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I first came to Utah in 2000 with all 30 some members of my family and for at least a decade straight a group of us came every year so I for sure will always have massive rose colored glasses for Mormon adjacent skiing. I left Newark yesterday at 7am Est and was skiing at 1245 MST. They got 5 inches the night before and no one was home, so I ripped the big dog groomers where fun and low effort intersect. Keno, Tycoon, Naboob they have endless fast interesting medium pitch groomers served by endless high speed lifts. I had to be back at the airport to pick up family members but I racked up 17 runs of by far the best snow I've skied all year. We went Thai from in town and I ate mad Penang curry and passed out fat and happy. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It was supposed to snow like an inch overnight but we woke to it nuking and six inches on the ground. Massive, wet, PNW like flakes it was most definitely very un-Joseph Smith like. My brother and I were out the house early on a mission to get Steins untracked, we found 30% water, mariana trenching snow. It's kinda windy windy and the snow is coming down 2" an hr kinda hard so vis is negative ray Charles on the skate from the top of Wasatch. I can find it in my sleep but I almost end up down Powderhorn it's all just white. All my money is on finding the pines on the left before the first headwall. The wind is coming over the back and left side will be plump if I can find some vis. Left side trees show up right before my luck runs out and bam its on. Boot deep chunder turns, where the snow comes off in sheets. My brother who was 15ft behind me is who the fuck knows where, you still can't see shit but I'm not stopping. , Where it's normally hot to trot its all straight down the fall line and you can jump off everything........ Best run since I went to the pnw and I still can't see anyone out. Peeps did eventually show up but until 1pm or so we did nothing but untracked........... Easy right off Ontario bowl nobody home, all of lady Morgan except the green nobody home, pretty much anything in the woods nobody was home. My brother claimed best sleeper day since the Pow Mow days. It was the sloppiest snow I've ever seen in UT and it was so, so, so much fun. Dinner was low key Italian from the place at the St Regis top golf because we ate mad seafood at Rime for lunch. All of my pics look like the second one just white and trees but my brother got one of me later in the day so you know I'm not joshing.

Definitely a nice day with awesome visibility. Could see Philly and Manhattan.

Just finished up a quick 3 days at my favorite mountain Taos Ski Valley. This was the first time that we’ve gone as a family and I didn’t put my kids in ski school. Skied a bunch with the family which was a blast. It’s nice that my kids are good enough now to follow me around some fun terrain, and I got a kick out of showing my son the steeps in west basin which he had never hiked to before. The weather was warm and sunny all three days but the snow remained nice and chalky so everything was in play aside from some slopes that face south which are rarely good anyway. On day 2 my kids and I shared a lift ride with pro skier Connor Ryan (@sacredstoke) who I was familiar with from a fifty project episode and also “Spirit of the Peaks” Movie. Awesome friendly guy and we had a great conversation and shared our stoke for skiing. Highlights were skiing Kachina with my daughter and seeing bighorn sheep up top, and taking my son into Stauffenberg and St. Bernard in west basin which are some of the most legit steeps in North America. Wish I could stay longer but I’m blessed to get it in if even for just 3 days.

Drove up here Sunday. We had a little r@in on our arrival, then temperatures plummeted, with a light dusting of snow during the night. Monday at Sugarbush was less than stellar. Flat light and icy. Didn’t even bother with Castle Rock, as there were warnings all over of thin cover. Slide Brook Express Quad not running 🙁. Got about 6 inches of snow Monday night, then a sunny cold day. Conditions at Mt Ellen just about perfect. Looks like another sunny day on tap today. A picture of the sweet cabin I rented and some more pics of mountain

In Ferris Buehlerian style I postponed work and hit the road for a super exclusive xxxlub in the Skills. Somehow it's winder than Blue, like every trash can must be in the Hudson windy but the bright sun makes it warm. While technically snowing it's so light it evaporates as quickly as it appears. For an exclusive xxxxluub the lodge looks like the first class lounge at the Scranton Wilkes-Barre international Airport circa 1973.....which I kinda love. Appropriate for the greater Winkle area the upper mtn pod has been asleep foprp a bit and it's the lower quad and the sixer thatmnemonic goes to the other nipple top. The quad pod had 3 legit ways down all pretty much variations of lazy mile. While excellent look out the window skiing probably not the thrill your looking for. The sixer pod though was the star of the show with 9 or 10 legit ways down, all good smooth super grippy snow. A short shot called the wall held soft moguls but I thought the best was one called like maverick and wheelchair, trail maps don't concern me. Long razors like straight shots with nobody home I mostly ran those. Around 230 being the good worker I am, I decided it best to get to work and now I'm driving past the scenic lamington River. Super good day and worth checking out during the week, particularly if you have an ikon.

