Day 20 - Ski Winter Park CO

As Ken said in the last post, we're starting to wonder if there is such a thing as "too much skiing". Still fighting an outrageous hack left from my bout with the flu, I think I was ready to say "Yes". But after a more relaxing day in the Colorado sunshine, I'm no longer so sure. We had a typical Western Sunshine Day on the slopes today and it was just what I needed. The skiing was considerably easier than what Jackson offered us. Right now we're trying to decide whether we should venture all the way to Breckenridge tomorrow to try out all of James's recommendations or just take another easy day tomorrow and discover all of the hidden Mary Jane powder stashes that we missed today.

Once again we have more pictures than we know what to do with. None of them quite show the excitement we feel when we take them but Mother Nature sure provided us with the right lighting for today's adventure.

As our Adventure comes to an end, Ken and I are thinking about the best parts and what we might like to try on the next adventure. However we both realize we are blessed with wives who understand our need and desire to push the envelope a bit in regard to Adventure. But I miss Becky and Ken misses Cyndi. We both want to figure a way to involve you both in our next adventure. So start thinking how you want to be involved, girls! Perhaps you'd like a week of helicopter skiing in the Canadian Rockies? Think about it!

Day 19 - Back to Colorado

Today, Dan and I needed a day off, so we took a travel day and drove back to Colorado, to Winter Park. It was 463 miles and took 8-1/2 hours. Along the way we crossed the continental divide three times. We climbed thru some interesting mountain passes, but most of the way was across high, snow-covered desert. We passed the time by scouting locations for nuclear waste repositories. We found lots of good sites, most of central Wyoming would be fine.

Tomorrow, we'll ski our thirteenth resort, Winter Park. We're not sure where we'll ski Saturday, our last day.

Both Dan and I are ready to come home. We think that when we do this again, we'll only ski for two weeks. Maybe the first week we'll stay in one place and ski a few different resorts, then we'll go helicopter skiing for the second week.

Day 18 - Jackson

Ken is truly the one to talk about endless skiing. Today was his 15th day of skiing with only the 3 travel days for rest - the one to Steamboat, the one to Utah, and then the one to Wyoming. After a tough day at Jackson, today, we have decided that tomorrow will be another rest day as we move back toward Denver. Of course my schedule has been much less than Ken's since the flu kept me away from much of Utah's skiing but I've now had 3 agressive days of skiing so I guess I'm officially back in the swing of things in spite of my continued hacking at the end of every run.

After 2 days of skiing a fabulous 18 inches of "butter like" powder at
Grand Targhee, I was beginning to feel like some kind of super skier. However, Jackson did a quick job of humbling me today. Everyone keeps asking us "What's your favorite Mountain?" We are pretty quick to answer that our favorite mountain is the one that get's the best snow on the day that you're asking. However by adding qualifications, we can give meaningful answers to that question. If what one is looking for is the most interesting terrain, then I would have to say Jackson is the winner in my book. The mountain is Magnificent! The views are breath taking. The rock cliffs are awe inspiring.

Anyhow, I no longer feel like a super skier. The mountain put me in my place. It was a beautiful sunny day and the 27 inches of powder over the last 2 days made for quite the challenge. One would think we would be in extacy with all that snow, but with the sun beating down all day long, that snow becomes very much like mash potatoes and is lots of work to ski thru. I do find that talking about snow becomes difficult. Yesterday as Ken and I were riding the lift with a local, he told us that they didn't consider it to be a powder day unless there were 18 inches of new snow after the lifts closed. So what we considered to be the biggest dump of powder on our trip was not even going to qualify as a powder day. Ah to hell with the locals.

I'm hoping that Ken will still help load some pictures for this post but if not, we'll get some more in soon. James has informed me that the next 3 days should give us a fair amount of sunshine, so if our skiing is starting to let up a bit, it looks like the weather may make up for it. It's hard for me to say this, but I'm looking forward to a bit more sun and a bit less skiing.

Day 2 at Grand Targhee (Monday 26-Feb)

We woke up today to sunshine and 19" of snow in the last 2-1/2 days, so Dan and I decided to leave our helmets in the room in favor of bare heads, headbands, and suntan lotion. It was still kind of cold, so, after the first run, Dan went back to get his helmet. I stood with the headband for a while, hoping for more sun. The powder was great. Dan compared it to knee-deep talcum powder. The sound of spruce branches brushing across a headband is different from being deflected by a helmet - and Aspen branches don't make any sound when they comb thru one's hair. Also, the clouds rolled back in and out, sometimes reducing visibility to almost nothing. So by noon, I decided to go back to get my helmet and rent some demo powder skis. My 162cm Atomic Metron Beta 5s are wide enough at the ends, but have a pretty narrow side cut, so they were running a little low in the light powder. I got a pair of 172cm Solomon X-Wing powder boards. They floated higher and required less effort to ride in this snow than my Atomics. I could get used to that.

On one of the powder days Dan and I skied in VT in December, I commented to Dan that our then-upcoming western skiing could only equal, not top the skiing that day. Dan said then that we would likely see at least four days in the west that would be better. He was right. Today was probably the fifth.

