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Consistency is contrary to nature, contrary to life. The only completely consistent people are dead. ~ Aldous Huxley

When snow conditions are inconsistent, we call that “variable”. When I ski like a champ one run then like a dog turd in a coma the next, I call that “weak”. In either event, I had a fun day up at the Basin to kick off the new year.

Pete and Luke met me at Kermit’s at 8:30 and we jammed up a freshly opened I-70. This major artery had been closed for about a day due to high winds, blowing snow and super-mega-extreme avalanche dangers. At least that is what CDOT said on their website.

Aside from one semi stalled in the right lane, driving up to A-Basin went smoothly. We were pleasantly surprised to find Loveland Pass open and were able to quickly make it to the area and get ready to make some turns. It was -12 when we pulled in so I pretty much wore everything I brought but with sunny skies and no wind, it felt a lot warmer than it was.

The recent high winds provided mixed conditions – from creamy pow to bulletproof ripples, we saw it all today. As I said before, I made some of the best turns coupled with the worst of the year. Some days are like that but I am trying to get to the root of it all so that I can be more consistent in the future. I was feeling good enough to drop some features here and there so that part of my day was actually confidence building. Even tossed in some drops as part of the flow (as opposed to stopping, setting up, then going off) which is a major goal for me this season. Good stuff.

I took one pretty spectacular fall at the bottom of the Rock Garden. If you had seen me, you would have thought I was trying to take a soil sample from China with my head. Serious auger. I think I struck oil.

All in all, it was a great start to the new year. I am not much of a celebrator of arbitrarily dated holidays but New Year’s Day is one of the better days to ski. There is usually no one out on the slopes and arbitrary or not, it is a good way to start off the year.

I am also not much of a resolution-maker. If I need to make a change or start doing something, I don’t tend to wait around until some time-stamp to do so. I do have some goals for ’08, however. I haven’t really vetted this list so we’ll consider this a rough draft. For posterity’s sake:

• Build a garage (or get a new house with a garage): Living at 9000 feet, one’s cars just get hammered by the harsh conditions. We really need to get Rach a new whip but I am committed to procuring better protection prior to doing so.
• Ski the Enduro: This is an annual event at the Basin during which teams of two see how many runs they can complete in a day. Pali starts turning early (7ish) and shuts down at 5 and the team with the most runs wins. Another caveat, the teams have to complete runs in order from far skier’s left to right across the front side of the mountain. Luke and I are planning to team up for this one.
• Finish the Leadville 50 in 10 hours: This may be a bit of a stretch but I am planning to run this new event next summer. I may have to adjust the target finish time based on how training goes.
• Use less fossil fuels than in ’07: Shouldn’t be too tough now that I work from home but I figure it is good to have a couple of soft goals on the list so I can feel good about accomplishing something.
• Use less energy than ’07: This may be coupled with adding solar to our home or something and may be tough to achieve with the planned construction but hey, gotta dream, right?
• Start writing again: Okay, I know… I am writing now but I would like to start writing something more structured. Whether this takes the form of starting to write movie reviews again or just writing short stories, I don’t really care. I would just like to generate some form of written material in ’08.
• Grow my toenails back: Yeah, still working on this one.

Okay, that is a pretty good list for now. I am sure I’ll add to it soon.

We also watched The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada last night. I really like Tommy Lee Jones and he directed and starred in this film. Overall, I would say it was decent. Characters were painted with a pretty broad brush but it was an interesting take on friendship, commitment, and human relations. I wouldn’t rush out to watch it but if you are in the mood for a slow-paced film, this would be a good selection.

Okay, go check out Pete’s blog for some footage of our recent outings and if you are driving, don’t drink, if you’re drinking, don’t drive.

~stubert.

Let’s go play machete fight. Ain’t no terrible tradgedy’s gonna happen today! ~ Nate Cox

Went to see Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story today with Pete. Pretty amusing. Not sure if I would highly recommend it but if you just want to shut off your brain for a bit and be entertained, it definitely satisfies.

It is snowin’ and blowin’ up here. The forecasters are calling for more of the same for the next couple of days. I am planning to brave the conditions to get in some turns at the Rock tomorrow then will be heading to the Basin on Tuesday for some New Year’s fun and/or games. Just a really great way to kick off the new year.

Um… that’s it for now. More later. That’s a threat AND a promise. Psyched, aren’t you?

~stubert.

