The winter storm that wasn't

Stupid weather

K-mart forecast: 8-12"


Actual: 3" of raincrust with intermittent rain


I'm SO DONE with the rain, at least if its going to be warm let it be nice enough to play golf

The 2006 Christmas Pageant

Starring Ethan as the rooster

we've never had a rooster in the pageant, but it was either a rooster costume or a skunk

I think we made the right choice, and we'll be all set if we want to put on a reenactment of Peters denial of Jesus on Good Friday ;-)

Killington 12/17

I'm through complaining about the weather, so I'm going to continue in a more positive frame of mind for the rest of the season which is sure to be SWEET, cause it just don't get any better then what I skied today at K-mart!

Its not a ribbon of death, its an opportunity to practice close quarter skiing with 500 of your closest pals

December 17th, and there's only 3 months left until golf season!

If you commit to it you can totally ski 1/3 of Superstar and I bet the ribbon on the right hand side of Ovation is sick powder for those willing to hike for it

To look on the bright side, at least 1/2 the trails are borderline skiable

And look there's always the magic carpet area for the kiddies

In this case I don't even LIKE skiing Ramshead so I'm GLAD there's no snow over there

Kristen Graduates!!

Congratulations to Kristen! She graduated today with a Masters Degree in Education! She's so smart!

Ethan trains

I've had my old wooden train set in the closet waiting for just the moment to bring it out for Ethan, its now become his favorite new toy, "choo-choo" :-)

Tree's Round 3

oy

last round with the trees already!

trying to find lights that will work to go on Mor Mor and Grandpa's tree

Ethan appears rather confused at having to decorate yet another tree :=)

back with a full report tonight

Mount Snow 12/10/06

After church I decided to make the hour and change drive over to Mount Snow to make some late afternoon laps. Snow was good if nothing spectacular, its going to get really interesting next week as we hit yet another warm spell. Had a lot of fun testing out my home bent fat skis. It really wasn't ideal conditions so I won't post a full review but I was plesantly surprised at their versatility.

And as an added bonus to an already great day the Cowboys got spanked at home. Take that Parcells!

Decorating the Christmas Tree 2006

Well after the Church tree fiasco, ever try putting a 15 foot tree into a stand that was designed to hold a 10 footer? My suggestion is not to try it :-). We finally decorated our tree last night. All the really breakable ornaments made the executive decision to stay in their boxes for the year, but we did find some really cool Cars ornaments at the Disney store so Ethan was really excited to put them on the tree. It finally is starting to feel like Christmas around here with the temperatures dropping and the trees decorated.

The Royal Shaft Poles

Well , after four and a half years of abuse my leki triggerlocks finally gave up the ghost last weekend. So with High Adventure having Royal Shaft poles at close to 50% off it was time to at least try a composite pole. Granted I'm not a huge fan of composites given that aluminum poles are generally more durable and I tend to be hard on my gear, but Royal Shaft poles have a lifetime guaruntee and at 50% off who can argue?Royal Shaft puts a different design on their poles for the fashion conciencious. I went with Pengiuns.(why penguins you ask? Why not)


One of the coolest features is the "easy in" strap. Its a piece of velcro that allows you to slip your hands in the pole without fighting with the strap. Given that I was coming from the leki trigger system which is REALLY easy to get in and out off, I appreaciate this feature. For those of you who ask "why is it important" I'll answer by saying that I'm NOT waiting for you on a powder day.

web www.theroyalshaft.com

Winter Snow

Well it looks like it FINALLY snowed up in Vermont last night. I'm hearing reports of 2" on the ground at the base area at Killington. Jay Peak is reporting 10 inches in the past 24 and 14" in the past 48 so that should be like 4-6" in real terms. Can you tell that the East Coast is snow starved? We're getting excited over 4". We seem to be getting back to NORMAL EC temperatures with the weather report stating that its 10 degrees as I type this, which means that its without a doubt in the single digits anywhere at elevation. Anyway I'm probably not going to be able to get out and ski this weekend due to commitments but here's hoping that it keeps coming.

We've got a tree!

Well, we just picked out this years edition of the family tree. I think we did a nice job. Lights went on tonight and we're going to give it the full decorative treatment tomorrow!

How core are you? A Killington TR

Friday AM: After reading the grim reports coming out of Killington the past week I log on to find that they had suspended operations for Friday and Saturday, bummed but still determined to make something of the weekend I cobble together a group of determined and slightly demented souls who agree to a hike to patch session.

