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.