Epic Day!

Well today was one for the Jackson record books. In 12 hours we got 25 inches of snow and we were under the 3rd ever EXTREME avalanche danger (in all the year of assessing the danger only the 3rd time!) We (Mike, Kerry, AJ, Brandon and Erik) all got up at 5:45 so we could open presents together and then have a big family breakfast before we went skiing. By 7 we were sitting down to a great breakfast which included egg scramble, bacon, sausage, fruit, pancakes and of course mimosas!

The rubble after opening presents!

AJ and Eric cooking up some tasty food.

It's all in the presentation!

Brandon and Kerry pretty excited!

Kerry's car is now entombed in snow.

We left the house and headed to the mountain, by 8:45 we were in line for the gondola. There were tons of avalanche blasts and ski patrol was working as hard as they could, but it took until 12:50 for them to finally get the terrian off the gondola safe to open. Because the snow was coming down so fast and so much it was very prone to sliding so they had to be really cautious on what they opened. When we finally got up it was more snow than I have ever seen! I started skiing and it was about halfway up my chest which made it very hard to keep moving. The snow was so light though we all kept choking on it as it sprayed up in our faces. During our second run we happened to be at the right place at the right time and got first tracks on a trail that was just being opened. By our third run there were a lot of soft bumps and when I was about 3/4 of the way down the trail my ski tip buryed into one and I fell and did, from what I understand from the man who saw it, quite a big tumble. During the tumble I had the pleasure of a full chiropractic adjustment couresty of the Gros Ventre trail. As I layed there I wasn't sure if I should even move because my back was in a lot of pain. A nice man came down and took off my other ski and stood there while I decided if I needed help. I told him after a minute or so I was okay. Then I stood up and realized I was entirely not okay. I couldn't put any weight on my left leg. Somehow by a miracle I skied down on my one good leg. I got down to the bottom where Kerry, Mike and Erik were waiting and started bawling. I hobbled to the locker room, got changed and then decided I did really need to go to the clinic. Turns out I may have ripped my MCL in half. I will need to get it checked out by and orthapaedic and probably get an MRI. Let the fun times begin. I am trying to stay really positive and optimistic about it though. We will see how it all goes and I will try and keep you all posted as I know more! Merry Christmas everyone!

All of us waiting for the gondola to open!

My very own cowboy boots!!!

Well since today is Christmas Eve I decided to treat myself to a present I have been wanting for a while- my very own pair of cowboy boots. I bought them at Stone's Mercantile in downtown Jackson. They are handmade in Texas out of bison. I couldn't be more excited about them!

My very own pair of cowboy boots!

I also bought my first Christmas ornament while I was downtown. It is a little moose that is actually made out of leather. I figured I should start collecting ornaments much like my parents have from all of our family adventures.

He's all made out of leather.

Beautiful snow covered streets. This is the norm here, they don't salt or bring it down to pavement.

Another night at the Silver Dollar

Last night me and the roommates went out to the Silver Dollar Bar again. On Tuesday nights they have a bluegrass band that comes to play. There is always a bunch of cowboys there and it is really fun to sit and watch them dance. It is some kind of western swing. While we were there one of the cowboys came up and asked me to dance. I got very dizzy, but it was really fun. Apparently one of my roommates got hold of my camera so now there is photo evidence of the event. Next week we are going to try to get there earlier so we can catch the bands whole set.

Bootleg Flyer.

Me and the cowboy named Ralph doing some Western Swing.

Kerry and Brandon enjoying their G&T's.

Skill

This just takes skill. After running over many many rocks this season on Monday I finally put a good ding in my skis. Surprisingly not in the bases, but instead in the metal tip! I was coming down out of some trees and down onto a traverse (going from steep to flat), and my ski tip just went straight down into the snow and crunch. I of course fell flat on my face and ended up choking on the snow (I was mid-scream so I got a mouthful of snow). Both tips took a pretty good hit, but the picture below shows the worst of the two..... Still ski-able, just a little battle scar....

Notice the lichen from the rock now ground into my ski tip.

