I had a real good day skiing today, for various reasons. First of all, it was bluebird. Gotta love sunshine. Second, there was good company. My friend Josh headed up for the day, and we spent most of the time trying to spray each other with snow from the tails of out twin-tipped skis.
But the real reason today was so good was because A: I finally sacked up and hit a few kickers in the park. Ever since my tib-fib fracture last year, I've been trying to keep the skis on the ground. But with some nice soft snow, I figured today was as good as any to try hucking my meat again. That first jump was the hardest, wondering if I would have the speed to clear the knuckle, wondering if I would crash, wondering if the park rats would laugh at my lack of steeze. But I pointed 'em, popped, and landed on the transistion. After that I was hooked, and tried to go bigger all day.
Reason B is the phone call I got after making my first halfpipe attempt of the season. It turns out that the mole I had removed from my back was NOT a melanoma. Given all of the bad news I have had recently in this regard, it was nice to finally get some good news on the medical front.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Beginning of the end???
"This is the end, my beautiful friend, the end"
-Jim Morrison
Well, after a late start to the season, for the last few weeks we have actually been getting some snow here in So. Vermont. But that changed last night, as a spout of rain fell from the sky. This probably signals the beginning of the end of the ski season. Sure enough, ther brown spots had already begun to appear mid slope, a sure sign of the encroachment of spring.
Now, I am not dreading the end of the ski season per se, but rather that transition phase. I'm taliking about the next 6-8 weeks of cold, grey, piss falling from the sky. There's a reason the NCAA tournament is this time of year- the only thing good to do on the weekend is park yourself in front of a TV and watch a lot of basketball. Also, this is the perfect time of year to get the hell out of the Northeast. Some better planning on my part probably would have had me heading to Utah or Colorado in the next week or so, and actually if all of my friends in Utah hadn't been unavailable, I'm sure I would be drinking green 3.2 beer this St. Paddy's day.
So now I must endure a month and a half of misery, every ski day one day closer to closing day. I fear that the snowpack has peaked, and every day we will see the base depth decrease instead of increase. I hope for one more storm to blow through, and perhaps some of this rain will translate into snow up at Tuck's. But for now I can only break out the soft wax, and hope that the green spots don't grow too fast.
-Jim Morrison
Well, after a late start to the season, for the last few weeks we have actually been getting some snow here in So. Vermont. But that changed last night, as a spout of rain fell from the sky. This probably signals the beginning of the end of the ski season. Sure enough, ther brown spots had already begun to appear mid slope, a sure sign of the encroachment of spring.
Now, I am not dreading the end of the ski season per se, but rather that transition phase. I'm taliking about the next 6-8 weeks of cold, grey, piss falling from the sky. There's a reason the NCAA tournament is this time of year- the only thing good to do on the weekend is park yourself in front of a TV and watch a lot of basketball. Also, this is the perfect time of year to get the hell out of the Northeast. Some better planning on my part probably would have had me heading to Utah or Colorado in the next week or so, and actually if all of my friends in Utah hadn't been unavailable, I'm sure I would be drinking green 3.2 beer this St. Paddy's day.
So now I must endure a month and a half of misery, every ski day one day closer to closing day. I fear that the snowpack has peaked, and every day we will see the base depth decrease instead of increase. I hope for one more storm to blow through, and perhaps some of this rain will translate into snow up at Tuck's. But for now I can only break out the soft wax, and hope that the green spots don't grow too fast.
Friday, March 2, 2007
Priorities
I woke up this morning to see at least 8 inches of new snow on my deck. I knew that it was new, because when I went to bed last night, there was none on that same deck. I decided that this morning I would have to skip a shower and complete breakfast. Getting to the hill before it got tracked out was of utmost importance. I grabbed my fat skis and headed out.
Unfortunately, there was 8 inches of snow to clear off of my car. I frantically wiped, brushed, and shoveled snow out of the way to enable me to leave the driveway. I even threw my skis in the backseat to avoid the extra 30 seconds it would have taken to clear the snow off of the Thule box. Should have put them in last night, I thought. Oh well, I can't dwell on past mistakes.
