Pond Skimming

Well, it's been a few weeks, ok over a month, but here are some pics from the Annual Killington Pond Skimming:

Take off!

Getting Ready

A Good Skim

Last Day of Ski Patrol (yeay!):

Me & Lisa soaking up the sun

Check out all the snow and it's 4/22!! Even Lower Ovation looks ski-able.

I did it!

Yup, I am officially an NSP Senior Ski Patroller - finished off my last elective (Avalance I) in February and got the official pin. I guess this means that my days of volunteer patrolling aren't over yet. After this winter of flying to Colorado to see Sol and doing 21 days of patrolling, I'm exhausted and psyched for the season to be over. Although I wish I could have one more fabulous powder day. There's always next year.

Vail

Phenomonal powder day at Vail last week - 8" of fluffy powder made for fantastic skiing in the bowls and in the trees of blue sky basin. Loved it!

50's and Sunny

Wow - spring is here in Colorado. It's been in the 50's and I've been skiing in only a fleece. Can't say I've ever skiied in only a fleece before. Tomorrow we're off to Vail - hopefully the good weather continues.

Snow!

It's hard to believe it's already Thursday and my vacation is almost over. But, the good news is, that it's finally snowing again! We're expected to get 6-10 overnight and another 4-8 tomorrow. Finally. It was getting rough out there.

I spent the last two days skiing at Keystone - lots of fun in the Outback area - great tree skiing and great moguls. Although it's been getting a bit rocky! I also spent a morning skate skiing over in Frisco - a beautiful area, right on Lake Dillon. So, here are some pics:

Pretty Grass

The View

Skate Skis

View of Breck from Keystone




Taking the Lift

Lake Dillon

Down the Trail

The Drive Home

A-Basin

Well, the parking lot at Keystone was full, so I kept driving to A-Basin yesterday. It was sunny, warm and the skiing was great! Here's a pic.


It was still a bit rocky in some spots, but there was still good snow, like under cliff bands.


It's a lot easier to bomb down double black tree runs when one is with a group. Since I was by myself, I was a bit more timid, but had a lot of fun cruising down the rocky, tree lined slopes off the Pallavicini lift.


Here's a great pic of the back country. Apparently there was a slide at A-Basin yesterday. So glad I don't back country ski - scary.

Colorado Ski Report

Well, so much for the blizzard. It hit Denver and we only got a few inches in the mountains. I-70 was closed for most of Thursday and on Friday. Good thing I got here Weds night!

The skiing has been great! Spent a day at A-Basin and a day a Copper so far. A-Basin was fun, but snowy and cold. Spent most of the day in the trees on steep double fall lines - I managed to survive somehow. Copper was awesome - sunny, blue skies, warm - just like CO skiing is supposed to be. We spent all day in the back bowls - it was gorgeous! We were hoping to take the cat up, but the cat wasn't running. Oh well. Molly took lots of pictures, which I'll post as soon as I get them. Today I'll probably head over to Keystone and ski the outback - hopefully there's still some good snow left in the trees. For tomorrow, Sol and I are hoping to snag spots on the cat at Keystone and ski Independence Bowl.

That's all for the ski report!

Colorado = Snow

Just flew into CO last night after a last minute decision to move my flight from Friday (the heart of the blizzard) to Weds. Yeay, snow! And I'll be here for it instead of stuck in an airport somewhere!

Another Rainy Ski Patrol Day

Yes, I spent all day Saturday sitting in a shack at the top of Killington watching the rain come down. Don't get me wrong, wet snow is a blast to ski on, but I'm not a big fan of getting rained on and then catching a cold. To top it off, it was so warm out that we couldn't use the heater to dry off our gloves. Nothing like damp gloves, and spending an entire day doing crosswords and playing cribbage when I could have been doing the thousand of other before Christmas things that I needed to do. Sunday was a bit better (no rain) but also a bit worse (poor conditions). Oh well, maybe it will snow in January?

My Skis

The Teles:

2005 Black Diamond Lyric with Black Diamond O3 Bindings

These skis are awesome! Got them at the recommendation of Chase and I rarely ski my other teles anymore. They're super stable and wide enought to ski through anything, from crud to spring mush to powder. They're even good on New England packed powder.

2003 K2 Instinx with G3 Roxy Bindings

These are great for back country skinning and powder days. Not super wide, but light and soft.

2005 K2 She's Piste with Black Diamond 03 Bindings

Bought these to replace my 2003 She's Piste's. Haven't skied them yet, but heard they are stiffer than my old ones and a bit more active. Looking forward to checking them out on some Killington hardpack.

The Alpines:

Volkl Attiva 5 Star with Marker Bindings

Love these skis - could be a bit stiffer, but they're great in bumps and on hard pack.

Lusting for:

Head Sweet Fat Thang

These skis look cool. Hope to demo them this season - mounted tele of course!