On Tuesday I took a pair of demo skis out. It was the same kind as last time (Dynastar Legend Exclusive Powder), but this time in a 165 instead. The skis were up over my head, and they definitely gave me a run for my money. In the end I learned 165 is just a little too much ski for me, they can go much faster than I want to go, and were hard for me to control in the packed bumps. This was by far the longest ski I have ever skied and was just too much ski for someone my size. This makes ski day 16 though.

my life as a sitcom

Well, as I was falling asleep last night I was thinking about the day and I only gave you a small taste of the events of the day, my apologies....

Upon getting home I found two very frantic roomates (Mike and Brandon) and two frantic neighbors (AJ and Eric). All four of them were freaking out because the satellite wasn't working, and they were determined to fix it. The problem was in that the dish was on the roof and there happened to be 12 inches of snow piled on the roof, which conviently obscured the view of the satellite dish. Now being four guys without their beloved TV the only option was to climb out on the roof and use a broom to knock away the snow. So out Mike's bedroom window they went. Now being boys they obviously could just send one, oh no, so then there were two of them out on the roof trying to push away the snow. But keep in mind we have to be safe around here, so it is obvious to tie a rope from yourself on the roof to the bed in Mike's room. Finally after 20 mins satellite was return, thank god. Then the fun continued.... Eric is really into backcountry skiing, so he of course has a cornice cutting rope, and what are four boys with a roof covered in 12 inches of snow going to do when given a cornice cutting rope? Yeah, try to clear the roof of course. So then here they go bushwacking around our sunroom in attempts to use the rope to cut the snow off. They really wanted the roof to slide so they insisted on slamming the door a few times. Luckily for the sake of both Kerry and my car they were unsuccessful. Then in all of the madness I wanted to go to the library. Now keep in mind we haven't ever shoveled our driveway and there is 12 inches of new snow. So I clear off all of my car, unbury the doors and get in to go. Being five guys all of the boys felt the need to remind me how to drive. So I got halfway out and got stuck. Now this is where it is nice living with five guys because that is five guys who are willing to push your car and are determined that they can get the car out without moving any snow. After a few attempts we got my car out with no shovelling required. My life is looking a lot like a sitcom at this point....

POWDER!!!!

Today started with another early morning, as I woke up at 6am I was greeted with an unfortunate message, "Teton Pass is closed this morning" but also a very welcomed 12" of fresh snow! Now to you all Teton Pass means nothing, but what it means is that the road that takes people from Jackson to some nearby Idaho towns was closed, like bars that cross the road closed. This meant that none of the managers could get to work to open the shop, which meant it was me and three others left to hold down the fort until reinforcements arrived at 9am. It was a crazy morning, even once everyone arrived. In the course of the morning, I helped a couple from Austria that made me pull out at least 6 pairs of skis apiece so that they could check the edges. They insisted that we did not take good care of our skis and that I should get them sharpened right away for them, I told them that wasn't going to happen and they continued to rant about how it was icy (again there was 12" of fresh snow, so I don't know what they were smoking) and how in Europe they keep all skis perfectly tuned at all times. After getting rid of them I heard a little boy wailing while trying to put his boot on. I ended up setting up the families skis and I finally got the little kid settled by giving him orange skis and writing his name on the skis (oh the simple things). By the time I finished with the families skis the little kid was soundly asleep in his fathers arms. The little boys older sister was adorable and kept calling her skis "ski boards". Fun times.

At 2 I finally escaped the shop, an hour late, and Kerry and I headed out to the mountain. We thought all the powder would be gone, but we found a great stash. The first run I found knee to thigh deep stuff. By the third run I had found a few spots of waist deep stuff. We ran into our boss Jamal on the lift and brought him to our secret stash and he was stoked on it and said it was the run of the day for him. We skied all the way until close because the skiing was so great!

On another note, family I am sorry for the sporadic blog entries, I will try to be more consistent.

Ski count now at 15, but I might be losing count!

A rest day

I was scheduled to work from 7:45 to 1, but it was really busy so I ended up staying until 2, then I asked my boss to leave and he said they needed extra help and he asked if I could come back at 3. Realizing that I should not repeat the events of the previous day I elected not to ski. Instead I went to one of the cafes and chatted with my mom for an hour. In the afternoon I worked the ski check which can be best described as a very high maintenance zoo. Who knew people could be so unappreciative. The last ski check I did though I did end up getting a tip, which made it all okay.

