Between the storms

After a couple days of some incredibly good shallow powder skiing, we're in a bit of a lull between storms. Today the winds picked up and were gusting as high as 80 mph on the ridges.  A short sunrise photo session was over by 8:15, then Chris Doyle and I headed to Rubicon peak for a couple laps. It was blowing hard, but it was nice to be out exploring the coverage of the west shore backcountry. Upper elevations are stacked and lower elevations are thiiiiinnnn. Plenty of good skiing to be done, and several feet of snow in the forecast over the weekend.  Merry Christmas!!!!

3 days

Due to super high winds yesterday I didn't get out and ski, but the three days prior were fantastic. The snow was limited primarily to the highest elevations around the lake, but the places that got snow got a lot. Lets hope it keeps up...

Home again, home again

I spent the past couple weeks tripping around Thailand. Turns out that Thailand is one of the most enjoyable countries I've ever visited.  The people are nice, it seems safe everywhere you go, no one is trying to rip you off or steal from you and its beautiful. Did I mention the food? The food is incredible, and I ate Thai food 2 meals a day for 2 weeks straight.
We spent a few sweaty days in Bangkok while we worked through our ridiculous jet-lag. Then we headed north to Chiang Mai on the overnight train. We checked out the sights, then headed further north to the quiet mountain town of Chiang Dao.  While in Chiang Dao we checked out some caves and hiked to the summit of Thailand's third highest peak. Next, we headed to Koh Chang, a jungle island on the southeastern side of the country. We went snorkeling in the warm clear water and hiked through the jungle. We saw tarantulas, scorpions, cobras, and monkeys. Throughout our trip it was hot, oppressively hot, consistently the hottest and most humid weather I've experienced in years. I haven't sweat that much in a long time....
I was happy to return home to some additional snow coverage, but over the past couple days it got warm and began to rain, and rain, and rain. Instead of watching it rain all day I headed up to Mt. Rose to see if it was snowing up off the pass.  It was, and the skiing was pretty good.  It's still snowing up there, and raining by the lake, so I'm sure the fun will continue...

Hitting the road

After last weeks' freak early winter storm the weather has returned to seasonal norms.  The snow we enjoyed so much has mostly melted or turned to unconsolidated slop. A couple good days of XC skiing got me through until some of the lower elevation mountain bike trails melted out.  Today I headed out to Lloyds in Truckee and tomorrow we'll be riding on the south facing slopes above King's Beach. This might be a couple of the last rides of the year for me as Lynn and I are flying to Thailand on Thursday morning. Hopefully when I get back there'll be a little more snow covering the mountains.
That being said, it's kinda sad to put away my ride for the winter.  I just had the best mountain bike season of my life, and to be honest I wouldn't have minded if it lasted a little longer. My new bike had a lot to do with my enjoyment of riding this summer.  It was exactly what I needed during my knee recovery to get me excited and keep me excited about riding all spring, summer, and fall.  Thanks bike, I'll see you in 7 months or so...

Powtober 2012

After one of the longest and driest summers that I can remember we experienced a classic "summer today, winter tomorrow" situation.  Last Monday it started snowing and it didn't really stop for 3 days. We got 12-18 inches at lake level and three feet up on the crest. I'd been enjoying one of the best mountain bike seasons of my life, and quite honestly, I was hoping for a little rain to keep the good times rolling. Mother Nature had some different plans.
A wiser man than me once said, "When there is snow, you go skiing.". So go skiing we did. On Monday we did a XC ski through the peaking fall colors in Paige Meadows.  The bright orange Aspen leaves stood out in stark contrast to the raging winter storm going on. On Tuesday I found myself compelled to test out my reconstructed knee. I drove up the street to the backside of Alpine and Lynn and I hiked a couple laps on South Face. I was extremely tentative dropping in for my first run. Thin cover and variable wind-blown powder snow wasn't my planned first run in almost a year, but I couldn't help myself. Skiing slow and in the backseat, to try and keep my tips up, I made a couple runs and called it a day to save some energy for the days to come.
It continued snowing and I teamed up with Dave Rosenbarger and Oscar Havens on Wednesday and Thursday for some early season powder skiing that was some of the best I've ever done in October. My knee felt better with every run. The anxiety that I had about whether or not I'd be ready to ski again melted away with every face shot. I shot a little POV video, the skiing has been really really good!