Category: skiing

Day fourteen…


A bad day of fishing beats a good day of working. ~ Bumper Sticker (see above)

I must confess that I don’t like it when I don’t ski well. But you know, I am one lucky bastard to be fortunate enough to live in a place with awesome snow, good friends and killer terrain in which to play. So really, I should just shut the hell up about not feeling on my game today and feeling tired and a little beaten up. My only regret is making Caleb wait around for me while I made my way more slowly down A-Basin’s awesome slopes.

What a great day to be out there. Great company, great conditions, awesome fun.

(I just wish I hadn’t been skiing like such a spaz.)

~stubert.

Note: For the record, I do not necessarily agree with the bumper sticker displayed above. But I do understand the sentiment.

Lucky thirteen…

Dylan being an under-the-covers kitty.

Thirteen is an unlucky number. If thirteen is unlucky, then so should the letter “B” be. ‘Cause “B” looks like a scrunched together “13”. Hello, what is your name? Bob. Get the hell away. ~ Mitch Hedberg (link)

Day thirteen on the slopes today at Eldora with Caleb and Pete. Blue skies and actually not-too-frigid temps greeted us with very little wind. So we bombed down to Corona lift to get our non-stoppers on.

Brian Glades opened up after a few cycles down Corona (which featured “variable” snow conditions, to say the least). The far left side of Corona was actually decent but Brian Glades was actually pretty soft with some fresh turns to be had. It got skied out fairly quickly so we went back over to Corona for some more high-speed laps.

No photos from me as I forgot my camera and the lag on the iPhone is so extreme, it makes shooting any action other than straight-on virtually impossible. Pete and Caleb got some shots so hopefully they will share.

Friday, our big, old kitty, Dylan, died (no, that isn’t some morbid shot… he actually liked sleeping like that). He was 17 and a half years old and was the purriest fella you would ever like to meet for all of it. He was adopted as a kitten from the Humane Society as a pet for our other cat at the time, Oliver. After a day or so of establishing that Oliver was going to be top-cat, they got along splendidly. Lately, Dylan had become the favorite pillow of Molly, who spent countless hours a day lounging on Dylan to soak up his over-abundant warmth. He didn’t seem to mind. He will be missed by all.

On that light note, I am now getting some work done now then I’ll be in Boulder all day tomorrow (probably) for car repair and hopefully a couple of meetings. Tentatively planning to go to Vail again on Tuesday then to Gunnison on Wednesday for at least one day at the Butte then back home on Thursday or Friday. Whew.

Get your shortest day of the year on (or longest, for all you south of the equator-types) and if you have a chance to see Thaïs in the theater (re-broadcast from The Met), I highly recommend it. Rach and I got to see the live broadcast yesterday and it was excellent.

~stubert.

An even dozen…

Stormin’.

A person shall not drive a motor vehicle in the passing lane of a highway if the speed limit is sixty-five miles per hour or more unless such person is passing other motor vehicles that are in a nonpassing lane or turning left, or unless the volume of traffic does not permit the motor vehicle to safely merge into a nonpassing lane. ~ CRS 42-4-1013

Day 12 was the best thus far. Snowing all day. Lots of great, untracked pow. Tomorrow is going to just be fabulous. And no… people still haven’t learned how to drive.

~stubert.

Feel the burn…

Bad shot of my in-car thermometer on the way home from Gunny.


One. ~ Neal Page

Days 9 and 10: Back from a couple of good days at the Butte. Skied with my pops on Saturday for a bit until he got tired. Then I hooked up with Rossi tele dude, Max Mancini, for a bunch of fun-filled runs. The day was pretty great, lots of fresh, some fun runs open and, frankly, blast-able due to the soft conditions. Twister was skiing like a dream with giant, bump-smashing GS turns and following Max off some of the cat-walk jumps that aren’t usually huck-friendly due to the Volkswagen-sized bumps that form up. I am definitely still recovering from Vegas as my quads were screaming at me towards the end of the day. Definitely not back in top form just yet but that is okay. Post-skiing, Dad and I went to see Quantum Solace (could have used some story-line editing but was okay) then hit my favorite restaurant, Donita’s Cantina. Go there immediately if you are anywhere near Crested Butte.

Sunday, CB called in 10 so I was super excited for a big pow day but in my enthusiasm, I mis-interpreted that figure and was a bit bummed to find out they really only got about 2 and the other 8 accumulated the previous day. Oh well. It was really cold and I had to go in for more layers after my first run then spun laps on Twister and Paradise. There was some more terrain open (compared with Saturday) but the coverage was still a bit thin to get anything good opened up. I had to take a break a couple hours in to warm up then managed to meet up with Max, Jen and Drew again for some fun nuker runs. We took a break after a few to warm up then spun a few more before calling it a day as it was about 8 degrees out. Not the coldest day I have had at the Butte by a long shot (I recall a -20 day in High School that was particularly chilly) but definitely not warm.

Jammed back home on snowpacked roads. It never ceases to amaze me how many shitty drivers there are out there. Driving slowly in the fast lane seems to be a bad-weather favorite. Jackasses. In any event, it was an enjoyable weekend but I am very happy to be home with my sweetie. She even baked me more yummy brownies while I was away!

~stubert.

The dreaded snowman…

Obviously, you’re not a golfer. ~ Jeffrey “The Dude” Lebowski

Well, I could wait no longer and hit the Rock today for a few runs. It was absolutely vacant up there so I strapped on the Antis and let ’em run. Test drove the new knee braces too. I think after some adjustments, they are going to be quite nice.

Post Vegas, I was really sore. Sunday, after the race, I dreaded stairs in any form and even stepping down a curb was quite painful. Monday, things were a bit better and by Tuesday, going up stairs was okay but going back down was still a bit of a challenge. I actually felt okay today. A little more thigh burn than normal but overall not too shabby. Recovery is an incredible thing.

So I head over to Gunnison tomorrow to kick it with my dad for a couple nights and will probably try to make a few turns on the way over and some on Saturday at the Butte. They still don’t have much open but it will be fun to ski with my dad a bit. He took all last year off to take care of my mom so I am sure he is excited to get back out there on the slopes.

Rach and I are just kicking it. She has been taking good care of me post-race and made some of the yummiest brownies I have ever tasted. Vegan, of course. I think they are for my dad but there may not be any left by the time I make it over to the ‘sack. I think they are filled with crack or chocolate chips or chocolate-infused crack or something. I think I’ll go eat another one now, in fact. BRB.

Oh man, that is soooooo good.

~stubert.