Nothing like spending all day in an Avalanche Path

Upper Owens

Exploring the Eastern Washington Cascades

Very cool !

Just trying to tick down the time til summer here in northern MN.

Those snow buggies look like fun/too much fun. Been working some more events. Had a NorAm ski board cross last week. It either like watching paint dry or sheer terror for brief moments. As cool as they are I’ll take alpine events all day long… Actually got to fly a bit and of course some exercise with the Mrs and the cattle dog.

A fun section of the course


Mt sunrise. Makes getting there early worth it.


A pretty big beaver condo..


Our road. My house is just past the 7th turn. Can’t see it through the trees.


Why are shadows so fun?


Kind of a cool little stream


Winter $100 hamburger (actually a grilled chicken sandwich) run to Raquette Lake with a friend. The cowl cover is a hand me down from a friend’s Stinson. It’s a bit big but the price was right and it’s red…


Pete

Just delivering Cheetos and Gatorade to the villages. I used to think I knew what "windy" meant.

2023.02.16.Willamette Pass

That’s a very special ski day Brian! Thanks for the pictures!

The ugliest winter on record here, i haven't even bothered to install the skis

8GCBC wrote:2023.02.16.Willamette Pass full air:

This is getting ridiculous...

That's pretty nasty Bryce. We had a lot of slush last winter but this year has been pretty solid.

Finally got some nice new cold snow after a spell:



Took the girls downhill skiing yesterday afternoon and it was epic. They are improving and were definitely due to experience a few inches of fresh snow. Everybody was over the moon. Then late last night the stomach flu hit to balance out any previous elation and get us back to status quo.

Saturday they had some friends over for some XC on the lake. 4 girls racing each other with no discernible form is a sight.



Pete, do you own/run a ski area or something?

brianm, that is the dream. Perfect day.

Doing a little winter airplane camping. Made sausage and potato soup.

3rd winter doing the snowbird thing in Arizona. Home in Surprise, hangar in Glendale Endless spring/summer.

OregonMaule wrote:3rd winter doing the snowbird thing in Arizona. Home in Surprise, hangar in Glendale Endless spring/summer. ..

Looks awesome, Rob!
Do you still own places in Madras & PC?

Zzz wrote:That's pretty nasty Bryce. We had a lot of slush last winter but this year has been pretty solid.

Finally got some nice new cold snow after a spell:

Took the girls downhill skiing yesterday afternoon and it was epic. They are improving and were definitely due to experience a few inches of fresh snow. Everybody was over the moon. Then late last night the stomach flu hit to balance out any previous elation and get us back to status quo.

Saturday they had some friends over for some XC on the lake. 4 girls racing each other with no discernible form is a sight.



Pete, do you own/run a ski area or something?


brianm, that is the dream. Perfect day.

Ha!

Thank god the answer is no. I have been in the ski business one way or another since the late 70's. Mostly rental/backshop stuff, but all over the Mt. We (My wife & I) owned a rental shop for almost 30 years and closed it two winters ago. I also had a pretty long stint as a alpine coach (8GCBC we can work on that technique!) and have "retired" into "part time" race crew , which I enjoy. Our ski area - Gore Mt. - is getting into the freeride/ski/board cross scene so we have been working those events a bunch the last few years in addition to our normal alpine stuff, setting net, course maintenance and check points. As with everything else there is a ton of behind the scenes work that goes into getting everything ready for a race/event that the public never sees. Our regular race hill takes 325+- rolls of B-net for example. My day job is owning a whitewater rafting/outfitting company in the Adirondacks. We have had that since 1991. I started guiding whitewater in 1981. That keeps me busy from April through October. The ski gig keeps me in the loop with the race program and buys avgas. It's great seeing your kids on skis, both alpine and cross country. It's a great life sport and some of our best family times have been on skis.

Pete

pburns wrote: It's great seeing your kids on skis, both alpine and cross country. It's a great life sport and some of our best family times have been on skis.

Pete

I agree. Skiing has given me some of my life’s best adventures and memories. I’m happy to be in a place with a real winter now, even if the terrain is pretty mellow. I hope the kids catch the bug and it’s not just a drag with family. I want to get them into our “D-Team” race program next season but I don’t want to push too hard and ruin the fun.

Another good thing to do in the winter to pass the time, (?!) is moving snow around. When the piles get higher than the Kubota blower can throw it (not here) it gets a little spooky. The worse is the stretch down to the hangar, if I don't keep that open, I don't/can't fly, but it's crossways to the wind so it drifts in big time. I have a permenant snow fence where my driveway has the same issue and it helps a lot, maybe next winter I'll put up a temp one. When on the chairlift with some townie who is raving about the latest big dump on the mountain, but doesn't have to get up close and personal with dealing with it like I do, I just keep my mouth shut. Worse comes to worse, I can sell out up here and move into a condo in town....., and then a week later probably go on a shooting spree, nah, I'll just deal with it up here! The tractor is pre-heating as I type.

Why would anyone live where they need a contraption like that?