It’s the bloody Beatles White Album! ~ George Harrison

Speaking of white… Damn today was cold at The Basin. Maybe 5 degrees with a sporadic wind, sometimes quite brisk. I was skiing very sloppily for some reason. Fairly inspired at times but mostly like a spaz. But hey. It was still an awesome time. We all experienced some frost-nip and had to take breaks when the white spots appeared on cheeks and noses but it was worth it to get some turns in. Plus no one was out on the slopes. The warming house was seriously as full as I have ever seen it. Pretty funny.

The crüe consisted of Luke, Obie, and two of Obie’s friends from Highschool — one of whom I knew from way back in our earliest Boulder days. Small world.

We jammed up the hill early to avoid the weekend traffic mania and were quickly spinning laps on Pali. The Spine was simply dreamy — wind buffed and creamy. Can’t complain about that at all. I finally dropped the upper rocks with only a hint of hesitation and launched off of a good drop on the bottom portion of the hill with ease. Generally hesitant but feeling pretty good for what is still early season. Most of the really hard stuff is still closed but we’re keeping our fingers crossed for some cycles to line up and really hammer things home. All in all, however, they have decent coverage and times are good.

We have been watching a ton of movies of late. Good way to pass the short days and cold temps when not out on the slopes. Here is a run-down:

• Ratatouille: Great Pixar movie. The animation is amazing and the story is fun and engaging. If you haven’t seen it, get busy.
• The Shawshank Redemption: Another classic. Just a well put-together film.
• Lone Star: Terrific Sayles. A must see.
• Breach: Not super but entertaining at least. Again, Chris Cooper puts in a pretty solid effort and though the movie wasn’t awesome, it was still watchable.
• Silver City: Another Sayles/Cooper partnership. This one is just a mess. Really, really boring movie that just didn’t seem to go anywhere. It was shot in Colorado, so that made it a little bit interesting being that I was able to pick out locations but other than that, just bad.
• Notes on a Scandal: Actually, I wasn’t sure what to expect with this one and was pleasantly surprised. Well worth the time.

So we were discussing fuel efficiency during today’s festivities. Seems that two of us are proud (or not so) owners of gigantic SUV things. I currently drive a 2000 Yukon XL. I have thought about selling it to get something more environmentally friendly but since starting up the new biz, haven’t really been putting many miles on it. When I do, I usually cram as many people as possible (and all our gear) into the beast so that we only have to take one car up the hill. This makes me feel a little less guilty about driving the behemoth. Actually, I did get 19.5 mpg when I fueled up this afternoon, so that is pretty sweet. If you count the fact that 5 of us were able to get transport to the area using Holmsey, that is actually really good. We would have had to take at least two normal cars so all in all, we came out on top. So I guess my point is: Carpooling good, giant SUV not always bad. Say it with your Frankenstein voice and it is even more fun.

Play hard.

~stubert.

The waiting is the hardest part. ~ Tom Petty (coincidentally heard while on hold with Apple)

I am still over in Gunnison. Might be heading back to the Front Range today but we’re playing that by ear at this point.

I am a little banged up from yesterday’s adventures. Nothing bad, I just took one squirrelly fall during which I somehow managed to bang my left elbow on something and I kicked my right shin right in-between the top of my boot and the bottom of my kneepad. Perfect placement. Seems like that happens a lot, actually. Which probably means my pads are working fine, they just don’t cover enough! Part of the game. I do have a nice contusion on my shin however that goes nicely with the scar I got while hopping a fence on my October snow run. Good stuff.

No skiing today and I really need to get some work completed as well. Just too many things going on right now.

I am super excited to get back home to see Rach. She has been awesome — staying at home and taking care of all the monsters while I am away. As always, I’ll keep you posted.

~stubert.

No quote. Too lazy. ~stubert.

Hit the Butte today for some steeps (finally). Almost the whole
mountain is open already which is amazing. Headed straight to Teocali
Bowl then jammed out to Third Bowl. I spent the whole day spinning
laps in Spellbound, Phoenix, The Glades, etc. Awesome to finally get on
something that challenged my limits. I actually had to back out of a
skinny chute on Staircase as the sluff I kicked in took out the rest
of the snow severely limiting my options. All in a good day’s fun at
my hometown resort.

Skied all day with Zach from San Diego. It was his first time at CB so
I gave him the ultimate locals’ tour-o’rama. Even met up with a guy I
haven’t seen in several years at the top of Third Bowl. Bret is a
photographer who has moved to Boulder recently and was doing a bad job
of trying to not kill his girlfriend, Ann (?? Crap, I forgot her
name). Small world.

Planning to head back over to the Front Range tomorrow but we’ll see
what happens. I hate to leave the Butte while it is skiing so
incredibly well but I miss my sweetie who is home taking care of the
menagerie.

I’ll keep you posted.

~stubert.

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