Another pow day...

...Yes, that's correct. Beaver Creek received another 6 inches Friday evening. :) Need I say more? It actually turned into a great day of riding. I was, by far, the person with the least amount of ability riding in the crew of 6 (8 at one point). Of course, that's not a bad thing. After some hassling around in the trees and getting stuck, twice, the day started to come together. Although, next time I venture into the forest, I'll be sure I don't have to hike 100 yards in waste-deep snow. My little adventure took 20 minutes! By the end of the day, we found my crew's favorite tree run from last year. Dude, it was better than I remember it!!! I feel that my confidence level is really starting to increase from last season. We located a mellower tree run earlier in the day, and I truly enjoyed moving through the gaps with ease. Can't complain in deep, deep snow. I love finding the open powder fields that are stashed away, stretching out and letting my hand and belly drag along the snow. I imagine it's like surfing an endless wave....

I did the holiday get-together thing last night at a friends place. Adam and Erin (the hosting couple) are good people and really a joy to be with. Adam helped me with my search for new employment at the end of last summer. Great guy. We hope to put some turns together after the first of the year. Should be a fun time.

So, I'm taking a break today and resting. Three pow days in under a week. My legs are a bit shot today and the ribs are still a bit sore. I'll be back up on Christmas Eve, though, riding that afternoon and the following day before I head back to Wisconsin to see the family.

Enjoy the weekend!

Mental Health Day

Well, the snow just keeps on coming!!! Beaver Creek received 11 inches Tuesday evening after a pummeling over the weekend! I had a friend, John, riding there on Tuesday and he sent me a text stating that if I could get off on Wednesday, I should. Funny thing is that work has been pushing for employees to use all of their vacation by the end of the year. I spoke to my boss about this last week, and he said it was not a requirement for me to burn some days, but if I felt like it, I could. So I talked to my boss at 2:30 pm on Tuesday and asked if I could take a day off and how much notice he needed. He asked when I wanted to take off. "How about tomorrow?" He replied "Sure." Well, 16 hours later I was up and driving to Beaver Creek, the best kept secret in Colorado. It wasn't knee deep powder, but it certainly was a foot of fresh snow! I can't beat to great powder days within 4 days. What a great way to break up the work week!

The Beav held no lines what-so-ever and I only waited once for 1 minute. Seriously. By 2:15, my legs were SHOT! Regardless of how good the snow was, it was time to call it a day.

A buddy of mine, Paul, tagged along and he held his own. He's only starting his second season of riding, but doing fine. This weekend, though, if the Beav continues to get snow (which it should), it will be tree riding with people WAY better than me (what a great way to improve!!!).

I played around a little in some trees yesterday and it was great! Instead of looking at the trees (as I did last year), I looked at the line I wanted to take and followed that with my eyes, spotting my turns and following through with spotting the next turn. All of the mountain biking I did over the summer helped train my eyes to look ahead. Surprisingly, it works! But it certainly is different NOT paying attention to the trees and only looking at the snow and line I want to take.

Once again, no pic. Honestly, I am a bit nervous about carrying my camera with me because it rests next to my ribs (their still a bit tender). So, it might be awhile (at least till January) before I post some new pix.

Face shots full of powder at Vail today

What can I say? Knee deep powder at Vail today...only 2 storms like this a year. It was a good day. Woke up at 4 am, left downtown Denver at 5:30 am, arrived at the resort about 8 am. Did I mention this was all in the AM? For this dedication (or insanity), we got in some first tracks. It was nice...really nice. Funny thing, the resort closed a few lifts because a slide happened on a run we just finished ten minutes before. Luckily, we weren't involved in any problems. But the runs the resort closed off were GREAT! It put a damper on the day, but it still was a lot of fun. There were a few nice drops that I hit, too. an 8 footer and a 6 footer. Not a bad way to start the pow season. No pix for this day, sorry; riding in these conditions was of prime importance. Btw, did I mention the temp? 0 degrees...it was COLD. But worth it; every minute.

So, here's my attempt at a blog. It appears that a few family members are keeping one going; I figured I'd give it a try. We'll see how log it last, though. Knowing my wonderful ability to follow through with things, I'd give this about 3 weeks. :) In the meantime....

I am healing nicely from my wonderful rib injury that occurred two weeks ago. Oops. One broken rib and 4 other ribs were torn away from the cartilage that attached them to my sternum. I tried to walk it off, but needless to say, and obviously noted by the picture, I didn't. I turned into being one of "those people" who get carted off the mountain. The 25 ft. gapped kicker that I launched off of ended up costing me about $2,000. At least I have a pretty cool scar to show for it: a portion of my left chest sits slightly higher (about an inch) than the right side.

Anyway, it took about 2 weeks, but I'm feeling ready to gently enjoy the mountains again, and there's a huge storm rolling through Vail this weekend. Since I have the "Epic" pass (which allows me unrestricted access to the largest resort in North America), I'm thinking that I'll be heading that way tomorrow morning at about 5:15 am. Gotta love the winter season!

A friend from Champaign (who now lives in St. Louis) visited a few weeks ago. In this pic, you'll see Tek, his girlfriend Emily, and I enjoying a mellow day at A-Basin.

Lastly, here's the crew that I rode with last year; however, this pic is from Sept. at St. Mary's Glacier. We did a bit of hiking (about 1 hour) to the top of this snowfield that contained a few features (a box, rail, and kicker). It certainly was a fun way to spend the afternoon. :)