In the evening we had a family game night with the neighbors. We played a team game of Scrabble, 9 people, 4 teams (3 teams of 2 and 1 team of 3). It was a really good time, and Mike and I ended up winning with a score of 135. We are going to try to make game nights at least once a week.

Stubborn

Being stubborn thinking my very sore foot (remember the ski boot incident) was just fine I tried to ski after my shift at work. Jackson had opened another new lift (Sublette Quad, as well as the Tram) so I headed out to see what was left of the snow. The snow was mostly skied out, and it was bitter bitter cold out. While I was on the Sublette lift it stopped, in full wind, for a good 5 mins, I was very chilled by the time I got off the lift. In the end I was very cold and my foot ended up hurting so much that I was almost in tears. I gave up after only a few runs. Saddness...

In the evening, Mike, Brandon, AJ and I ended up playing Canasta. Brandon and I lost horribly, but it was still a fun time. I know you are laughing, we really are a bunch of old folks.

Tram Opens!

Kerry and I were both scheduled to work from 9-1, after a very busy morning we elected to take out some demos. I took out the Dynastar Legend Exclusive Powder in a 158, a mouthful of a name I know. I think I would enjoy them a lot if I had remembered how to ski. I was just generally a mess and the light was pretty flat. I am going to give them another try another day.

I now agree that bad things happen in threes. In the course of 40 mins I managed to do a cartwheel on my skis, landing the cartwheel on my head (ouch!). After calling it a day on my skis, I went back to the shop to return my skis, only to find out my boots were totally iced over so I slipped and fell on the floor (whoops). Then, worse still, I went down to the locker room to take off my boots and ended up dropping my ski boot while putting it on the rack, Kerry and I both jumped out of the way to save our toes, but somehow my boot bounced off the floor and ended up slitting open the bottom of my foot, right on the ball of my foot. It was a bloody mess and made it very painful to walk.

We headed home and ran to the post office to pick up my Christmas package then we made a quick dinner and met up with our neighbors to go to Tram Grand Opening Party. It was really cold out, but everyone was there with PBR in hand. The tram made its grand entrance, and what an event it was! Santa even repelled out of the tram. After the ceremony we headed Nick Wilson's (a bar/cafe at the base of the mountain) for a pitcher of beer with Corinna and Nikki, then we headed along to the Mangy Moose (another bar at the mountain) for the after party. It was a fun evening and I met a ton of new people that I will never remember the names of. :) Here is a video of the ceremony!



And some of my not so good photos (excuse me it was puking snow!)....

Brandon, me and Kerry.

The new tram!

Kerry warming up his hands while enjoying a beer (yes, those are my mittens).

Quick Post

On Wednesday when I was in the lift line my left shoulder was really sore when trying to get to the chair and I woke up on Thursday morning in a lot of pain. I was scheduled to work from 9-5 so I decided it was a good day to take a day off and get some hours in. For the first time I worked for 8 hours in a single day, a novel occasion!

Another day in the life

Last week I ran into a fellow UVM engineer and TBP memeber at a bar that I graduated with named Corinna. Corinna and her twin sister Nikki are both living in Jackson. Funny thing about Nikki, upon meeting her she was sure that she knew me. Turns out she had all of her accounting classes in college with my best friend Jess and had been to my apartment to work on various projects during senior year. It has been really nice getting to get to know both of them especially since they are my only female friends here in Jackson (I live with 3 guys right now and our neighbors are 3 more guys that we have made friends with). My life has become a bit of a sitcom really.

Anyhow, today Kerry and I went skiing with one of our neighbors AJ and Corinna. The resort opened a new lift so there was a bunch of fresh snow off of the Thunder Quad since it had been closed before that. It was great to get to ski fresh snow with some new friends. We all had our fair share of graceful falls and it was a day full of good hearty laughs and screams. Corinna was a bit hesitant about the powder, but ended up doing a great job. After being out so late the night before it was an early night in our house.

