Another awesome night at "Airport." Glow in the dark discs, and a satellite or two light it up. Click to enlarge.
The hump of the ski season upon us and spring is coming. Punxsutawny Phil thinks otherwise, after seeing his shadow he declared there to be six more weeks of winter– but apparently Staten Island Chuck (who? read here) says Phil’s got it all wrong. After Christy and I opted to stay in bed this morning, rather than brave the negative double digit wind chill on our planned skin up Aspen Mountain, I thought I’d post some pics from warmer days, from our White Rim trip last fall.
Day 2- heading from Airport to White Crack, the Washerwoman Tower is in the background.
As has been the case for years now, Jared and Diana secured the coveted permit required for the trip into Canyonlands National Park, but this year’s loop around the White Rim wasn’t always sure to happen. The recent addition of second baby girl to their family left the trip up in the air– Di was going to sit this one out and Jared couldn’t decide if planning the trip this year was maybe a bit more than he wanted to take on.
Enter Jeremy Barbin, who kindly offered up his assistance to Jared in organizing the trip. What a nice guy to help you say? Well, as a result of Jeremy’s swift and silent hijack of the permit for the annual desert retreat, the group this year was not the typical set of couples, friends and family but was instead a raucous lineup of 16 guys. And despite a collective ‘roll of the eyes’ by all of the spouses/girlfriends when the roster of trouble making weekend participants was made public, I think Jeremy still insists, at least to his wife Lisa, that it really was just a mellow mountain bike weekend for the guys. read more>>>
Hang out at Aspen Highlands enough and you’ll eventually overhear conversations rehashing the days exploits up in the Bowl using proper bowling terms, and in a style more commonly reserved for the 10 pin, Budweiser sponsored, indoor “sport.” Basically, this type of ski slang/ Bowl-speak works like this– to ski the Bowl from the top is considered a strike, and to ski any line short of the summit, i.e. any lower B-zone or Y-zone, counts as a spare. Score your day accordingly.
The storm that seemed to be dumping snow everywhere but here finally materialized, and conditions were prime for a few frames Saturday. Neal, Christy and I all scored turkeys– it was fun.
Generally speaking, the reports coming in from the Aspen area backcountry are at best, lousy, and at worst, dangerous. Despite the disappointing conditions and eager to get out and do something, Sean Shean, John Doyle and I took a tour to see things firsthand and we actually found everything to be a notch or two better than lousy– the skiing was better described as being ‘pretty OK”.
So what’s ‘pretty OK’? Well, we noticed no settling, cracking or whumpfing on the skin up, which was nice considering how tenuous the conditions have been described recently. And the snow we found on the descent, particularly the shady NE aspects higher up, skied great. Lower down there was a bit of a crust on the sunnier, east facing aspects and the overall shallowness of the snowpack presented a bit of a challenge– the saplings and bushes lurking just beneath the surface created random pockets of hollowness that could pull you down if you didn’t keep those tips up.
On that note, while on approach John said his buddy recently started skiing on rockered skis and his comment on them was that “They lean back for you.” An interesting way too look at the more modern equipment for sure, not that any of us would EVER be caught leaning back, but you have to think it would help in snow conditions that might be prone to pulling you under. Here’s the best shot of the day, below, capturing what happens when those tips go down and a good reason to always be ready with a camera. read more>>>
Christy goes full steam ahead into the first new snow of 2010 and a new decade, via G-6. Click to enlarge.
Hopefully January 2nd isn’t too late to wish everyone a Happy New Year. As our first day out together in 2010, Christy and I found things to be pretty good over at Highlands.
We’re psyched for 2010 and all that it could bring. The race calendar is filling up, the 14er skiing season is right around the corner, a ski expedition to Greenland read more>>>
Here’s my plug line– “Just when you thought it wasn’t safe to go in the backcountry– on Feb. 5th it will be even scarier inbounds!”
On a chilly winter night, three skiers huddle together on a chairlift, confused as to why their ride to the summit suddenly stops. The sting of the icy wind worsens when the floodlights power down, leaving them stranded in the dark. As they wait for help, the reality of the nightmare hits them. The ski resort has just closed, abandoning the group stranded high above the mountain slopes in an oncoming snow storm. With ominous howls echoing through the surrounding woods, they will need to make some tough decisions in order to survive. Writer/director Adam Green skillfully guides this real-world thriller, pushing three college students to confront their natural fears of the dark, cold, heights, and beyond, to see how far a human is willing to go to survive. With bone-chilling performances by Kevin Zegers, Shawn Ashmore, and Emma Bell, Frozen continues horror’s time-honored tradition of scaring audiences away from their favorite recreational activities.
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