Since there're no cell phone signals at the base lodge here, when the lifts closed today, Dan and I each found a comfortable spot with a view, high up on the mountain, to make a few calls. Then, a totally private last run down through the trees, and a large latte on the plaza at the base.

Dan skied the whole day today, so I think he's recovered. Glad I didn't catch it.

Tomorrow we get up early, check out of the resort here, and drive around the Grand Tetons to the other side to ski Jackson Hole. They report 10" last night and 26" in the last 72 hours. We don't have a place to stay therelined up yet. We're going to wing it. The Adventure has skied 14 days of the last 17, at 11 different resorts. Three more ski days at two more resorts to go.

As always, look at the botttom of this page for larger sized slide shows.

Day 1 at Grand Targhee (Monday 25-Feb)

We woke to 7 inches of new snow with more on the way. It snowed all day and the conditions were great. This was my 4th powder day and it was appropriate that it came here. Grand Targhee is known for considerably more snow than it's closest neighbor - Jackson Hole - on the other side of the Teton Range. Targhee is on the western side of the range while Jackson is on the eastern side so sometimes the moisture all dumps on this side and leaves Jackson wanting. However, we heard this snow fell on them also, so we hope to be skiing some of this snow when we get there on Wednesday.

I am still dealing with remnants of the flu so once again, I called it a day at about 1:00. But with no lift lines and the silence that comes with a new dumping of snow, Ken and I had a spectacular morning aquainting ourselves with the terrain that Targhee's 2 lifts had to offer. It is a rather small resort but since it is a bit out of the way, there are no crowds and it is a very relaxing resort.

The forecast predicts a sunny day tomorrow so we're looking forward to powder and visibility tomorrow. And then maybe some excitement at Jackson the next day.

On to Wyoming - Some thoughts on the last couple of days

Today Ray and Anita finished their segment of the Adventure. We packed up and checked out of our lesser condo in Eden (west of Ogden), UT and dropped them off at the SLC airport for their return to Victoria, BC, then Dan and I headed for Grand Targhee, WY.

Ray and Anita were excellent adventurers, especially challenging because they had to fill in for the still-recovering Dan. R, A, and I skied five consecutive days, at Park City (sunny), Alta (snowy), Canyons (powder snowy), Snowbasin (powder snowy), and Powder Mtn (powder cloudy). Anita was great at navigating us around the large and new-to-us ski areas. It seems that Anita and I have a similar eye for the path we pick to ski down, because she and I often found ourselves either right ahead of, right behind, or right beside each other as we flew down the mountains. She was a little smarter, though, about not skiing thru bushes and the real close trees. Ray, on the other hand, was everywhere! Anita capped the week by buying the second pair of skies she rented for a great low price. She even got the store to fix for free the big holes we dug in the bottoms when we skied across that road at PM (it was a near total white-out on the top of the “Powder Country” and we really weren’t that far out of bounds). Dan managed a few runs at PC and SB and the full morning at PM. It’s been snowing all day here at GT and will snow all night. He hopes to be ready for the 9AM opening for the first powder runs.

Random Thoughts

Powder Mountain is an upside-down ski area. The base area is near the top and we ski down to the lifts. The best part of PM is called Powder Country. It starts at the second highest peak and drops thru about 2,000 ft of great powder to a road below the base area. Getting back to the top required three lifts. The first is a 1985 four-wheel drive School Bus Lift that picked us up from the roadside and brought us up 900 vertical feet to the base area. Then we skied down to a chair lift that took us to another peak, from which we skied down (great run) to another chairlift that took us to the top of the higher peak. Powder Country is the back side of that peak and is entered thru a gate. That day, the avalanche danger was considered only “moderate”. We skied it three times. The other cool part of PM is the Snowcat Lift. We met the snowcat at one of the high saddle ridges and, for $10, we grabbed onto one of two ropes stretched behind the cat and a guy towed (six of) us up to the highest peak for an amazing 2,000+ ft run down thru trees and untracked powder. The base lodge at PM is 1960s rustic. Note to Cade: Stop making so much fun of PM. Have you ever even been there? PM is the kind of mountain you would really like! Lots of powder, not too steep grade, very-not fancy accommodations, funky lifts, and best of all, cheap tickets.

Snowbasin has the best restrooms of any ski area, probably in the world. They’re wood-paneled and plush carpeted with granite vanities. The air has a slight scent of incense. The stalls are small rooms with wood paneled doors. The fixtures are top quality and the exposed plumbing appears to be gold plated. The hand towels are the best quality and plentiful. And for James: they make maximum use of infra-red technology (one can enter, use, and leave them without touching anything!). SB hosted part of the 2002 Olympics, so I guess they wanted to impress the foreigners with U.S. bathroom opulence.

The skiing was great, too. We started with a reported four inches, but where we go, it was more than that. Plus, it snowed all day. The visibility was really low, totally in clouds, but we didn’t mind - you can always see in the trees. We skied the eastern side of every canyon, thru the spruce trees, especially the farthest-away, eastern boundary of the area. We had the place to ourselves out there. We got to make our own trails there - there were few or no other tracks. The visibility on the cleared trails was bad - white air, white snow, unpredictable surface, other skiers. We only crossed them to find more trees.