Friday PM: Lying in bed I listen to the rain POUND down upon my house in Troy as the wind howls and the thermometer reads temperatures that are more fitting for May then December.

Saturday Early AM: The temperature still reads a balmy 41 degrees at 6:15 when I point the car north towards Killington, hoping that there will at least be patches left after the deluge.

Saturday 8:30 AM: I roll into the K-1 parking lot and the scene can only be described as eerie, there are ambassadors, lift attendants, mountain ops, and parking crews, but there are NO cars, no skiers, and very little in the way of snow.

I park the car and begin to scout the scene. There appears to be very little left in terms of snowpack, and what is left has turned to the worst coral reef I’ve ever seen, the best patches appear to be beyond bulletproof ice, and where it isn’t pockmarked by frozen death cookies mountain ops has run grooming machines up and down in an attempt to save the snowpack by compressing it. Despite the grim reports there are sounds of snow guns firing and my spirits are lifted by the arrival of Tyrolean, Helmet Cam and knuckledragger. Tree Rat and Mtn Man apparently had a fantastic night on the access road and were running late, so our party began its ascent up to the glades area, contemplating our sanity the whole way.

However, despite the lack of snow, we did remember our Avalanche bacon which would be crucial if a wet slab came down.

After about an hour of hiking we arrived at the base of the glades triple to find a glorious banquet of wet snow guns, exposed rocks, bumps, snowcat tank tread ruts, mud, and death cookies, all in various states of freezing.

I gamely push on towards what must be better snow up top, but my accent is slowed by the incessant blasting of semi frozen water droplets, I make it half way up and I’m frozen solid so I decide to attack the recently cut power line trail figuring that way I’ll be out of the guns for a bit. That was a poor choice as well as the rain has created pits of mud where I sink up to my knees. My F1’s change from a bright neon green to a muddy shade of brown and I begin to question whether I am in fact going mad from the lack of snow. A brief respite is offered by a concrete platform and I stop to remove my soft-shell, which has now gained at least 4 pounds of water weight and it was at this point that a frozen Clif bar and a bottle of orange Gatorade become a welcome diversion from the misery and suffering that this excursion has become. I’m alone, the wind is howling, and despite my down pullover I’m beginning to get cold as everything I’m wearing is CAKED in ice, and the only sane route down is back through the gauntlet of snow guns. I pick up my now frozen shell, throw it back on and cut through the trees towards the snow where I am met by the rest of the party who had climbed through the guns. Our sprits are surprisingly high, until I discover that somehow my leashes have snapped, which makes getting into my dynafits somewhat of a chore, given the fact that there is NOTHING that’s going to stop my ski from rocketing all the way down to the glades chairlift almost 600 feet below me. All that living room practice with the dynafits is no match for actually trying to put them on while on an icy incline and the first few tries are unsuccessful, but I finally manage to step into both skis. The turns down aren’t much to write home about but I couldn’t get over just how much edge control I had with the dynafits and F1’s, it’s a really cool combination and wasn’t nearly the underpowered slipper I thought it would be, there was plenty enough power to drive my TM:X’s though some of the worst conditions I’ve ever had the pleasure of skiing. As the crew made its way down to the chair Mtn Man, Treerat and Indy the wonder dog made their appearance on the scene. Everyone else had had enough of the conditions but I figured one more lap wouldn’t kill me(must’ve been the dynafits talking). So up we went again. Second lap was a great improvement in the downhill department, I figure it was the combination of having more confidence in the setup and having a better idea of where the “mildly ski-able” sections were. We found a nice 50’ patch of wet glop at the very bottom of Rime and decided to lap it a couple of times seeing as how it about the only spot where you could link continuous turns all the way from top to bottom.

By that point we were soaked, and whatever wasn’t soaked was encased in 2” of ice. I was really dreading the hike back down but we were in luck. While we were playing, the guns on lower great northern had been piling up the snow, so while it was only truly sketchy in a couple of spots, we managed to make a full on ski descent from the Glades Chair to the parking lot.

I graciously accepted the offer of the use of the Basher house to get cleaned up before heading to the Long Trail Brewery for well deserved beers.

Sunday AM: After getting a late(8:15 is late for me) start due to the fabulous K-Zone wine party the previous evening, I arrive at the Gondi to find things back to normal, cars in the lot, people everywhere and guns firing all day long. Big props to the Mtn Ops crew, I couldn’t believe the turn around in just 24 hours. Anyway, a great day skiing with the rest of the crew, nothing really special, just your average early season lift serve day at Killington, but given the recent conditions its nice to just have one of those. Hopefully we’ve got this weather thing turned around and it’s gonna be face shots all year long.

