani (and our friend Carole) both did it today, and I caught it all on "film". Check it out.

Also, Steamboat held its annual Cowboy Downhill race today. A group of actual cowboys (rodeo participants, actually) puts on ski's and they race two at a time down one of the lower hills. It is quite a sight...they're all duded out in cowboy hats and chaps and a few can even ski. I've got pictures of that up on Most Recent too. It was a fun day at Steamboat...we hardly noticed how cold it was.

Powder Day!

We had a foot and a half of fluffy light champagne powder over the last 24 hours. In spite of all the great snow we have had this season, this was the best yet. Joani and I skied the trees this morning and I took a lesson this afternoon.

Skiing is like swimming, if you get one thing wrong, the entire rest of your body gets thrown out of whack, you lose your balance, and you learn what fresh snow tastes like. Lessons help.

Fri Jan 13: These boots are made for skiing

I picked up new boots on Thursday and tried them out on Friday. New ski boots are as uncomfortable as they look when you first wear them. It's kinda like putting on a well fitting, hard plastic shoe, and then buckling it down so it is one or two sizes smaller. Quite painful.

After a day or so, however, they are tolerable and snug boots give you better control over the ski's. And THAT is the name of the game.

Thurs Jan 12: Back home at Steamboat

Mainwhile, back at Steamboat it was snowing again. Fresh powder made Chute 1 a bit easier to handle. The snow was a bit heavy, but I am not one to complain. Joani and I skied together until she left for her Local's lessons. She was bold and brave, so we both ended up skiing the Chute's on Thursday.

Wed Jan 11: Skiing Breckenridge

On Wednesday, my motley crew skied at the Breckenridge resort. Our great accomplishment was to hike up to the very top of Imperial ridge. To get there we had to take 3 or 4 lifts. The last one was brand new this season, and got us near the top. We hiked the last 500 feet or so to an altitude of 12,998 feet. The hike took about 15 minutes, and had us huffin' and puffin'. When we got there, we felt like we had conquered Everest.

As at Copper, we skied bowls, trees and a few groomed runs. Loads of fun. After a day of skiing, I drove back to Steamboat.

Tues Jan 10: Skiing Copper Mountain

I skied at Copper Mountain on Tuesday with some old MIT buddies of mine. The photo on the right is Mel...he looks like a distinguished neurosurgeon, doesn't he? He claims to be the oldest snow boarder on the maintain. More photo's from our get together will be up in "Most Recent" for a few days.

Conditions were excellent and the mountain was big, steep and lots of fun. We skied bowls, trees, and even a few groomed runs. Over dinner we ruminated over how we got to be so old, so soon after we finished school. How did that happen?

Snowin' and blowin'

It was a rip roarin' snow storm out there today. We awoke to at least 5 inches of new snow and probably had close to a foot by the time we made it up the mountain. Add in a thick fog and wind, and you have a real snow storm. That's why we are here!

It was tough going as it was warm out, and the snow was heavy. We did some good runs, but had to stick to the trees in order to see our way. Like locals we were home before noon.

Short and sweet

We were only out for a few hours today, but we did some awesome skiing. Photo at the right is my ski just before I headed down Chute 1 again. That was right after I went down Chute 2. Later I skied Shadows at Jase's request. Lots of pics up on "Most Recent". The rest of the day we skied groomed runs which were very fast. It was warm enough that neck warmers had to come off, and zippers lowered to half mast.

Traffic jam

The tourists are still here...Joani and I were delayed on the "ski-way" leading from our condo to the Gondola. We actually had to wait for someone to get out of our way, so we could ski down the hill! The unjustice of it all.

Once we got past that we had a great morning of skiing. As you can see from the self-portrait on the right, I took on the Chutes again. I did Chute 1.5 (some uncharted territory between Chutes 1 and 2) and Chute 1 again. Entered Chute 1 a little higher up than yesterday. It is awesome up there!

Ready, aim, CHUTE!

It was another perfect day in Steamboat. Bright sun, "reasonable" temps, and, of course, great snow. Lots of snow in the past few days, so today it was groomed, the visibility was great, so we flew. Check out "Most Recent" pictures for some great views...including one from the top of Chute 1...I finally got there and it was a snap. Tomorrow, the rest of the Chutes are on my agenda.

Back in the 'boat

We returned to blowing, swirling, howling snow. Yahoo! Got in some great powder runs this morning with many more in store. There was not much to photograph as the fog was thick.