Vermont Fun

Wow, can't believe it's been well over a month since I last posted. I have a newmuch more portable lap top courtesy of work, so hopefully I'll be able to post more often.

So, Vermont. What more can I say - the skiing has been phenomonal over the past few weeks. The best skiing in a couple of years at least. And far better than the conditions out in CO the few times I've been. Every weekend I find myself saying - wow, best day this year, won't get better than this...but it does!

Today I skied with my best snowboarding friend Jill (aka Slydog), fellow patroller Hal, and snowboarding phenom Keith. We started out at Bear, headed over to Needles (Vertigo was amazing) and then headed toward the Canon for some fun runs down Big Dipper, Double Dipper, & Cascade, then back to Bear for a rather crusty run down Devil's Fiddle (should have skiied the trees instead!). The afternoon was a tree skiing dream - it snowed all afternoon and the trees were already filled with fluffy snow. Skiied so many trails haven't been skiiable for a couple of years. Skiing Ovation was like skiing on pillows - so amazing. So sad to have to come home and go back to the box tomorrow - I know it will be another dreamy day on the mountain again tomorrow. Ahh, there just isn't enough time in the day to ski every single one of my favorite trails, but, all in all, phenomonal day.

Hoping to get in some skate skiing at Weston Ski Track this week - that will require leaving work early, or actually just "on time". Also need to get in some trainer time - will need to dust the bike off - last time on the trainer (or doing anything other than ski) was Jan 9th. So much for improving my power/endurance on the bike. Oh well, there's always next winter.

Happy skiing everyone!

All Work and No Play

makes me annoyed.

Yup, it's been almost two weeks since I've been back from Colorado and I've been too busy with work to be able to post anything. It's pretty much work, ride the trainer, sleep work, ride the trainer, sleep, work, sleep, sleep. Yeah, I'd rather just be sleeping.

Hope to post something vaguely interesting soon, maybe a parody of my work experiences lately. Dilbert probably sums it up best.

Training Totals

I couldn't figure out a way to post this as a picture, so it's going to have to be a post instead.

2007 Training Totals YTD
Cycling:
Running:
Swimming:
Skiing:
2006 Training Totals
Cycling:	1,222 miles	121 hours
Running:	265 miles	45 hours
Swimming:	46 miles	40 hours
Skiing:		140 hours
2005 Training Totals
Cycling:	1,090 miles	104 hours
Running:	252 miles	45 hours
Swimming:	50 miles	48 hours
Skiing:		120 hours

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

Latest Read

Downhill - Life Story of a Gravity Goddess by Marla Streb

Sol found this at a book store going out of business sale and I spent the last two days reading it. It was surprisingly good and made me excited to mountain bike more this summer. It's definitely inspiring that Marla took a chance by quitting her bio-tech lab job and attempting to turn pro. It's also inspiring that she's 41 now and still winning downhill races. Pretty amazing and great motivation for those of us that got into biking later in life. Another inspiration in the Boston cyclocross scene is Julie Lockhart - she comes to every race and usually finishes last, but she won her age group 65+ at Nationals. It's good to know one can get involved in cycling at any age and have a blast.

Next up, Raising the Bar - Integrity and Passion in Life and Business by Gary Erickson (the founder of Clif Bar). This is a borrowed read from the CFO of my company, who pointed out the section where Gary notes "I want to encourage entrepreneurs to use legal counsel from day one...I've come to depend on legal counsel and trust it." Hello! It's about time someone appreciated us lawyers and the value-add we can provide! I think I'm going to like this one.

New Year's Eve

Didn't have any real plans for New Year's, and since Sol was working at Keystone for night skiing, I ended up at Keystone for the light parade (ski instructors ski down with red flaming torches in an s-shaped line) and fireworks.

Night skiing was interesting - last time I night skied (not counting the night time skinning trips up Pico) was back in 1992 or 1993 at Nashoba Valley. Let's just say I wasn't looking forward to night skiing - I mean, ski in freezing temperatures in the dark on boring blue groomers wearing way too many clothes to be comfortable? I can think of better things to do. Surprisingly it was fun, albeit icy. Just like skiing at Killington. Except there was snow.

After night skiing, Sol and I headed home and rang in the new year drinking red wine with his roomate Amber and her dog Cassidy. All in all, another fun and memorable New Year's.

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.