Ski Extravaganza

Last week I finished my job with the BLM. My position was a 4 year term and the time had expired. I am looking forward the time off to go on my hike and do all the things I used to dream about. True to form, I worked ten hour days so I could take Friday off to take advantage of the new snow and go skiing. Everyday I stopped by In and Out for a burger.




Friday morning I headed off to Kirkwood with Matt. It's a drive to the south, but worth it for the skiing they provide. It's a real skiers mountain with everyone looking for that untouched powder. We hit up the backside first along with everyone else on the mountain, and were a little disappointed to find the wind had packed down all the snow before we could get there. In the afternoon we skied the gullys and a shot through the cliff band and had a good time exploring.






Saturday we went up to Rose, the locals mountain. Tara came with us and we met up with James. The chutes at Rose are quite unique and amazing. The snow wasn't fresh, but still soft. Pictures can't really capture the steepness of the terrain.








Sunday Matt and I headed over to Heavenly. We had each bought passes to Kirkwood at the end of last season for a steal, then Vail corp bought them so our pass was good at Heavenly and Northstar, the cheapest epic pass ever. Heavenly was good, some of the people there were annoying, but we found great chutes and snow over in Mott Canyon. It was good, but would be amazing in a regular snow year.







Monday I went to Diamond Peak. It's not a huge place, but they had a deal for 25$ ticket with a pass to any other mountain. The snow went from icy to slushy in an hour. I got a few good runs, but the real jewel of the place is the view of the lake from the mid-mountain bar.





Monday night it snowed and they were expecting winds for Tuesday, so I headed to Northstar, so I wouldn't have to feel bad if I had to bail. Reports said 3-6 inches of snow, but the backside had at least a foot, going up to knee height in places. It was amazing. All day I skied trees making fresh turns in fields of powder. It was on top of poor snow coverage, so I hit a few rocks and tore up the bottom of my skis but it was glorious. I heard later that the windchill on top was -6, and it probably never got much over 25, but that kept the snow nice and light. I couldn't stop and didn't take a break all day, it was awesome.








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