Skiing 2014

I'm going to attempt to take one photo (or at least make an entry) for each day I ski this year. It's a great way to keep a record to reflect back on great times spent out in the cold.

Day 37: 4/2/14 Gash Point.  Warm, sunny, gorgeous day skinning up to the very top of Gash Point outside of Victor with Vince.  The snow was wet and heavy; skinning can be quite a workout.  I even triggered a very small slide of the point... point release but scary nonetheless.  A beautiful day in the Bitterroot.

Day 36: March 30th. Snowbowl, snowboarding, sunshine. Solo. No, that's not a typo, a repeat of last week.  I only snowboarded for about 2 hours, I was exhausted from life.  But it was nice to get out in the sun and enjoy the fact that winter is still on! It is still snowing. Snowbowl has a huge base.

Day 35: March 23rd. Snowbowl, snowboarding, sunshine. Solo.

The snow keeps coming!

Day 34: March 14th. Backcountry around Downing Mountain. The snow conditions were not amazing, but we went skiing anyways and it was really fun!

Izzy shreds.

Day 33: March 13th. Backcountry around Downing Mountain.  Definitely one of my favorite days of the season.  Phenomenal views. This is one of the reasons I live and why I love skiing.

Brett atop a scenic saddle looking south into the Bitterroot wilderness.

Day 32: March 8th: Tele Race finals! I wore a silly outfit. Really glad I did this league this year, excited to get a team together for next year.

Day 31: March 6th. Tele-race semi finals.  Getting better,  but I still suck at telemark.

Day 30: March 2nd.  Snowbowl.  1/2 day snowboarding by myself.  The weather was harsh, the skiing was great.  I had such a good time just cruising around by myself.  Felt really solid on the board today too.

Day 29: February 28th.  Snowbowl. Morning laps with Spencer in 14" of new snow. What a season this has been...

Day 28: February 27th. Snowbowl. Telemark race league. Powder tele races! I suck at tele racing! oh well.

Day 27: February 25th: Snowbowl and Mt. Sentinel with Colin.  WHAT A DAY! Probably one of my most favorite days at the Bowl ever. Bluebird skies, power everywhere. And I telemarked.. that was hard.  After teaching class, we skinned up and skied down Mt. Sentinel in town.  What a great Missoula day!

Day 26: February 23rd: Discovery with Heather, Jamey and Anna.  A great day at a new mountain for me.  Rode my old alpine skis. Loved the steep terrain and we had a great group to just lap double blacks all day.

Day 25:  February 22nd: Snowbowl with Heather Jones.  Boarded my booty off for 3 hours.. only could make the half day but the snow was great.

Day 24: February 20th: Snowbowl. Telemark race league! Powder turns at night! yeehooo

Day 23:  February 17th:  Snowbowl with Michael Moore.  Half day skiing on my teles while Michael boarded.  We did nonstop laps for 3 hours!

Day 22: February 16th. Snowbowl with Dallas and Thomas, visiting in from Seattle.  Good times with good friends, conditions were... eh.  But that's ok, we had fun. Rode my pow skis, probably shouldn't have.

Day 21: February 13th. Missoula Telemark Challenge! My first ever ski race, on telemarks.   Night skiing at the Bowl.  Glad I signed up for this.

Day 20: February 11th. Snowbowl.  Morning powder turns and blue skies with Jamey.  Nothing quite like powder turns before class.

Day 19: February 9th. Gash Point. SO MUCH SNOW.  Touring with Daniel. Only got the car stuck for 45 minutes. Not too shabby. Some of the best snow I've ever skied.  Came in cold, dry, and deeeeeeep.  Luckily a party ahead of us broke trail up to the top! We were both too tired to take another lap. It was a great day.

Day 18: February 8th.  Lost Trail Powder Mountain.  Powder. Lot's of it.  Glad I brought my pow skis today! Skied inbounds at Lost Trail with Anna, Melissa, Christina, and Larry. Tired.

Day 17:  February 1st. The G-spot, Lolo Pass, with Skander, Anna, Larry, and Paul.  Bottomless powder!! 5 laps of the G-spot, a generally safe place when avalanche conditions are considerable.  It. Was. Fantastic.

Day 16: January 31st, Snowbowl. POWDER DAY! Biggest powder day of the season.  Paul, my friend from Seattle was in town, so I rode with him, Lucas, Greg, and Evan (briefly).  Saw lots of people up there. It was a fantastic day! I snowboarded... the thick new snow was definitely challenging for me and I got a great workout.

Day 15: January 28th, Snowbowl.   Tele skiing with Emerson.  Sun, hard snow, frustrated with school... so I went skiing with a friend.

