Category: skiing

Double deuce and another…


Aaagh! My groin!!! ~ George C. Scott (as impersonated by someone on the Simpsons)

Greetings blog readers.

Now that I have the formal bs out of the way, I would like to tell you about the last couple of days which notched 22 and 23 on the belt of the 08/09 season. Which reminds me… I need to purchase a belt notcher. And a belt, I suppose.

We got the serious posse together yesterday for Luke and Nichole’s triumphant return to the Basin. They were greeted by pretty chilly temps and funky snow conditions. Luke still skis like a champ but for once, I was able to out-pace him. Only because he is not acclimated, really… but I’ll take it however I can get it.

Pete, Edy and Caleb rounded out the crüe and we hooked up with Jodi for some nice, hard-charging laps off Pali. The Spine was flowing smoothly the first part of the day then got some nice blow-in later, which was pretty cool. The Rock Garden was skiing really well (as usual) and there were great turns to be found in the lower alleys. All around a great day.

I headed to the gym on the way home in a misguided attempt to get some miles under my belt. I lifted for a bit then did manage to run 1/16 of a mile. Not my best effort. My entire pelvic region is just completely messed up right now. Psoas muscles giving me a lot of trouble and now my groin muscles have decided to join the party. I suppose I should stop doing everything but it bugs me less skiing and I am feeling great otherwise so I’ll probably be an idiot and keep hammering. Yeah. Not much has changed when it comes to self-abuse dipshittery in the casa del stubert.

I did swim for a bit, which actually seemed to loosen things up. Then my left foot cramped up. Which is not on my list of recommended things to have happen in the deep end. I do like my new goggles, however; and even suggested to Rach that I wear them full-time. She did not give the thumbs-up on that idea.

So today we headed up to Eldora which lived up to its name admirably. It is a little-known fact that Native Americans coined the word “eldora” to mean “cold as hell and windy as all get out”. Most belive this was a reference to someone tribesman’s bitchy and flatulant aunt but the origin is a bit foggy. Wait, what? It doesn’t mean that? Well it should.

Caleb, Pete, Evelyn and I met early for a morning assault on the Rock and though it actually wasn’t that cold, it was blowing like crazy which made it feel about minus eleventy million degrees. Yes, Centigrade… duh. Salto was skiing really well though so we braved the conditions until around noon. We hooked up with Morgan about 11 so got to spend some time skiing with her, which is always a treat. I also found a sweet nook at the top of Salto in which to hide from the blasting wind. I did my best Totoro impression but I don’t think anyone got it but me. But as long as I am entertained, I’m happy.

I really, really need to get my office set up so maybe that will be today’s afternoon project. If you think of anything else that I could use as a distraction, please let me know.

~stubert.

Where’d the last week go?

Caleb and me at the Basin.

Slipped my mind… ~ Dean

[Ed. ~ So I forgot to post this yesterday or whenever I actually managed to get it written. How much does that rule?]

Apparently, I have been busy as the last week has flown by. I know I have been working a ton and did manage to check out a movie (Milk) on Sunday after cleaning bunny cages at the House Rabbit Society with Rach in the morning. It was quite good. Go see it immediately. I haven’t skied since last Friday though, which is a bit of a drag and today the wind is working overtime up here so I am not sure Eldora will even have the upper mountain open. Plus it will probably be scoured. I’ll keep you posted on that though.

I did break out the trainers on Saturday and hit the dreadmill at the gym. Felt pretty awful after way too much time away from regular running. I did do 5 miles at a moderate (joggy) sort of pace of 9-10-minute miles. A far cry from my standard pacing. But that’s okay. I probably shouldn’t have taken so much time off but I was hoping some of the nagging injuries I have been experiencing would go away in the interim (they haven’t). Still having problems with my psoas muscles and toes. But if these are my biggest problems in life then I have it pretty good, really.

I did get in day 20 up at A-Basin on the 2nd with Caleb. Pete and Edy came up for a few runs too. I was feeling pretty tired and beaten up at the start but got way better as the day went on and by the time we had to leave, I was skiing really pretty well. Dropping the cornice, then top rocks and even flowing a tricky little rock feature mid-way down the mountain. All in all, I am skiing pretty well.

So given today’s conditions, I may hit the gym for my lunchtime adventure instead of braving the wind at the Rock. We’ll see how things go.

~stubert.

The late teens…

Day 18 Crüe: Me, Caleb, Pete, B-Rad


There are no friends on a hardpacked, punchy, windy, boney, shaved-butt-bump day. ~ Collective effort

Actually, the above statement is false unless you are trying to figure out who the jackass was who recommended skiing on such crap conditions. That would be the not-friend. (For the record, I think that jackass was me.)