The last week has been great for me. I got to hang out with and ski with Ray and Anita all week. I got to ski and hang out with Cade again at Alta and even better, Carol whom I haven’t seen for years. And the skiing - so good! In the powder I love to put my feet right together (instead of the downhill ski a little behind) and put the same weight on both skis (instead of mostly on the downhill ski), then lean back on the tails of my skies a little, head straight down, and steer thru the spruce and aspen trees by just twisting my hips. In the powder, our skis are totally silent. In the step parts, I love drop turns. We drop ten feet or more between whatever hazards and land, turning in the deep snow thru the fall line, then dropping again, then repeating as long as we can. It’s like controlled free fall.

And I love my helmet and goggles. They make me invincible. The silence of the powder is accentuated by the thwack sound of small branches as they’re deflected by my helmet and goggles. I love the snap sound of bigger branches being deflected by my ski poles held out in front when necessary. And I love the quiet brush sound of spruce bows brushing by my parka. My helmet has earphones in the ear muffs and a jack to connect to my iPod. At Snowbasin, I listened to a classical music playlist all day. Imagine powder runs accompanied by Beethoven’s Ninth and Handel’s trumpet concertos! Yesterday at Powder Mountain, I listened to a more typical playlist - that one a mix of 1990s and 2000s rock played by female artists - I call it Girl Rock.

Tonight at Grand Targhee, we’re in an on-slope, 1-1/2 bedroom efficiency, only 50yards from the lifts. We have good internet service, but no cell phone signals. It snowed all day and may snow all night and into tomorrow (Monday, I think). That should add over a foot of new snow. It may be sunny Tuesday for our second day here. Then we move to the other side of the Grand Tetons to Jackson Hole. Our Adventure is now fifteen days in and I’ve skied twelve days at ten different ski areas.

Becky & Sara,

Remember the Spud?

Rustic and quirky Powder Mountain, Utah day 5 (Feb 22)

This morning started out a little different from all the rest. Dan, Ray and Ken were frantically trying to catch up on the blogging and fretting over the lack of promised inches of snow. We fueled ourselves with eggs, french bread and microwavable bacon for the the original adventurers (Dan and Ken) ... this is Anita.

Off we went, driving up the small two lane highway to Powder Mountain. The visibility was terrible so we couldn't see what we were driving into. We stopped off at the small ski school and ricketty chair lift at the bottom of the mountain at around 8,000 ft., thinking that was the main ski lodge. We were redirected further up the mountain to the lodge, which wasn't much larger. Turns out the layout and rustic quirkiness of Powder Mountain would continue to baffle us for much of the day. After a couple of quick 'warm up runs' (this is the normal daily routine) through gently sloping and nicely dusted trees (spruce), we decided we were most interested in doing runs in the 'Powder Country'. Dan was feeling pretty good. Ray remarked on seeing his smile peak out of all of the ski gear. The trees runs were so lovely but also unusually bumpy and I went for a little flight and landed skiless. After that, I was really warmed up and ready to go!

We entered Powder Country off the backside of Hidden Lake Express. The first minute of our powder experience was comprised of elation and shock. In our haste to get off of the trail (as per usual), we ended up in some luscious and light foot-deep powder. Unfortunately it led to an only partially snow covered paved road with huge chunks of ice and pebbles that pointed upwards and into our skis. After our elation from floating on cloudlike creamy powder, the scratches that Ray and I found in our skis were a rude awakening! Staying on the trail isn't always a bad thing.

When we were finally where we wanted to be, the skiing was as blissful as could be. We were laying down fresh tracks in a cloudy haze. The snow was so light that it peeled away from you as you sliced through. The trees were old, large and beautifully spaced for leisurely turns. The skiing was so effortless that it was hard for me to keep my heart rate up and keep warm (not like any other day this week when the pitches were generally more steep, the snow a little heavier, the trees a little closer and the traverses a little more uphill!). I took a a tumble that Dan couldn't get his camera out fast enough to capture, unfortunately, but it was spectacular. My skis were up in the branches of an old spruce and my bum sunken into the depths of its comfortably padded tree well.

Down at the bottom of the cruise, we traversed along the highway to a bus stop where the Powder Mountain ski shuttle picked us up. Three twenty year-old school buses looped down to the shuttle every "twenty minutes". Despite the estimated looping time, we never waited for the bus for more than 5 minutes. The driver of the blue bus always asked us if we were "miserable yet?" as we got on, and everyone chuckled. As we got off he would always wish us a good run and assured us he would see us at the bottom. He did this every time we rode on his bus, like a repetitous twilight zone episode!

We got off of our bus at the wrong stop the first time. This forced us to take the Sundown lift up and we tried out the Powder Country on the opposite side of the road. The powder here was much more shallow and covered a thick layer of ice. We all grumbled and Ray's skis were not digging in enough for him to make his usual sharp and enthusiastic turns. Needless to say, we never did this again. Through this experience though, we learned that the Cat skiing was open and decided to sneak our sack lunches down our gullets in the authentic 60's style lodge before going up for a more powdery adventure.