I'm seriously feeling the post Jackson Hole blues right now as I slump into my desk chair to stare at my computer for 8 hours and catch up on emails and work BS. After a few runs yesterday morning before heading to the airport, travel back was a breeze through ORD to PHL, and I rolled back into the kunk around midnight. After thinking about it the whole way home last night, I can say is that JH is a place that feels very different from anywhere else I have skied before. My two big takeaways are: The sheer consistency of the steepness across the mountain. I like the natural feel of the mountain. It is like skiing as Mother Nature designed it. My 4 days were the perfect intro and got a taste of everything there is to offer. Yea, the first day I was not feeling well and made a vomit deposit in the hobacks. On second day I felt like a weakling due to not eating at all the first day. Had some terrible vis days and some sun at times. A little sad about no pow other than an angry inch but oh well. Last run off the tram down a sunny Rendezvous bowl then ducking under the clouds to bottom before heading to the airport was a perfect way to wrap the trip up. Can not wait to get back. Thanks to the boys @GrilledSteezeSandwich @AtomicSkier @mute1080 @NMSKI for being fantastic guides and showing me around. Oh, and a word of advice... Never trust a fart...

Both flights were delayed about a half hour but both my bags and I made it on time. I planned on taking Uber to the hotel but from when I landed until I got my bag, it went from $35 to $85 for the trip to town. One of the no wait taxis outside did it for $40. Room was ready early so quick change and headed to redeem my Indy pass. Full view of Snow King from the hotel room so had to do it. Little bit of a struggle for the ticket agent but we were on the snow by 1245. Lines were non existent and I had the Gondy and quad to myself. I didn’t even know they had a backside but the Sun Bowl had the best snow and ended up there for half of almost two hours I got to check it out. Milder terrain on the back side and slower lift but some trees and ungroomed to play with. Got scooped by Atomic after SK and he even had a beverage waiting.

Hiked down and up Blue this morning....This is what I saw....

Rode this morning c1er in the house but he was too fast on rasins and I could never catch him. I pretty much went up to ski rasins, it looked primo from the lift yesterday and I hadn't ridden it at all. First chair I was alone and with no AS out front to give me a preview I stuck to 90% speed but about half way down I realized it was straight butter and let them go. It was so nice to open them up a bit and make endless plunging arcs in what was 9/10 razors. I rode that 4 or 5 times in a row but everyone else had the same idea and it got too crowded for speed runs. Lazy was most excellent, coming soon is exactly the same, ratty headwall but primo grip. Sadly the blew and were blowing on upper main so that was far more scrambley then the weekend but still smaller cookies so medium rippage. Not surprised but sad to see no action on switch or side, they were blowing the yellow fans, upper main and the first headwall on challenge. Maybe the biggest news I met the dude sleeping in his car. Eric from Maryland he stays at the AT lot as blue wouldn't let him live in theirs. Hyper stoked to ski blue, so much I had to re think my general bitching about all the dumb stuff they do. He was aware of our group and came up to me from my bright clothing but good dude with an interesting story.

Since the season at Blue is over decided to use our ikon passes and head up to VT with my son for the weekend. Forecast was looking rough but I’d rather ski in shitty weather than look at it out the window. Was sprinkling off and on during the morning but not bad enough to need our ponchos. It has snowed 4-7” overnight but then turned to rain so the fresh snow was heavy but there was a lot of untracked pow, especially in the trees . Skied mostly tree runs all day since they were such a a blast. Got WARM this afternoon when the sun came out and was classic spring skiing. Might have gotten a tan even. Run of the day was “sap line trees”, just a fun flowy shot through the trees off of the gate house lift. My son is a terrible influence on me. He eggs me on to do jumps and daring things and of course I do it. I think we’ll ski Killington tomorrow, maybe Pico.