Caleb, Pete and I met up with Brad on the 31st for some year-end turns at Eldora. (Day 18 for me for the season.) The conditions were, to put it mildly, challenging: Hard-packed, rhythm-challenged, choppy bumps and wind combined for fun and/or games. Good times. Salto and Westridge were both open though we all agreed that this was a more bold move than usually witnessed at the Rock. We weren’t really complaining, actually. So we spun laps until close to last chair then had a beer with Brad and Jess (thanks Brad!).

Caleb shows how it’s done.

Pete, Caleb and I headed up to A-Basin early on New Year’s day and were greeted by firm and buffed conditions. Apparently the wind did not take a break on the Basin in the last few days and the Spine was firm yet smooth. Pali Face and the Rock Garden were equally tasty once we all figured out how to deal with the snow conditions. Pete was skiing like a champ though he had to bail early to go meet Edy at the airport and Caleb, as usual, was solid. I skied on my new, graphics-free AK Maiden prototypes courtesy of Luke’s garage (thanks, Luke’s garage!) and good times were had by all. By the time we took off, the A-Frame was absolutely packed with semi-hung-over clientelle bitching about how cold it was (it wasn’t) and all in all, it was a great 19th day. Oh, and on the way up, we only saw one hung over reveler puking on the side of I-70 and one woman who appeared to be nursing a very serious headache. So whoopee!


Pete is killing it on the slopes this year.

So if you are looking for a good way to end/start the year, I recommend getting your ski on.

~stubert.

Day 17…

Pete and Caleb styin’ at the Basin.


When in doubt, straighten ’em out. ~ Scary Gary

Rocked the Basin today with Caleb and Pete. They only called in 1″ but if that was an inch, I am like 17 feet tall. Lots of blow-in on the Spine, Pali Face and the Rock Garden. Really good times.


Pete tearing it up in the Rock Garden Chutes.


Caleb and I sussed out the rock drop at the top of the Spine and were able to make that go without too much effort, which was pretty cool. All three of us spun Pali laps all day and were rolling into the Bear Trap straight run at speed which was simply awesome. I even saw Pete straighten the planks a couple of times. Even the top of Bear Trap was skiing really well. (Which is a miracle, if you know the Basin at all.)

I bailed after 17 runs as my psoas muscles are still bugging me quite a lot and Pete joined me shortly thereafter. Caleb stayed out for the magic 20 (magic at least for him) and was pretty whooped afterwards. All in all, a great 17th day.

~stubert.

Mid-teens…

Witness my crazy pow face.


Said the F-word – seven pounds, four ounces – now he says the F-word at the dinner table. ~ Bob’s mom

Days 15 and 16 on the slopes crashed through the door, scattered their crap all over the house and then plopped down on the couch with tons of attitude, raging hormones and eardrum shattering music. Or were spent with ample fresh pow turns and some challenging terrain at Crested Butte. Just thought I’d work that mid-teens analogy for a bit.

I drove over in a snowstorm on Wednesday to reports of a lot of fresh and more on the way at my “home” mountain. Traffic was light so I made good time getting over to Gunnison where I picked up my dad and we headed up the hill. Lots more snow greeted us upon arrival then we made a couple of runs then met my cousin, Jayne and her kids Tyler and Tanner for lunch.

Not a lot of new stuff was open so I decided to spend the remainder of the day with Dad and Tyler, spinning laps on Paradise. Fortunately, the snow was awesome and Horseshoe was open so I was able to make some more technical turns up there. I gave Tyler and Dad some pointers then we called it a day around 3:30 and headed to my Aunt and Uncle’s for dinner. My other cousin, David, and his family were there as well as Jayne’s husband, Gary. It was great to see everyone and hear stories of skiing in the late 50s from my Uncle Dale and Aunt Betty. Good times.

The next morning, Dad and I embarked on our traditional Xmas day ski around 8:30. We jetted back up to the Butte where it was absolutely puking snow. Even more terrain (Westwall) was open so I was fairly content to spin laps from the top of Paradise to Westwall to Horseshoe for most of the day. The conditions were awesome and it dumped all day. In the (roughly) 4 hours we were there it probably snowed 6 inches. Champagne pow. I needed to get home to my sweet Rach so we pulled the plug around 2 and headed back to Gunnison. I then drove back over to the Front Range on marginal roads but the traffic was fairly light so it only took about 4 hours. Not too bad.

Pete and Caleb invited me to go to A-Basin today but the thought of getting up early and driving I-70 again made me opt for sleeping in and maybe heading up to Eldora in the afternoon.

All in all a great few days. I was skiing well, the snow was awesome and I was on my favorite mountain so who’s to complain? Not dis guy, that’s for sure.

~stubert.