Tuesday is the new Friday night

After a hard day at Targhee I decided to sleep in, but I guess the world conspired against that, Jon ended up calling me at 1 am on Tuesday morning, and then I got another call at 7:30 am so my sleep was very broken. I ended up getting up at 8 and doing some random stuff around the house, then I decided 10 mins before the bus came that I wanted to go skiing. I hurried to get ready and headed out. The bus to the mountain ended up never showing up, so we got the town shuttle to call and find out what was wrong. Turns out the driver, who had been doing the route for several years forgot to go to the stop and pick us up. The supervisor felt very bad so he ended up driving out to pick two of us up and drove us all the way to the mountain with no other stops. Once I got there my phone died so I couldn't meet up with anyone, so I ended up exploring around by myself. It was very peaceful.

Tuesday night we went to see a bluegrass band that plays every week at the Silver Dollar Bar. We found a table next to a group of women out for a Christmas party. They were all wearing festive hats and the boys (Brandon, Kerry and Mike) started chatting with them and convinced them to give them the extra hats. The boys wore them around the bar for a while until I refused to be seen with them anymore. By the time the band started playing the bar was packed and it ended up turning into a great dance party. We all had a great time and will for sure be going back!

The boys stoked on their hats!

Day at Targhee

Kerry and I went on a big adventure today. Since we are Jackson employees we can go to Grand Targhee for free. They are 100% open and they have gotten crazy amounts of snow in the last few days. The drive over there was quite interesting. We came across a pair of elk running right in front of my car and went through some very small little towns in Wyoming and Idaho. The pass that takes you into Idaho was a bit slippery and the access road to Targhee was crazy slippery. We made it there safely thank to my sweet new snow tires.


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Roadtrip to Targhee.

The pass with huge rocks, sharp corners and 10% grade.

Elk.

Targhee access road.

Welcome to Targhee.

When we got there we ran into another guy from the retail shop that I run into all the time named Andrew in the ticket line. We jumped on the first lift and we were amazed with the wide open nature of the mountain. Once you are above the tree line it is literally a wide open snow field, you can only imagine what that is like in the wind... brrr. When we got off the lift there was a million choices of ways to go and beautiful blue skies. We headed off to the right and we were greeted with windblown powder, but after a few hundred yard the snow softened right up and we were in soft powder about shin to knee deep. Once we got near the bottom I was cruising along a traverse and I recognized our friend Jake from the rental shop. He was there with his roommate Adam. We ended up skiing with them until lunch. We all had our fair share of graceful falls, but it was a great time.

Not a bad view of the Tetons.

Perfect blue bird and snow trees.

Loving it.

Reflection.

We ran into Adam (left) and Jake (right).

Me skiing in the pow.

Action shot.

After a lunch break and warming up our toes, Kerry and I went out for a few more runs, but during lunch the clouds rolled in and the light turned totally flat. We ripped down a groomer and when we hit the bottom we both agreed we were feeling pretty tired and sloppy so we decided to head home before the snow in the pass got too bad. We stopped on the way home for a little snack and because I was feeling sleepy and needed to get out of the car. As we came over the pass on the way home a guy in a 2 ton pickup decided to pass another car, which meant he was barrelling down the hill while fishtailing heading straight at me in my lane. It was super scary, I don't know why some people have to drive like idoits in the snow. Overall a great day, I can't get over how amazing things are right now. I wake up every day and I think I must be dreaming. It is nice to be surrounded with so many nice people and to live in such a beautiful place.

Classic.

In the evening we watched a movie and then me and the boys (Kerry, Mike and Brandon) went on an adventure to Subway for dinner. Meatball subs were thoroughly enjoyed and we learned that here in Jackson they put way more meat on your sandwich than a normal Subway would, good deal.

Gondola and Casper Open

Jackson finally opened the gondola and casper lifts today. Kerry and I were on different shifts on Saturday so I ended up tooling around on my own after I got out of work at 1:30. On Sunday Kerry and I got sent home at 11:30 so we skied for a few hours. Many rocks were hit, skis survived okay though. The coverage was a bit better on Sunday because they worked out some of the rockier spots, but the unpleasant sound of rocks on your bases was still a common one. No pictures for these 2 days, really how many pictures of big mountains do we need.