For $10 a head we got to hold on to a rope behind a Cat that groomed a trail and pulled us up to the top of Cobabe Peak (9,105 ft). My little biceps were struggling to hold on despite the Cat-driver's assurance that it was an easy ride up. It sure was worth it though. We thought the powder in Powder Country was sweet but this surpassed any expectations I had. We were cautious to move forwards because there was no trace of humanity anywhere and we knew of cliffs in the area. After swooshing into the powdery wonderland we eased into a rhythm, hooting and hollering to keep track of where we all were, and staying close. Ken got a photo of the substrate underneath the powder at a stopping point...check out the "rock well". The avalanche risk was moderate today in that area, and based on the depth of the powder, and the absence of trees in some clearings and chutes, I can imagine that their power must be awesome. It was the most impressive run of my trip.

We spent the rest of the day hitting Powder Country, riding the bus, and trying to get as many runs in the powder in as possible. Dan dropped off in the early afternoon as the flu started to rear it's head again. In the late afternoon the blue skies popped out and Ray, Ken and I basked in the sun and enjoyed the view over our last runs in Utah.

This trip's been an adventure every day. Never a boring moment, and each adventure was unique. Plus, the nice guys at the ski shop here sold me some rockin' skis and are working tonight to fix up the mm-thick scratches. Thanks guys. Now for some dinner burritos and news.

Snow Basin, Utah Day 4 (Friday 22-Feb)

After 3 lost days, I thought I'd try to get out today. I wasn't feeling great but had enough energy to put the boots on and lug the skis over to the lifts. There was an inch or 2 of new snow and it was snowing. Perhaps my usual enthusiasm for skiing would bring me out of this influenza funk.

It was not to be. I took 3 runs, called it a day, went back to car, put the seat back and slept for 1 1/2 hours. I was exhausted.

However the rest of the crew kept up their usual frantic pace and skied till they closed the lifts on them. And they continued their determined search for powder claiming they found many places with up to 6 inches of fresh snow.

With this flu, I'm starting to feel like I'm getting too old for this sport. But back in the lodge there were 2 different gentlemen that helped convince me otherwise. The first had to be at least 70. I saw him get down on the floor and put his head down and then lift his feet up and he stood on his head for at least a minute. While up there he did a routine of stretching his legs in many different poses. The balance alone was amazing forgetting the strength required. When he got up, I commented - "Feel better?" He said no but that he was convinced that he had to show "us younger folk" a certain vitality to convince us that getting old wasn't so bad.

Then this really old guy sat down next to me. Making small talk, I said "Visibility was pretty bad out there today wasn't it?". He proceeded to tell me a long story about how he'd had a lot of brain damage in the war and that he had no visibility on one side at all and that the only way he skied was with his son directing him down the mountain. He was 87. So they gave me encouragement that I have a lot of years left and I can really blame my current funk on this damn flu.

The Canyons, Utah Day 3 (Thursday 21 Feb)

Dan was still not up to skiing today so the Team was short-handed again today. We packed up our stuff and checked out of our plush Park City condo in the AM and Dan dropped the three of us off at the Canyons (barely a mile away).

The Canyons reported four inches overnight and it snowed steadily all day. This place is big as these ski areas go. It's a jumble of about eight big canyons inteconnected by ski lifts and trails.

The Team has gotten very good at figuring out these big, new-to-us ski areas. This is especially important when there isn't a foot of new powder covering everything. We look for the high-elevation, north-facing, steeper faces, preferably protected by stands of evergreen trees. That's where the snow accumulates and most other skiers don't go. The spruce trees shield the snow from the sun, so that powder that fell days or a week ago is still dry and fluffy and often untracked. Add a six inches of new powder and the Team has found what it's looking for - the best runs on the mountain. South-facing, Aspen-covered (deciduous trees) faces get warmed by the sun then freeze up every night, so they need ten inches or more of new snow to be great. These conditions are usually found at the highest peaks and bowls and at the extreme boundaries of the ski areas - along the ropes. At Canyons today we found these conditions at at least four different parts of the mountain(s).

Some of the runs we did today were equal to the best runs ever, plumeting down thru the pines in shin-deep dry powder, almost as good as our day at Keystone last week. For four runs in a row, I thought I had just made the most fabulous run of the day, each time even better than the one before. Then we made a run down a crappy south face Aspen glade that had a crunchy, icy crust under the surface powder - that broke the string.

Dan toured the town of Park City while we skied and got Becky a nice gift (I'm not saying what it is, Beck). I better find something for Cyn or I'm in trouble. I've skied ten days of the last twelve and haven't been in a shop yet. Ray, Anita, and I were still high up in the back country when 4:00 closing came, and it took us until about 5:00 to get back down to the base. The canyons are confusing - you can get from one to another in only a few places. At one point, we couldn't figure out how to get across one canyon to get home until we found a ski lift that actually took skiers down from one canyon to another.

We had dinner in a brew pub in the PCity village before heading north to Eden (near Ogden). Anita wanted to see downtown SLC and the Mormon Temple so we so we stopped and walked around Temple Square for a while (no worries, no one converted). We got to our new, much lessor condo in Eden late and pretty much fell asleep. Adventures are hard work!

Alta, Utah Day 2 (Wednesday 20 Feb)

Salutations, dudes and dudettes of the blogosphere. Ray here taking over the dankenski excellent powder adventure tour blog for our day spent at Alta, which was Wednesday, I believe. You'll find the attendant photos above. The day's highlight was the Dan and Ken Excellent Powder Adventure Team run beneath the Supreme lift. The Team encountered some of the finest snow of the day between the rocks and precipices of the Supreme lift.