Mimosas, sausage gravy, new sticks, scooter rides, 2x4 skis, birthday Boo, Obermeyer fits, meats, all the meats, tubing, Spanokopita, crème brûlée, friends. Fun day with fun people IMG_1061.MOV

Had a nice first day at Taos Ski Valley. Kids are in ski school for the next 3 days so I skied a bunch with my wife and kids today. Was nice and sunny and about 3-4 inches of new snow to start. Kachina peak lift opened around lunchtime and we decided it was time to take my son up there. He skied Main Street to Nastar Chute and handled it great. Since that went well I could see he was ready for another extreme steep, Castor. Skied a lot of trees and groomers and all in all a great day. Got lots of pics of my son. Need to get the little son of a bitch to take some of me next time.

Day 1 - Nakiska Up at usual time as back in PA, so no difference for me. Continental breakfast at the Comfort Inn included scrambled eggs, Canadian sausage, blueberry and chocolate muffins. Just over and hour drive out to Nakiska and the home of their Winter Olympics with the wind howling and 9 degrees. In the house was Slim, Drew, Gary, Gah skier George and George Jr. And old Blue Mountain groomer Danny in from Mt. Hood. Took it pretty easy on the first few runs to see what was what and check out the snow conditions, which was a few inches of fresh here and there with some hard pack around. Rode the lift with some Calgary natives who told us that we were lucky coming this week as the mountain was pretty barren just a week or so ago. They had just got about 12” last week which covered everything nicely. Lapped the Silver chair a few times and found some wind blow. By the tree line which made for some fun. It felt like home as there were racers everywhere! Got bored of the Silver chair and headed down to lap the Gold chair. The lift line had bumps galore, so we lapped that a few times. Decided to head to the Monster Glades and found ample stashes of powder in the trees. Broke early for a snack and since it was the first day and still had to drive to the house, grocery, beer and edible shopping. Peaced out around 2 and headed for the house in Canmore.

First day on a western trip so of course everyone was up way too early despite not getting nearly enough sleep the night before travel day. Pope was up from about 4am to 7 then managed about an hour more of sleep before breakfast. I was up from about 6 and stayed up. Not sure what time Homie woke up but he was awake on the living room sofa when I hit the head at 6. Took a look out the window and saw that there was about 3 inches of fresh snow covering all the chairs and tables down around the hot tub, a nice bonus. Breakfast in the room, we had ventured back out the night before for room provisions and a dispensary for Pops and Stephen. Stephen decided to make eggs and bacon and home fries for breakfast. Good, but much more than I typically eat that early, ski trip or no. While prepping all the gear for Day 1 the night before, gave Pops his lift ticket. Homie says “Oh yeah, where do I get my lift ticket?” Uhm, in the mail, at your house. Turns out he remembered that it did come and he even packed it — and then switched to a bigger bag, and left it in the other one. 🤦‍♂️Luckily he stopped by the ticket window first thing and they were able to cancel the old card and issue a new one. Didn’t even charge him $20. So with Pops feeling shitty enough that he wasn’t even coming on Friday night, we decided it would be smart to stay low on the mountain for the first day and ease into things. During the previous evenings excursions he was price comparing those Oxygen boost canisters. Funny enough, the mercantile at the WP base village was cheaper than Safeway so he popped in to get one. But it also got me thinking that renting an oxygen concentrator for him for the room could only help increase our chances for a successful week so I went ahead and ordered one for delivery this afternoon. At the base area there was a pretty decent corral for the gondola, but we bypassed it anyway and took the Gemini express over for a couple of short green runs to get the day started. Hopped on the Discovery double and skied down to the Prospector express. Made 6 runs off the Prospector hitting all the various green and blue groomers accessible over there, and mixed in a ride up the Looking Glass lift, first center pole no bar lift for us. It’s also a “passes over your head” after you disembark lift, thankfully no head injuries. After our trip up Looking Glass and down Mock Turtle, Pops was feeling alright to go a bit higher so we took a ride up the Olympia express so we could run Whistlestop to March Hare to White Rabbit. Where March Hare split to White Rabbit I elected to continue on March Hare while the others zagged to Rabbit. The bottom of March Hare ended up being a nice pitch, but short, filled with mild soft bumps so glad I was alone, but I enjoyed it. Took another ride up Olympia because I wanted to run Lonesome Whistle. Doodled in some super low pitch, wide spaced trees on the way down Hook Up to get to Lonesome Whistle. Very enjoyable run down Lonesome Whistle and it was about noon by this time, so we decided to grab a bite and get in to warm up. I knew exactly what I wanted to eat. The Bison chili at Sunspot. WP is having a promotion in Feb, they have 9 different spots that have chili on the menu around the mountain. If you eat 6 bowls you get a free celebratory beanie and sticker. (Also 25% off each bowl of participating.) As a big chili fan, challenge accepted. Where last years Jay Peak trip was the trip of poutine, this week will be a chili-fest. Took the Looking Glass up from where we were so we could ski down to the Explorer express. Went via the green Alan Phipps which was the most popular run of the day for Pops and Homie. Could really let them run down that trail and we all notched our fastest run of the day on it, for as much as the WP app can be trusted for that stuff. Explorer up to Sunspot and we went in for lunch around 12:25. Got my bison chili and it was quite good. Got my punch card to keep track of my bowls. Realized afterward that the cashier gave me my punch card and didn’t punch it. Now I have to eat 7 bowls of chili this week. Starting to seem unlikely. Spent about 45 minutes there and we decided we were about done for the day. I had been wanting to run Cranmer all day so I decided to take that to Larry Sale for a nice blue run down, and Stephen joined me until he took a wrong turn off Cranmer and went down Village Way instead of Larry Sale. Pops decided he wasn’t pushing any more and downloaded on the gondola. Overall a great first day. We put in 14 runs for 9300 vert, skied 10 miles. Got a bit of a late start with the side missions, and combined with staying low on easier slopes we didn’t get much use out of the fresh, but it made for a nice surface at least, and found a few small pockets to cover the tips in a few places. The fresh snow seemed a bit sticky, especially around the lift boarding areas, so Pops and I were looking to try to drop the skis off for a tune. But when I realized the only place in the village to do so was farther than I wanted to walk in my ski boots right then, we decided to just head back to the condo. We’ll drop them after skiing tomorrow Ended up just spending the rest of the afternoon and evening lazing around the condo. Didn’t even hit the hot tub today, though Its definitely on tap for tomorrow after skiing. Burgers and fries in the condo for dinner. NEXT - Ski day 2 or can you take me high enough?