Lowa Struktura Mods

Given that I just purchased some Dynafits and F1's it was time to make my strukturas a little more burly. Material cost was < $20 and wasn't labor intensive at all. The hardest part was drilling holes for the front plate and then screwing the plate onto the boot.
Added rear spoiler from an old pair of Salomon Evolution2 boots. This has made a huge difference in how the boots ski, its almost impossible to get backseat now and the amount of play fore and aft wise has been drasticly reduced. However this mod doesn't seem to hamper the walk function in a noticible way.
Front spoiler/plate extends above the orange shell and is secured in by two screws which can be seen to the left of the top buckle. This was the hardest part of the modification, as it was difficult to mark and drill because the plate was designed for a alpine boot style tounge and not an AT boot. Before there was 1-2 inches of slop before my shin actually got the boot to flex, that has been replaced, now when I flex the boot I immediately get resistance. It doesn't make the boot any stiffer, but it has become much more responsive to my input.

Full frontal view, as you can see the plate now extends above the booster strap making the cuff a few inches higher.

Ethan and Daddy make lasagna

I had to make my world famous lasagna for the Italian fest this weekend and I got a big helping hand from Ethan!

Ethan adding meat to the pan

Now for the sauce

I figured I could take off now and Ethan could handle the re

Stowe 10/28-10/29

Saturday 10/28

Alarm clock doesn't even go off and I'm up at 3 am and racing towards an already packed car. It’s been raining since one; I know this because I couldn't sleep. The weather forecasts race in my mind, will it stay cold enough to hold the snowpack, and am I driving 4 hours in the dark to meet a hill covered in mud. Through the early morning I race, all the time splitting my attention between the road and my dashboard, where the external temperature is displayed. I watch as it slowly creeps downward, 47 degrees in Troy, 44 in Bennington at 4 am, dropping to 42 while passing Manchester at 4:30. I hit 40 in Rutland, still not cold enough for snow. The time of day further complicates matters as I’d decided to skip the winding of route 100 in favor of route 7 however I’m having difficulty remembering the directions (which are sitting on my printer at home). I finally spot my turn and proceed east towards Mad River Glen when I hit an unexpected snag; Lincoln Gap road which would connect me from 7 to 100 is closed, leaving me with Route 17 which winds over the mountains from Starksboro to Irasville. I’ve driven that route before in dry conditions but never in a pounding rainstorm, with gusts of wind that are driving my car from yellow paint to shoulder. I grit my teeth and gun the accelerator towards my destiny. As I reach the gap, I notice with trepidation the temperature dropping and the rain changing over to snow; branches litter the road which has been draped with a thin sheen of ice that glares back at my headlights. I ascend through the maze of hairpin turns without incident and begin my decent towards the base of Mad River Glen. Feeling a sense of relief and wonderment at the snow, I let my guard down to peak out at the winter wonderland, the car gets away from me on a downhill turn and slides towards the guardrail, I quickly regain control and avert a disaster. Cursing my carelessness and stupidity I continue the crawl to the base of MRG. Even in the predawn light I can see that the trails are swathed in white. But enough about the drive, on to Stowe and Mansfield!

I arrive in Stowe at dawn, or what would be dawn if it wasn’t raining so hard. Pulling into the parking lot I’m greeted by a mix of sleet and rain, but there is SNOW!!!!

I grab the coveted parking spot next to the Midmountain lodge, gear up and begin my slog up Liftline. By now the sleet has turned to rain, and the wind has kicked up to a steady 20 mph, if you want to simulate hiking up Mansfield, put your ski gear on jump in your shower turn the cold water on high, and have a powerful fan blow the water into your face. But despite the conditions I’m in great sprits the snow is deep, the coverage is fabulous and I’m going to get to ski.


As I get higher and higher up it begins getting colder, and the rain is turning to ice pellets that are stinging any skin they can find. Even more bothersome is the wind. I begin to find myself wallowing up to my knees in snow drifts and decide to switch from bootpacking to skinning. During the switchover I begin to notice that after an hour of ascending in a downpour the rain has finally beaten back the defenses of my Gore-Tex shells. Even the “dry” layers I’d had in my pack are soaked with rain. I’m making better time with skins on and feel I must be nearing the summit so I push gamely on but it’s a fool’s errand, after another hour of climbing and only a few hundred vertical feet before the summit, I succumb to the elements and my general misery, and realize that tomorrow is another day. At the top of Liftline and National, I strip my skins and my wet layers, buckle the boots, step into my skis and drop in. I really wasn’t hoping for much, it was after all October, and the rain and wind had taken their toll on my moral. My expectation was to make it to the bottom without injuring myself; instead I was treated to some sublimely good turns.