Alta consists largely of large alpine bowls with subalpine fir and spruce trees at lower elevations. It made excellent fodder for the Adventure team's formidable alpine prowess, and righteous material for photos of rock formations.

Cade (Dad's roommate from Clarkson in '73) rejoined the Adventure for the day when we picked him up from his condo at Snowbird, right next to Alta. We spent the morning surveying the slopes from top to bottom under his guidance. Cade is a long time Alta veteran and he seemed slightly disappointed that the light snow falling on about two inches of fresh stuff was not falling on two feet of new powder. Being from back east, the rest of us were plenty happy with any fresh snow. Before lunch, Anita, Cade, Dad and I ventured down the bowls off of the ballroom traverse and cut some tracks down the wildcat slopes during the morning in fine style under light falling snow.

At midday the ranks of the Dan and Ken Excellent Powder Adventure Team swelled with the addition of Carol (Cade's wife), Ruth (Carol's sister), Amy (Carol's cousin), and Michael (Amy's rocket scientist) joined Cade, Anita, Dad (Ken), and myself. Due to his illness, Dan played a crucial moral support role from our condo in Park City. The team was a well oiled alpine strike force throughout the afternoon.

The hightlight Adventure was the run down under the Supreme chairlift from just under the cliffs - steep, narrow, some trees, great snow. See the photo of the Team ready to go thru the gate, then some more of the decent. The last photo is the cliff itself. I am pleased to report that no adventure team lives were lost during Anita's intrepid discovery of the proper route.

We wound down the day with cocktails at Carol and Cades's nearby condo, followed by a luxuriant meal atop the building. There, we met John, an affable Englishman who, along with his wife Ruth, generously took the bill for everyone's dinner. John had been layed out by a serious knee injury. He was bequeathed an honorary Dan and Ken Excellent Powder Adventure Team Membership. It was lively gathering. We discussed the love lives of elderly parents, rotten things kids do to teachers, military secrets and other high brow topics. Then rushed back to Park City to find Dan's condition unchanged from it's good natured, but heavily influenza-afflicted state.

Park City, Utah (Tuesday 19 Feb)

Last night, my son Ray and his girlfriend, Anita, joined the Adventure in UT at Park City. Unlike Dan's and my motel room at Steamboat, we're staying in posh digs - a great condo with lots of space and TVs for each of us. Free busses pick us up and take us to any of the three ski resorts or downtown. We skied at Park City today - a new notch on my belt. Unfortunately, Dan has been coming down with something the last day or so and, after the first run today, decided to bag it and went back to the condo to rest. That left Ray, Anita, and I to find the best skiing at Park City without Dan's guidance.

As you can see from the slideshow, It was a blue sky and sun (sun glasses and sunscreen) day. The snow was pretty good everywhere but we had to find the north-facing slopes with trees to find the dry powder - and we did. Two of the areas were high and steep - the highest spots in the area - off Jupiter Peak, all XX. We explored them all morning and thru the early afternoon. Then we found some great Aspen Glades called Motherlode. You can see from the slideshow that we know how to have fun.

Ray and Anita made us an excellent vegetarian pasta dinner tonight, served with a really good Pino Noir. Tomorrow we'll get up early and drive to Alta to ski again with Cade, and his wife, Carol. At Park City, we're only eight miles from Alta, as a raven would fly over several peaks and two canyons, but to drive, we have to go through Immigrant Pass into Salt Lake City, drive down to Sandy (home of HBO's Big Love), then into Big Cottonwood Canyon, to the end - 40 miles.

On to Utah

After 7 days of skiing Colorado, we're on to Utah. Ken and I drove ~ 300 miles west on Rt 40 to Park City, Utah. It was a beautiful day with a pretty bleak white landscape the whole way. I found it much prettier in shades of white than it is in it's usual browns but Ken's comment was that it was a perfect place for our nation's Nuclear Waste. At one point where we saw more than a dozen carcasses in less than 5 miles, I thought maybe the Nuclear dumping had already started. Actually we assume that all the dead deer/elk were hit by cars. We were glad that none jumped in our way. You can see one of the pictures Ken took of the dozens of live ones we saw.

Tonight Ken is picking up his son, Ray, and Ray's girlfriend Anita who now join the adventure for the next 5 ski days. We start at Park City tomorrow and plan on travelling to Alta the next day (Wed I think) to spend another day with Cade and his wife Carol and some friends of theirs.

Day 2 at Steamboat (Sun 17 Feb)

This AM Steamboat was advertising 4 inches of new snow and a chance of snow all day. On our first run we (Dan and I) found that there was more like 12 inches already in the high country. Everybody on the mountain was going crazy blasting thru the virgin powder all over the mountain. Throughout the day, snow clouds covered the top of the mountain while it was often sunny near the base. Sometines the snow clouds were low and we could see the sun above while it snowed. Othertimes the the snow clouds were thick and all we could see was dark white and snow. But all times it was another great powder day.