I parked my car, and changed into my boots, and boarded the Grand Summit Express as fast as I could. There were very few tracks on Exhibition, and I considered taking a lap down the main face, perhaps grabbing some first tracks on Ego Alley, before heading over to the steeps of the North Face. Nope. Instead I headed down Challenger, before veering off onto PDF and Plummet. Than it was two quick laps through the Epiphany glades, before skirting the ski area border for a few runs though the dense trees of The Trials.
The morning went by fast, my iPod blasting through the headphones of my new Giro. Skiing through Vermont cream cheese through the forest, whooshing between the branches, with a few trips down the usually icey mogul field of Ripcord. After three hours of nonstop laps down the North Face, I headed in for some fuel.
By the time I finished lunch, the snow began to turn into freezing rain. But there was still some good snow in the trees, and over at Sunbrook there was still some untracked to be found in the Darkside of the Moon. Denser trees and being away from the expert terrain on the north face left a few afternoon stashes for me.
By 2 PM my jacket was coated in ice, as the rain began to freeze on contact. My ass was numb, frozen after too many rides on ice coated chairlifts. The trees were chopped up, and a crust had formed on top of my cream, the whooshes replaced with crunches. A trip to the Carinthia side to check out Claim Jumper glades proved to be an exercise in futility. I called it a day, went home, put in a half-hour spin on the trainer, and finally took a shower.
Unfortunately, there was 8 inches of snow to clear off of my car. I frantically wiped, brushed, and shoveled snow out of the way to enable me to leave the driveway. I even threw my skis in the backseat to avoid the extra 30 seconds it would have taken to clear the snow off of the Thule box. Should have put them in last night, I thought. Oh well, I can't dwell on past mistakes.
I parked my car, and changed into my boots, and boarded the Grand Summit Express as fast as I could. There were very few tracks on Exhibition, and I considered taking a lap down the main face, perhaps grabbing some first tracks on Ego Alley, before heading over to the steeps of the North Face. Nope. Instead I headed down Challenger, before veering off onto PDF and Plummet. Than it was two quick laps through the Epiphany glades, before skirting the ski area border for a few runs though the dense trees of The Trials.
The morning went by fast, my iPod blasting through the headphones of my new Giro. Skiing through Vermont cream cheese through the forest, whooshing between the branches, with a few trips down the usually icey mogul field of Ripcord. After three hours of nonstop laps down the North Face, I headed in for some fuel.
By the time I finished lunch, the snow began to turn into freezing rain. But there was still some good snow in the trees, and over at Sunbrook there was still some untracked to be found in the Darkside of the Moon. Denser trees and being away from the expert terrain on the north face left a few afternoon stashes for me.
By 2 PM my jacket was coated in ice, as the rain began to freeze on contact. My ass was numb, frozen after too many rides on ice coated chairlifts. The trees were chopped up, and a crust had formed on top of my cream, the whooshes replaced with crunches. A trip to the Carinthia side to check out Claim Jumper glades proved to be an exercise in futility. I called it a day, went home, put in a half-hour spin on the trainer, and finally took a shower.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
It's all about the bike.
Why the hell did I say I would do this? What did I get myself into? Will I even survive this ordeal? I’m talking, of course, about doing a triathlon. When my friend Courtney signed up for the Ironman Kentucky last fall, I said I would enter her first triathlon with her for moral support (no, I’m not doing an Ironman, I’m not that much of a masochist.
So I agreed to enter a race at Harriman State Park in May. The other day I looked on my calendar, and realized that the race is about ten weeks away. And my training regimen has consisted of a lot of skiing, but not much else. So today I did my first “brick” workout. Bricks are when you train in two of the disciplines in a row to simulate race conditions. Of course, as with everything else in my life, I decided to do it bass ackwards. Instead of riding the bike before going out for a run, I decided to run first, than bike.
