The Blog for friends and family of Harvey and Joani interested in their adventures Skiing, Tri-ing and otherwise enjoying life
Monday, December 31, 2007
Shortest day of the year
We were out by 8:05 and back home by 9:55. We only skied 6,690 vertical feet (vs a typical day of 20k or so), before we gave in to cold and poor visibility. Due to high winds yesterday and overnight, the snow was hard and crusty, despite the nearly continue snowfall for days. Wind does that. Yesterday, there were whiteouts on the mountain, and we even got caught in one while driving home from lunch. We had to creep along Mt. Werner Circle Rd trying to follow the tail lights ahead without hitting them or driving off the road. Life is hard out here in Steamboat.
Happy New Year and a prosperous 2008 to my vast reading audience!
We awoke to another foot of snow in Steamboat. We got to the early lift opening only to find long lines of locals and visitors. We never made it up to Storm Peak due to long lift lines, but we did ski all over the Sunshine side of the mountain, as well as the runs off the Four Points Lift. Need I say more than "powder, powder, powder"? Up to my knees and beyond. A snow capped rock illustrates the snow coverage, and this video should give you a feel for the lines and the powder.
It was mighty chilly in Steamboat today. It was +10 at our condo when we returned from the mountain at noon. We took advantage of the early lift opening today, and we caught the gondy at about 8:15. It was -1 when we stopped at the Four Points Hut after only one run. Nevertheless, the snow was excellent with a fresh inch of new stuff on top of 35 inches that fell earlier this week. Life is tough in Steamboat.
Bob and Cheryl have really brought the snow. We had another foot or more last night, and have had over three feet in the last four days. Bob and Cheryl have been all over the mountain with us. It's all open now, except for some of the most difficult terrain. All the lifts are running. Today, Bob and I opened Pioneer Ridge for the first time this season. It was unbelievable how much powder was up there. Click below for a video of our ski adventure. More video can be seen on YouTube.
Bob and Cheryl arrived in Steamboat and the snow came with them. We got out early today, and found about 6 inches of new snow. It was deeper on the mountain, and it snowed all day. We had snow, we had fog, we had wind...a perfect day in Steamboat. We dined at Hazie's for lunch, and didn't get in until 3pm.
Steamboat got its first BIG dump of the season today. We've logged over 15 inches in the last 24 hours. Joani and I were out at the opening bell, and discovered, gasp, lines at the Gondola. Soooo, we took the new Christie Peak Express 6-pack half way up the mountain, and began our day from there. The snowfall just kept coming. More snow predicted over the next week. See me smiling?
Here is some video of Joani and me heading down Rainbow.
We spent this weekend in Longmont. We had tough duty watching Charley, Josephine, and sometimes even Gabriella, while parents prepared for and threw a holiday party. Gabriella is now 6 months old, and is adorable, responsive and quite interactive. Click this link for some live action video of the little angel. Charley wowed us with his model building prowess. He needs the barest amount of help the first time or two he builds a new model, but thereafter, he won't even accept help. Watch this to see him in action. And finally, we tested out our backyard as a sledding hill, and it passed with flying colors. Harvey, Charley and Josephine had fun, while Gramma supervised and was our videographer. Here is the video.
Ski season is finally here again. We came up from Boulder (or "Longmont" if you want to be picky) to find marginal snow coverage, many changes on the mountain, and an unbelievable amount of construction going on all over town.
I headed down to the Recreation center which is undergoing a big renovation itself. I swam while Joani prepared our winter's worth of homecooked food. You can see the new water slide under construction behind me.
Our friend Bill Ward ("Carol's other half) was in town to autograph copies of his recently published book about Cowboy artist "Bill Gollings". Check our copy out when you next visit us. The snow finally started falling for real, so we hit the slopes for the first time on Saturday. We got in a few hours each day for the next few, and found conditions quite good. The video below is from a run we took on Sunday, down Buddy's run.
The Gondola has a new main cable (3.4 miles of a single steel wire!). The three lifts at the bottom of the mountain have been replaced with two, including a six-person, high speed lift. This makes for much more room at the base, in addition to the regrading which has eliminated many difficult (for beginners) pitches on the lower mountain. There is also a lot of new construction right at the base of the Gondola. In this picture you can see two vertical cranes that are being used for the new buildings that will be in the former parking lot just below the Gondy building. As Bob Dylan said, "the things they are a'changin'".
We were out by 8:05 and back home by 9:55. We only skied 6,690 vertical feet (vs a typical day of 20k or so), before we gave in to cold and poor visibility. Due to high winds yesterday and overnight, the snow was hard and crusty, despite the nearly continue snowfall for days. Wind does that. Yesterday, there were whiteouts on the mountain, and we even got caught in one while driving home from lunch. We had to creep along Mt. Werner Circle Rd trying to follow the tail lights ahead without hitting them or driving off the road. Life is hard out here in Steamboat.