Yesterday and today Dan and I explored our limits. Yesterday we were skiing the high XX trails from the highest peak at Steamboat. Dan (skiing with one bad ski) got spooked in an area called Christmas Tree Bowl. It's real steep and had a lot of hazzards, like cliffs, trees, and boulders that one should not ski over and other cliffs, trees, and boulders that one must ski thru. After one run down it, he didn't want to do it again. (I guess I found an easier line down than he did.) Today, on new skis, we did the same trail twice and both had fun doing it. On the other hand, Dan was trying for two days to get be to follow him down a nearby area called The Chutes. For me, I don't like chutes - narrow steep drops framed by rocks or other hard sharp stuff - no mistakes tolerated. Back at Vail, Dan was the only one of us to ski off the 200 ft drop called Lover's Leap. He just did a sequence of turns and eventually slowed and stopped down below. I never even considered it. When I stood on the lip and looked down, my knees got weak and I couldn't breath. At the end of the day today, we got to the highest point of Steamboat just as they closed off the trails we intended to take, and one of the few remaining ways to get down was thru - The Chutes. Well, I did it. I liked the parts before the actual chute and after the actual chute a lot. As for the actual chute part, I did it OK. And I could do it again (if I have to).

After skiing today, Dan and I went to the Hot Springs (see post below) again. This time, after dark (clothing optional). Sorry, no pictures. But we did have an interesting discussion of the Theory of Objectivism vs. a System of Well-Regulated Capitalism with some other hot spring soakers.

Tomorrow we head to Utah - Park City - in the mountains outside Salt Lake City. My son Ray and his girlfriend, Anita, will join us for the Utah segment of the Adventure.

Adventure Skiing

Oh, the oxygen. We New Englanders don't know how lucky we have it.

I've been without reliable Internet access for the past couple of days, but now that I'm home, I have time to do one last post about James and Jeff's Powder Adventure Annex.

Since the beginning of the trip, we frequently would praise an epic run (of which there were many) with the refrain, "this is adventure skiing." Ken coined the phrase, but it falls to me to define it. I am tempted to follow Justice Potter Stewart's example and just leave it with "I know it when I see it," because it's hard to pin down the precise meaning. Adventure skiing, as we meant it, is frequently challenging, but that is not the main criteria. Outer Limits at Killington, while very challenging and fun, is too populated to be "adventure skiing." Conversely, many of the powder stashes we found in remote glades were dead easy, but obviously adventure runs. So, I suppose that adventure skiing describes slopes that appear to be discovered by few, and most importantly, give the impression of being close to how the mountain would have been if we had hiked up to the top for an intrepid run 100 years ago.

Friday was, as expected, a perfect, blue-sky powder day at Vail. After a couple of runs skiing untracked, foot-deep powder on the far skier's left of China bowl, we spent the rest of the day at Blue Sky Basin, blasting through the bottomless powder on Steep and Deep, Heavy Metal, the Divide, and any adjacent trails.

It seemed that the entire Denver/Boulder metropolitan area decided to get a jump on the holiday weekend with a trip to Vail; each one surprised that their city mates had done the same. Even so, the lift lines were never long enough to be a problem, and the slopes were empty as ever. Jeff brought a huge bag of Twizlers with him, offering them to our chair companions on the ride up, so we were very popular.

Everyone was concerned about the expected crush of skiers the next day, some predicting, with apparent authority, that it would be the busiest day in the history of Colorado resorts. So when we visited Winter Park/Mary Jane on Saturday, we braced ourselves for an extremely crowded day. To everyone's surprise, including the lift attendents that we spoke with, it was fine. In fact, it was less crowded than Vail the day before, and one lift attendent let us know that the previous Saturday had been busier. Go figure.

We skiied mostly in the bumps at Mary Jane, which is a deserving mecca for mogul skiiers, and they were in great shape. The mountain hadn't seen much fresh snow in the past week, and it showed on the groomed slopes, but we avoided those anyway, so the snow conditions were fine. We ventured into a few sparse glades, which were great, and the locals let us know that the denser trees, which we typically didn't attempt, were in good shape.

Early in the day, we ventured up the Panoramic Lift, which ends at the 12,000 foot summit. As we arrived, the patrollers dropped the rope for Vasquez Cirque, a high alpine playground which had be closed for days. The sign at the entrance for the Cirque indicated that it contained extreme terrain only, with 50 degree pitches and cliffs. Unsure if they meant only 50 degree pitches and cliffs, I was ready to give it a miss. Jeff, however, was already up through the gates, and I didn't have the heart to stop him. Before reaching skiable terrain, we had to skate/hike along a flat, approximately half-mile cat walk along the summit ridge. It was breathtakingly beautiful, but at 12,000 feet, hard work. Along the Cirque side of the ridge, we glanced several chutes leading into the bowl. They seemed unskiable, and showed no tracks to prove otherwise. Eventually, we reached Alphabet Chutes, which recommended themsleves by appearing a bit less than vertical, and having a small group of skiiers and boarders looking over the edge, ready to attempt a descent. We all stood at the precipice, waiting for the someone else to make the leap first. After a little while, Jeff took the bait. Having seen proof that it could be done, I followed him.