Now, the race I’ve entered features a 10 kilometer, or 6.2 mile run. I have never done that distance in my life. So right now my plan is to run 3X a week, adding an extra K each week until I can run a full 10K. I’m not worried about the 29 mile bike section, I can ride 30 miles any time. So I went out for a mile run today. The first half mile, I felt great. Second half mile, not so much. This is going to be a lot harder than I expected. As happens every time I run, I wished I was on my bike. I mean, all of this technology, why resort to the most primitive form of transportation known, right? Plus, the return trip I was running into the wind. Not a nice, tropical breeze either, but a bitter cold, winter in Vermont wind.
Upon arriving home I retreated to the relative safety of my basement, where my trainer was set up. I put in a steady 40 minute effort, no problem (okay, my ass needs to get used to this again, but otherwise…). Now why was 40 minutes on the bike a breeze, but probably not much more tan a ten minute run nearly killed me? The answer is simple.
Running sucks. It's all about the bike.
So I agreed to enter a race at Harriman State Park in May. The other day I looked on my calendar, and realized that the race is about ten weeks away. And my training regimen has consisted of a lot of skiing, but not much else. So today I did my first “brick” workout. Bricks are when you train in two of the disciplines in a row to simulate race conditions. Of course, as with everything else in my life, I decided to do it bass ackwards. Instead of riding the bike before going out for a run, I decided to run first, than bike.
Now, the race I’ve entered features a 10 kilometer, or 6.2 mile run. I have never done that distance in my life. So right now my plan is to run 3X a week, adding an extra K each week until I can run a full 10K. I’m not worried about the 29 mile bike section, I can ride 30 miles any time. So I went out for a mile run today. The first half mile, I felt great. Second half mile, not so much. This is going to be a lot harder than I expected. As happens every time I run, I wished I was on my bike. I mean, all of this technology, why resort to the most primitive form of transportation known, right? Plus, the return trip I was running into the wind. Not a nice, tropical breeze either, but a bitter cold, winter in Vermont wind.
Upon arriving home I retreated to the relative safety of my basement, where my trainer was set up. I put in a steady 40 minute effort, no problem (okay, my ass needs to get used to this again, but otherwise…). Now why was 40 minutes on the bike a breeze, but probably not much more tan a ten minute run nearly killed me? The answer is simple.
Running sucks. It's all about the bike.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
quick update
Yeah, I know I've sort of been AWOL for awhile. It's been a busy few weeks for me. The second half of the Tahoe trip was pretty hectic, including a 16 hour day involving driving from South ake to Mammoth, shooting all day in a blizzard, and heaing back to South Lake with a detour through Carson City to stop at the In 'N' Out Burger.
The following Monday I was supposed to begin getting my experimental cancer treatements in NYC, but that was delayed until Thursday. Which was the day after the snowstorm, so Manhattan was a total junk show of muddy slush. Than I headed back to VT for a few days, back to NY for another doctor's visit, and finally back to VT, where it is snowing again and hopefully I will ski some pow tomorrow.
Hopefully I can provide a few pics of tomorrow's goodies.
The following Monday I was supposed to begin getting my experimental cancer treatements in NYC, but that was delayed until Thursday. Which was the day after the snowstorm, so Manhattan was a total junk show of muddy slush. Than I headed back to VT for a few days, back to NY for another doctor's visit, and finally back to VT, where it is snowing again and hopefully I will ski some pow tomorrow.
Hopefully I can provide a few pics of tomorrow's goodies.
Friday, February 9, 2007
Sorry I haven't checked in for awhile, but I've been too busy skiing in Lake Tahoe California to write anything. 
It's been a busy week. Last weekend I drove from my cousin Rachel's in San Francisco to my friend Lindsay in Sacremento.
I skied at Kirkwood for two days, before heading to South Lake Tahoe, where my friend Matt booked a condo for the week.
Monday was spent at Squaw Valley, where I skied with Ingid Backstrom
and Cody Townsend, two of the best freeskiers in the world. Nothing like having a few Warren Miller rockstars giving you the tour of their backyard. Tuesday and Thursday wre spent at Heavenly, on the CA/NV border. Today it was back to Kirkwood, for some real powder skiing!!!!
It's been a busy week. Last weekend I drove from my cousin Rachel's in San Francisco to my friend Lindsay in Sacremento.
I skied at Kirkwood for two days, before heading to South Lake Tahoe, where my friend Matt booked a condo for the week.