The rain and wind had buffed the snow from a maze of uneven refrozen junk, into smooth creamy goodness. I was amazed at the quality of the snow which just gave way to my every sweeping turn. Despite the heaviness in my legs; I was able to link turns pretty much at will, only stopping to rest or to negotiate a water bar or other obstacle. But all good things must come to an end, and unfortunately I ran out of vertical. Too tired and soaked to hike back for seconds I savor the turns for a moment, then, wanting to get warm and dry, I walk the 500 feet back to the car, strip my clothes and begin to see my plan of skiing tomorrow go up in smoke, or more to the point, be soaked.

I had planned on spending the night in our new Freestyle (huge upgrade from the Escape in terms of living space for car camping), I’d brought a warm sleeping bag and a crash pad to sleep on, and there was plenty of space, but I’d come to the realization that there was no way I was going to get anything dry in the car. Looking out the window at the rain pouring down, I glumly decide to drive around town and head home. While on the road however, an inspiration strikes me, if I could find somewhere with a dryer, I’d be all set. Lucky for me with the aid of my GPS’s points of interest function, a Laundromat was found. A mere 4 dryer cycles later and my gear is good to go (I even had to throw my pack in the dryer). Dinner is found and I retire to my lodging for the night and am lulled to sleep by the soft lullaby of 30 mph winds, the soothing sound of ice pellets being hammered into my windows, and the gentle rocking of my car in the 50 mph wind gusts.

Sunday 10/29/06

I awake to the sounds of, well nothing actually. I roll out of the car to a light snowfall which appears to be valiantly trying to stick to the ground. Temperatures, which had been dropping all night, appear to have finally leveled out at 30 degrees. I get dressed and head over to spruce peak where I found a vantage point to study my options. I feel that due to the wind and terrain, the lookers left of the mountain would seem to be the better spot. I should be able to find lower angle terrain which has the double bonus of being physically easier to skin and its more wind protected. So this time I take the longer walk in, and find a route to skin up, the skin is leisurely, I’m tired from yesterday and owing to the absence of rain I don’t feel the need to rush. The snow is starting to accumulate and there’s a lot of drifting snow if you find the right spots. I’m aware of the strong winds, but it seems a minor annoyance until I reach the ridge that leads to the summit. I am then treated to a blast of what must have been 50-60 mph; the wind is ripping along, picking up snow and hurling it at me and the gusts leave me no choice but to lean over my poles, set my edges and wait it out. My skinning strategy changes from holding the highest angle I possibly can to finding islands of safety where I could get out of the wind. I had been moving at a fairly good clip as well climbing @ 1100 feet o f elevation in a little over an hour, but once over that ridgeline my pace slowed to a crawl. Again I was determined to push on to the summit, but the mountain kept sending attacks of brutal wind to thwart my progress and I was beginning to see my rest times increase while my forward progress decreased.

So once again I quit on the summit push and clicked in to find some of the best turns I’ve had in a long time. The snow was nowhere near as consistent as the yesterday, hard scratchy crust from where the wind had scoured the snowpack, to soft silky graupel in the spots where the wind had deposited snow. This was the day to let the skis run, and run they did, drawing the lines in a giant game of connect the dots, moving from one dot of windblown to the next patch, all connecting to form a picture of a great run. Once again I found myself at the bottom too soon and out of turns and time, for it was time to head home to the land of jobs and responsibilities and all of the other crap that keeps us from days like these. October skiing like this is such a rarity on the east coast, and even tonight as I write this its hard for me to believe that the last two days were even possible, but, every once in a while, an experience like the last two days will make believers of us all, and maybe, that’s just enough.

Ethan goes to the Wiggles!

The Wiggles at the Chevrolet Theater in Wallingford CT

As we all know Ethan LOVES the Wiggles

Ethan was really excited to meet Murry and give him a rose for Dorthy the Dinosaur

We had great seats right next to the "partial view" section which ment that Ethan could stand in the aisle and dance or walk up to the front of the stage if he wanted to