As Dan can contest by his foray into Lover's Leap, slopes like these always look steeper than they ski, and the perfect snow made it easy to link jump turns all they way down. Looking back up toward the rim caused an "I skied that?" feeling of vertigo, but it was lot's of fun. The run eventually funneled into a steep, almost completely untracked pine glade. It was very dense and steep, and reaching into the snow with my pole I could not hit bottom. The trees were a bit close for my taste, so I kept thinking, "I wish we had taken a different path down; Dan and Ken would love this." Adventure skiing.

The view back up from halfway down an Alphabet Chute





Alphabet Chutes from the bottom. We skied the left chute.

First day at Steamboat

We're without James and Ken is making me do this. It's been a tough day. My skis are dead. I tried to ski without the right edge of my right ski. It adds a certain challenge to some of the steep slopes. So my plan is to demo 2 different pair tomorrow and choose one. Renting for the next 10 ski days just doesn't make sense.

We had been hearing negative things about the conditions here because they haven't had any new snow for several days. If you check out the photos, you'll see we found some pretty good snow but we had to do a bit of hiking to get to the good stuff. Most of the slope was a bit slick. However it's snowing now and we have high hopes.

We're a bit disappointed that we haven't seen any more posts from James. We had assumed that he and Jeff would update us all on how their day at Vail went and today they were at Winter Park / Mary Jane. We really want to hear about that day since we are considering a day there on our way back to Denver. We're seriously considering abandoning Montana because of the added driving. We'll see.

One more day here with demos before heading to Utah!

On to Steamboat, Dan and Ken on their own (15 Feb 2008)

Today James departed the Adventure to ski at Vail and Winter Park with his friend Jeff before returning home to CT. Dan and I left Leadville and headed north for Steamboat Springs. We know we'll miss James' photography, his enthusiam for everything, and his technical support. We're sure they had a great, blue, cloudless, powder day at Vail.

Dan and I drove north on US40 under blue skies until we started gaining altitude and drove into a cloud. Everything got real white. A few miles further the road ahead was closed (lots of flashing lights). We found out later that a tanker semitrailer carrying CO2 crashed and rolled-over in Rabbit Ears Pass. We got detoured way to the west where we had to cross Gore Pass and Deadman's Gulch to get to Steamboat, which we did, just fine, in the mid afternoon.

Dan found a damaged edge on one of his skies, so they're in a shop until Sunday AM. He'll get to rent hot, new, demo skies tommorow.

Steamboat is also famous for a natural hot spring spa. It's five miles up a canyon near town. After such a vigorous day of driving, of course we had to check it out. It's not exactly a resort spa. See the teepee in the second photo? That's the only enclosed changing area. Most people don't use it. The water comes out of the mountain hot and gets mixed with cold river water to keep the pools at about 102 degrees. Very nice. After cooking for a while Dan talked me into jumping into the river. He went first and lied to me about how cold it wasn't until I jumped in too.

Tomorrow we ski Steamboat.

Happy Vailentines Day! (14 February 2008)

First of all, all credit/blame for the the title for this post goes to Dan.

The day began by bidding a safe journey to Cade, who began his travels back to Salt Lake City after keeping us company for the past four days. Jim and his son Tom took off for Keystone after a short, but productive visit (Jim made us breakfast).

Despite a forecast for 5-8 inches of snow overnight, I awoke to the disappointing report of a mere inch from Vail. With broken overcast overhead, I figured it would be a day of stale snow. I figured wrong.

At about 9AM, the huge snow flakes began pouring down. The absolutely calm winds, even at the summit, allowed the imense, multitudinous flakes to fall slowly and undisturbed, giving the impression of being inside an enormous snow globe.

The snow piled up quickly, providing boot deep snow in the glades of Blue Sky Basin, especially the aptly named Steep and Deep. Overall, another epic day.

The snow is still falling heavily, even in Leadville. Dan performed admirably during the white-knuckle drive home, running over practically no pedestrians.

Tonight, my friend Jeff comes to stay, and tommorow Jeff and I part ways with the principal characters in Dan and Ken's Powder adventure. Jeff and I will be returning to snowy Vail while Dan and Ken make their way to Steamboat.

It's been an unforgettable five days of skiing. Dan and Ken have been fantastic skiing companions. Against all odds, they have made a glade skier of me (well compared to normal skiers; Dan and Ken see spaces between trees that exist only in a mysterious fourth dimension). Thanks for including me in chapter one of the adventure.

The slide show below includes photos from today. As always, you can find a larger version by scrolling past the blog entries.

Beaver Creek (13 February 2008)

I told everyone that it was going to snow today. Instead, it was warm and sunny all day. Everyone loved the weather, but was hopelessly overdressed (except me, I don't listen to my forecasts). I considered trying to get off the hook by letting the others know that I was parroting the inaccurate National Weather Service forecast, but I wan't to preserve the ability to take credit for accurate forecasts in the future, so I decided to take the fall. It is supposed to snow overnight. Really.

Anyway, it was lovely spring skiing in February. Great, soft bumps on Bald Eagle and Falcon Park. In fact it was soft just about everywhere except Golden Eagle, the super steep site of the 1999 World Cup downhill. Dan and I had a white-knuckle side-slip down the ceramic first pitch and decided to cut over to a fluffy mogul slope next door. Ken's scalpel skis, however, cut into the hardpack "like butter," carving turns where we had found a frictionless surface. He went up for a second run. Alone.