Ski day count at 9.

Christmas Tree Hunting

Kerry and I actually managed to work a full shift today and it was filled with characters. To add to our collection of entertaining renters we now have a 6'9" skier, a pair of children that speak no English and need ski boots, a kindly old man that heard nothing I told him because he didn't have his hearing aid, and also a very intense woman who blamed us for the lack of snow. The little children from Mexico City were my favorite, Roberta (the older girl) took a liking to me despite our language barrier she continually asked me if I was going to be her ski teacher. She had a little 2 year old cousin who ran off in the shop and almost got stuck between 2 rows of rolling shelves. It was quite a challenge to convince a 2 year old that speaks no English to stop and let me pry her out.

After a very entertaining morning at work we met up with Sarah for our Christmas tree hunt. we took Sarah's car because Kerry's seems to have a coolant leak and mine doesn't have a roof rack. We decided to head out toward the Gros Venture area past the Teton Science School. We headed down a park road past the school and continued to drive until Sarah got nervous we might not be able to get back out. After much deliberation we finally decided that we wanted the top half of a 12 foot tall tree. Kerry and Mike did the cutting, carrying and tying and we were on our way home.

Out for a drive.

Consulting the map.

Let the hunt begin.

Discussing an option.

Cutting down our final choice.

Our measuring system.

Bringing it back to the car.

Once we got home and got the tree up in the stand my job of decorating began. Being poor we elected to just decorate with white paper snowflakes tied with some scrap red yarn. We also came across some gold balls at Kmart that were pretty cheap so we added some of those. My mom also gave me a few sets of lights and some red ribbon to dress it up. All and all it came out very nice and our neighbors have already commented on how pretty it is.

Decoration sequence.

Final product.

It's a rough life

So Kerry and I have had off Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday (really we never work). An average day off right now consists of getting up at 7:30, getting to the bus around 8:30, skiing until about 10:30, then coming home for lunch. We spend the remainder of the day pretty much cooking and eating. Today to switch up the routine we went to work. We got there at 9 and by 9:30 they had sent us out on a ski break until 11:30. You can really feel the trouble the weather is causing throughout the village. In almost 2 weeks we have only gotten 8 inches. Everyone is hoping it will start snowing soon and that the weather picks up the holiday season bookings.

Today I thought it might be fun to try a demo ski, so I followed my friend Jackie's suggestion and tried out the Salomon Lady in a 158. In the death cookie and hard packed conditions, it was a bit like skiing on a floppy noodle. I am sure on soft snow conditions they would be really fun since they were very responsive and wanted to really made nice turns when you would be going much slower. On a rather big hill I tried to stop because there was an obstruction in the trail and the noodle-like skis nearly killed me. I tried to push hard on my edges and I started bouncing off the surface of the snow. A fun ski, but I just took them on the wrong stuff and skied a bit too fast for it. I think this has convinced me that I could try a stiffer men's ski.

After skiing, we headed back to work for a thrilling afternoon of learning how to be a cashier. After an afternoon of that, I am very convinced I want to stay a binding tech, it is just way easier and more fun. We got sent home from work about an hour and half early and then feasted on some delicious chili and cornbread, all made from scratch. Yum Yum!!

Tomorrow I think we are going to switch it up a bit and skip skiing and go cut a Christmas tree instead. Here in Wyoming you just have to buy a permit from the forest service for $5 and you can go out to the public lands and cut one down.

Ski day count now at 7.

A nice view waiting for the bus.

Kerry looking very unimpressed about going to work.

Snow guns working hard.

Me and Kerry, I know another picture that looks the same....

Riding home on the bus.

Fun times from the 80's

Came across this funny video called Ski Dance from a rare 1986 German ski movie called "Fire and Ice." Enjoy!