Thursday night forecast was calling for 6-10 at Gore, drove through rain until it turned to snow just south of Lake George. Drove through some Star Wars snow on the way to the hill Friday morning, only about 3” fell but first few freshly coated groomers were sublime, Lies opened up mid morning and was mad technical navigating wales , rocks and bumps. Mild temps, falling snow, low crowds and watching kids from all over the world huck their meat in the World University games made for a great day! Pico ski’d awesome today, 7or so inches groomed in for some early morning western groometish screamers before lapping summit glades au natural until legs and snow got beat up. Heard crowds at K were krazy, we had another day of country club skiing. Christened the new skis with a nice gash but as @indiggio says, outta the box and into the rocks ! Magic tomorrow on Indy Pass

It was a good day at Elk. First ski day of the season for me and the closest I have got to Vermont since March. Freezing temperatures in the morning warmed up to 40s for a blue sunny day, but not too the point of too warm I don't think. Snow surface softened up nicely on most of the trails and was quite good except for a few heavily trafficked or shaded spots. Generally the trails got slicker again in the afternoon. There is still natural snow cover in the area. I am not sure what conditions will look like later this week with the temperatures, they may or may not be able to blow tonight yet. It was busy but lines were not bad at all especially after they started up the north double next to the quad to get all lifts spinning. Ski on north lifts, lodge side was a minute or two wait until after lunch. Excellent snow surface for telemark skiing and there were a half dozen other guys I spotted. I switched over to downhill at lunch to avoid the slicker spots later in the day and to rip some runs. Also I did leg day tuesday for the first time in a while which was not a forward thinking move. Tunkhannock - nice snow, icy patches, not quite bumped up yet but it was getting there Lackawanna - ungroomed, bare spots, was somewhat icy Seneca - ungroomec, bumps starting to appear, bare spots Wyalusing - very good shape Susquehanna - mint 👌 Slalom - good Delaware - narrow spots got icy but it was regroomed mid day from like 2:30-3:30 and was pretty nice afterword Tioga - slick, crowded 🎳 West slope - soft, nice condition Lower tunkhannock/spurs - good soft surface Wissahickon - crunchy but not too slick Lenape - good shape in morning becoming icy in afternoon Natural cover has been poached and there seems to have been attempts to make snow on the yet to be opened trails. Terrain parks are not open. The ticket printer by the north lifts is convenient even if you order on your phone while already there. Just make sure you get the email because there is nowhere else with your qr code unless you talk to guest services... Also it would be nice if you could ski back to the north side parking lot at closing time rather than taking the shuttle since patrol ropes it all off like half an hour before although I do understand they need to sweep it.