Other skiers on Golden Eagle speculated that if you fell on the first pitch, it would be difficult to stop yourself from sliding down the whole face and over the embankment (Mom: Just kidding. Everyone but Mom: Seriously, I'm not kidding).

A slide show from today

Photos from Keystone (12 February 2008)

Below are slide shows from today's powder day at Keystone. Click on any image to start the slide show. For larger versions of these slide shows, scroll to the bottom of the page.

Dan


Ken



Cade


James


Other photos from today

Day #3 Unpatrolled & Unmaintained

I have to Post Today. It was unbelievable. It started out with elaborate discussions about God & Religion on the 45 minute drive to Keystone. Why Keystone when it's not even on the itinerary? Well the Nerve Center (James in this case) was on the web by 5:45AM this morning and he learned that the designated itinerary resort (Beaver Creek in this case) was reporting 0" this morning while Vail was reporting 2" and Keystone was reporting 6". Well clearly we had no option - it had to be Keystone. Well the 6" was fabulous and the true atheists among us (Ken and I) found God. It was enough that we had to change the title of the Blog. It's now Ken and Dan's Excellent POWDER Adventure. The GLADED terrain today was UNBELIEVABLE - and part of that gladed terrain was labeled Unpatrolled and Unmaintained - ergo the title of today's Post. I've never seen a mountain that you could ski just about anywhere as James' slide shows will demonstrate. Actually we have to give a bit of credit to Ken for his shooting of James' runs. This was definitely the kind of day I was imagining the whole time we were planning for this trip. So I'm certainly hoping for more in the next 18 or so days. Of course James is watching the weather for us and assures me we have a powder day in store for us Thursday.

Becky informed me that I needed to open up the blog to anonymous comments. So I looked and of course she was right. So I fixed that and you anonymous folks out there can comment now.

I think I can honestly say that this was the best day of skiing that I ever had. I hope I can say that again as we continue on this adventure but if not I'm not sure that I could complain.

You may not be able to tell from this photo but you can fit a whole person in this hole. You might wonder how I know.

The Nerve Center

The Reason the Blog is Working - These 2 guys sit at the computer whenever we're not sking. Cade thinks it's sickness. What do you thnk?

Day 2 - Copper

Another great day on the slopes; Copper Mountain today. Yesterday's sun and mild temperatures gave way to snow showers and cold winds. Between the weather and the beginning of the work week, we pretty much had the place to ourselves. Lot's of bumps today on Mine Shaft, Too Much, and Far East. We took a few runs in the high alpine bowls, but the visibility was so poor with the ground blizzard, that we soon retreated to the sheltered runs below treeline. The run of the day was Free Fall Glade; a rolling, steep, narrow (but not too narrow) run down through the pine trees. We took some video on Free Fall Glade, but the camcorder seems to be on the blink, so the video will have to wait for now. Please accept these still shots as a substitute.

Dan levitates on Too Much

Cade at the base of Bee Line

Ken navigates Free Fall Glade

Claude, having conquered Copper Moutain, poses victoriously with Dan, Cade, and James

Meet Claude

When I was preparing to leave for Colorado, my three-year-old daughter, Clara, declared that she would come with me (her lovey would stay behind to keep Mama company). When all eventually agreed that this was not possible, Clara sent her diminuitive Belgian bear, Claude, along with me as her emmissary.

I spoke with Clara last night, and she let me know that she loved me, and didn't miss Claude (presumably to reassure me that I wouldn't have to FedEx him back before bedtime).

Claude has been with me on the slopes, and may even consent to pose for additional photos.

Claude admires a Rocky Mountain Sunrise in Leadville

Video from day 1 (10 Feb 2008 - Vail)

It begins

Today, Dan's crazy vision for a Rocky Mountain adventure finally bore fruit as Dan, Ken, Cade, me, and about ten thousand of our closest friends decended on Vail for our first day of skiing. We could not have asked for a better day; bright sunshine, no wind, and silky snow.

The sun, snow, and half price lift tickets seemed to have attracted the entire skiing universe to Vail, but the place is so big that the trails and lifts (in most places) were still relatively uncrowded. Lunch was a madhouse, but that's not why we're here, right?

The day featured several great runs down Blue Sky basin (including a great run through Champaign Glades), some wide open turns in the back bowls, perfect snow in Heavy Metal, and epic bumps on Highline and Roger's Run.

We're all a bit sore and tired, but expect to fully recover by 8:30 AM tomorrow. Tommorow we visit Copper, with snow in the forecast.

We're Here

Arrived in Leadville about 9:00. Vail tomorrow. I thought I was pretty high tech with the blog and all but on the way up here Ken's GPS was talking at me all the way and then James' GPS was echoing the same instructions from the back seat. Of course it's their laptops that are allowing me to make entries so I guess I can't complain.

Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana?

Feb 9 - Mar 2:

OK - the excitement is building - we're 5 days away. The goal was to hit the best of the Rockies in 3 weeks and get in more skiing than driving. We'll keep you up to date on our goal and general well being as we go. We certainly invite comments and questions. I got my first cell phone about a week ago and now I'm blogging - kinda scary don't ya think.