Birthday wishes do come true

So yesterday as my birthday wish I asked for snow, although there was no snow in the forecast I wanted some anyway. But Mother Nature came to the rescue, at 6:25 this morning I awoke to what I though was someone dragging a metal trash can around outside, but then it continued for a few minutes. It was early so it took a few minutues for the gears in my brain to start turning but then I excitedly realized that it was a snow plow!!!!! I got out of bed and looked outside and everything was white. Kerry woke me up 40 mins later, the plow had woken him too, and we decided it was a day for skiing, not sleeping. So we threw on our gear and headed up to the Village. We got there and it was still dumping snow and there was about 6-8 inches on the ground. Unfortunately the lack of snow over the past few weeks led the entire town of Jackson to think the same as us, and as a result the mountain was packed. My first 2 runs were a mess. Within 30 seconds of the top of the run I hit a patch of ice then a pile of fluff and I fell head first into the ground, my helmet comes in hand again and I slid head and hands first down the hill. As a result I had snow all over my belly and arms due to inproper tucking and I also recieved a buise on my hand from falling on my pole. Later the same run, I fell again on a patch of ice which I am sure will lead to another good bruise this time on my hip. Kerry and I then had to go in to fix some footbed and boot issues. After working out the kinks in our boots we I met up with another UVM'er named Sarah and we skied a bunch of runs with her. The boot-fixing break served me well and after that I remembered how to ski what we might call 'varied terrian.' Due to the lack to snow and then the sudden dump conditions ranged from fresh powder, to ice, to hardpack to death cookies, which made for some fun times. There were some beautiful soft bumps toward the bottom of the trail that I really enjoyed hitting up. In Kerry's words "You ripped them up," I guess all those miserable East Coast bump runs with the boys served me well. By lunch time Kerry's feet were killing him because of new boot and footbed issues, so we decided to head home for some lunch. The rest of the afternoon comprised of napping, eating and a big grocery store adventure. Today makes the ski day count a grand total of 4, and I bet there are some East Coasters who are beating that, but I will catch up soon.

Snow day!!! We got several more inches after this photo was taken.

Mike celebrating the snow by running barefoot into it. Needless to say his feet were a bit chilly...

What a difference a day makes.

Happy Birthday to Me!!!!

So today was my 22nd birthday and what wonderful day it was. I had to get up early to go to work from 7:45 to 1. At work I spent a solid 2 hours just peeling old stickers off skis, weirdly enough it was quite relaxing and I liked it much better than sitting behind a desk. Around 10 the traffic in the shop picked up a bit and we had a steady flow of people right up until 1. I had some pretty entertaining folks that had no idea about skiing, including one girl from New Zealand who didn't know what the elastic portion at the bottom of your snow pants was for (she had it around her knees constricting all the blood flow to her feet).

Once we were released from work Kerry and I decided to go demo some equipment for the afternoon (which we can borrow for free because we work in the shop). I tried a pair of Atomic Seventh Heavens. They were a much different sort of ski than I normally use, but boy were they able to carve and charge through just about everything. I would certainly agree with this review from US Outdoor, they definitely gave me a big kick in the butt if I got into the backseat (leaning too far back for those who don't know) and got me right into the right form. I felt like just an afternoon on the skis made me realize all the bad habits having center-mounted twin tips have gotten me into. The weather was warm (about 45) and perfectly blue bird. The sky was the bluest I have ever seen, and the snow was like you would find it in mid-April. Towards the end of the afternoon I took my demos into some softened bumps on the side of the trail and they were super fun and made short turns a breeze.

Kerry taking a little break on the new trail that was opened. Notice the brown on the valley floor.

Perfect blue bird day.

Kerry and I, I have no idea how many of these we will have by the end of the season.
Notice my new mirrored goggle I was given on my first day of work!

After an afternoon of skiing Kerry suggested that we go to the Mangy Moose for a drink. This is a really cool pub at the base of the mountain that actually has a real stuffed moose that hangs from the ceiling. There was a family in their getting a post-skiing snack and I saw one of the kids point to the moose (that is attached to a sleigh) say "But mommy Santa is missing!" It was very cute. Since it was Pearl Harbor day we had Kamikaze shots (on special that day) and also got my first Corona ever! Our roommate Mike also came by as well once he got out of snowboard instructor training. After that we all took the bus home and I had a tasty dinner and relaxed on the couch. It was a very nice day.