Day 14: January 21st.  Rattlesnake Cirque.
I took a week long hiatus from skiing because I was in Red Rocks climbing.  I returned to Missoula to very warm temps and sunny skies.  Spencer and I decided to go on a tour out in the Rattlesnake by taking the lift to the top of Snowbowl and skinning from there.  What a day!  Probably my most technical day of skinning.  I learned a lot (and swore a lot coming up the icy track back up to Point 6). What a gorgeous day!!

Our return involved skinning back across the valley towards Point 6 (prominent peak to the left)

We skied the chute off Murphy Peak in the center of this photo.

Day 13: January 12. Snowbowl.  Rode my huge powder skis all by myself. No one wanted to ski 10" of pow and others had to work. Suit yourselves, suckas.  Lavelle was closed again (3rd day in a row) so I hiked to the top. I should have brought my skins! It was a brutal walk through high speed winds, but the decent was so worth it.  Since the chair had been closed for days, there was a lot of untouched powder awaiting me.

Day 12: January 10th. Snowbowl.  First day back on my tele skis with Colin, Anne, and Matt.  So much new snow, but Lavelle chair closed because of high winds.  Had a lot of fun on the tele skis and was much better than last time I tried two years ago!

Day 11: January 8th.  Snowbowl. Snowboarding with Spencer, Michael, Maggie, and Lindsay.  A little bit of new snow and lots of freezing fog.  Still good to get out for a few hours.

Day 10: January 5th. The G-spot, Lolo Pass.
Best day so far this season. Lots of powder, blue skies, sunny, cold temps.  Skinned up and lapped the G-spot with Anna and Shefije. Great day.

Day 9: January 4th, Snowbowl.
Snowboarded with Claudine and her son. It was cold and there was fresh snow found in the West and East bowls.

Day 8: December 23rd, Snowbowl.
First day on the alpine skis for the season. Wow, more out of shape than I expected to be! Got a good workout skiing the heavy snow from top to bottom.  Skied with Matt, Spencer, and Spencer's friend Michael.  Warm, drippy, little visibility, still fun.

Day 7: December 21st.  Crystal Theater at Lolo Pass with Claudine and Greg.

There was about 7" of new snow on top of an ice crust.  The base is getting better, but we still need more snow to really shred through this stuff.  It was still great to get out and enjoy the snow with friends. Got a little practice digging my own snowpit today. Izzy had a blast and is doing better about getting out of the way of my skis!

Day 6:  December 20th.  Me, myself, and I at Snowbowl.  

No one wanted to go skiing today, mostly because of the "bad" conditions.  Whatever.  Life is short, go skiing, even if the conditions are bad.  I took my snowboard up to Snowbowl today by myself, got a playlist going, and lapped the upper chair for a couple hours.  I felt waaay better on my board today -- even did a few easy runs 'switch' (non-dominant foot leading).  The snow was soft and the edges of the runs were even a little powdery.  I had a blast. Once I got cold, I went home. Actually I went for a run with Izzy :). 

Day 5: December 18th. Skinning with Anna and Skander at Gash Point. Keyword: skinning. We didn't actually get to ski. But the effort, enthusiasm, and desire to ski was all there, just the snow wasn't.  Oh well, I'm counting it anyways. HA! 

Day 4:  December 8th, Snowbowl  Opening Day (snowboarding) with Christina and Jon. -12 degrees at the top and loved every minute!

Day 3: November 24th, Skinning to St. Mary's Peak with Anna and Skander

Day 2: November 20th, Skinning up to Carlton Ridge with Colin

Day 1:  November 9th, X-country at Lolo Pass with Colin 

Season's pass

I just want to take a minute and reflect on how much fun I've had skiing this past week.

I am glad I am that I have a pass this year!  I have been having a lot of fun this break going up to the Bowl really frequently.  I love skiing at the Bowl, shitty conditions or bluebird skies.  It's exactly a 30 minute drive from my house.  People love to hate on the Bowl.... and I can't really figure out why.  You minimize the driving, maximize the skiing, and still have time to run errands, go to the dog park, and the climbing gym.  I rode the chair with an enthusiastic lady today who said it pretty perfectly...

"You either love the Bowl or you hate it. And all those who hate it can just miss out and leave the rest for us."

It really amazes me how much people complain about bad conditions, or refuse to go skiing in "bad conditions."  Last time I checked, storms = snow.  So yeah, if you want to ski soft snow, your probably going to have to go skiing in a storm.

 I also want to recognize that in the past week I have snowboarded, toured, telemarked, and alpine skied. I am so grateful that I have the physical ability, money, friends, and time to be able to do this.  This time last year I wasn't sure I'd ever ski again.

Thanks to all who get out there with me; I look forward to the rest of the season and many more to come.