Monday was spent at Squaw Valley, where I skied with Ingid Backstrom
and Cody Townsend, two of the best freeskiers in the world. Nothing like having a few Warren Miller rockstars giving you the tour of their backyard. Tuesday and Thursday wre spent at Heavenly, on the CA/NV border. Today it was back to Kirkwood, for some real powder skiing!!!!
Thursday, February 1, 2007
48 hours- what a difference
This morning, walking around San Francisco's Chinatown, I was thinking about how far I had come, and how much things had changed since Tuesday. The previous 24 hours have certainly happened at a fast pace.
Tuesday was spent being a human lab rat in New York. Bloodwork, a CT scan, and an MRI took up my day. It was cold outside, and the majority of the day was spent hurrying up and waiting. On the culinary front, I got to have some sushi, though, so that was cool.
Yesterday consisted of four airports, two planes, and a long day of travel. I woke up to temperatures in the low teens in Hobart, NY, before heading up to Albany to leave for California. The first leg had me flying to Baltimore, mainly because I think you can't fly anywhere on Southwest without changing planes there. I even think there flight from Long Beach to Oakland requires that you change planes in Baltimore. I had a burrito in Baltimore, because, well, I didn't feel like McDonalds or Chinese food. From Baltimore, it was on to Kansas City, where the airport is literally in the middle of nowhere. I don't know how far away downtown is, but the area surrounding the airport did not resemble that of a city that is home to an NFL and Major League franchise. When almost the entire plane got off in KC, I was worried that somehow I was on the wrong flight. I wasn't, though, and soon took off for Oakland. Upon my arrival in Raider Nation, I got into a cab for San Francisco. Apparently bay area cabs don't have fixed airport fares like they do in NYC, and my cab cost me nearly 2/3 my flight out.
Today I enjoyed the touristy side of San Francisco. I think that being a meteorologist here has got to be an easy gig. High fifties and cloudy is probably your forecast 90% of the time. This place is hilly, too. I wonder how much wear it is on your emergency brake when you are parallel parked on a 25% grade?
So it's been a busy three days, and it's not slowing down anytime soon. Tomorrow I head to Sacramento, the same town as Governor Terminator. Than on Saturday I will make my Sierra skiing debut at Kirkwood. Hopefully Tyrone doesn't misguide me towards Hospital Air.
Tuesday was spent being a human lab rat in New York. Bloodwork, a CT scan, and an MRI took up my day. It was cold outside, and the majority of the day was spent hurrying up and waiting. On the culinary front, I got to have some sushi, though, so that was cool.
Yesterday consisted of four airports, two planes, and a long day of travel. I woke up to temperatures in the low teens in Hobart, NY, before heading up to Albany to leave for California. The first leg had me flying to Baltimore, mainly because I think you can't fly anywhere on Southwest without changing planes there. I even think there flight from Long Beach to Oakland requires that you change planes in Baltimore. I had a burrito in Baltimore, because, well, I didn't feel like McDonalds or Chinese food. From Baltimore, it was on to Kansas City, where the airport is literally in the middle of nowhere. I don't know how far away downtown is, but the area surrounding the airport did not resemble that of a city that is home to an NFL and Major League franchise. When almost the entire plane got off in KC, I was worried that somehow I was on the wrong flight. I wasn't, though, and soon took off for Oakland. Upon my arrival in Raider Nation, I got into a cab for San Francisco. Apparently bay area cabs don't have fixed airport fares like they do in NYC, and my cab cost me nearly 2/3 my flight out.
Today I enjoyed the touristy side of San Francisco. I think that being a meteorologist here has got to be an easy gig. High fifties and cloudy is probably your forecast 90% of the time. This place is hilly, too. I wonder how much wear it is on your emergency brake when you are parallel parked on a 25% grade?
So it's been a busy three days, and it's not slowing down anytime soon. Tomorrow I head to Sacramento, the same town as Governor Terminator. Than on Saturday I will make my Sierra skiing debut at Kirkwood. Hopefully Tyrone doesn't misguide me towards Hospital Air.
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