Got out in the cross country skis at Brainard Lake today. Coverage was horrible and I definitely scratched them. But they are over 15 years old and I had a good time. Skied the woods for the first mile dodging lots of rocks and branches. Then we popped out into the unplowed road. That was much more pleasant as we could actually glide. @AtomicSkier need to update 22/23 on the stats page please

Day 3 - Mammoth About a half inch of surprise snow overnight and lifts that spin at 830 and I was up and out early. Cold and up top it was hyper windy but super sun kept it from being uncomfortable. Mammoth is obviously gigantic with almost 30 lifts and 200 trails, like Sunday river it's mostly pods of 2k vert or so. As a big fan of weird lifts they have some great ones, 3 older fix grips, a two part gondy that you load in the lodge like a train station and my favorite chair 23, where it's so windy they built a hut to off load with directional tunnels depending on how you wish to unload. Where taos jams more steep on steep, Mammoth rolls over though it does have endless steeps and tech skiing. Personally I think CA skiing absolutely murders in the terrain, particularly playground terrain that is super playful tech but not actively trying to kill you at any moment and Mammoth has endless amounts of that. I went up 9 first to get the bit o fresh in the dragons back zone 2 which was good until you hit the wind scour and then it got spicy af. The groomers were perfection with low crowds and superb views. The gondy to the summit was on wind hold but I noticed they groomed a run down cornice bowl that looked like Kitzbuel. Chair 23 was absolutely rocking, the wind up top was blue like but I wanted to ski dropout chutes which are kinda famous that held decent chalky turns and the cornice groomer to st Anton. It was one of the best groomed runs ever, the steepness was perfect and it's the fastest I've gone on skis in forever. It was so good I ran it three times in a row at hyper speed Chair after chair, run after run of just perfect sunny groomers. Lower mtn I foolishly tried off trail and found deadly punch through crust that tried to send me to the shadow realm but everything else was mint and my God the scale of the place. You could ski here for a month and not get all the steeps lines. Reds Lake run, solitude, white bark bowl there were so many runs where you can absolutely fly but my favorite run in the whole place was rooster tail to dry creek. It was a steepish bowl of chalk to a choke with a monster rock wall backdrop. The line was perfect chocolate chip and once charted you could air between and over and come out the other side 1000% club super sex. The sheer amount of terrain and the amount of fun and creativity you can have is absurd. I don't know what it is but CA kills fun flowy super fast terrain and I did my best to ski as many and as much of the place as possible but I just scratched the surface. I don't think PASR does alot of golden state skiing but Mammoth is up there with the super resorts like Vail, Snowmass, etc etc where the scale alone is impressive.

The sun was bright ☀️. The snow was everything from boilerplate to pure slush. And a little bit of nice chalk in between. mountain reported 21” last week but the Cirque traverse was pretty rocky. Welcome to March sunshine. Great Scott was actually decent just the drop in was sketchy. Had a little late morning show as two guys had hiked up the peak and went into a (as I heard) a rarely open line called Pipeline. Winds were calm up top which I guess I can count as a win.

Every year we do a ski weekend for Mrs SnoBunSki’s birthday, so even though she’s still on the IRL for the rest of the season recovering from rotator cuff surgery, we headed North early Friday morning. First stop was a lunch break and a few runs at Magic Mountain. I’m trying to get a little value out of my mostly unused Indy Pass - I think I’m down to around 33 bucks a run lol - and check out the Black Line lift that is finally up and running. My second ride up I spotted the rope drop on Talisman and lapped that a few times, fun corn with a little walk across a grass patch to get back out. It was fuckin’ blue bird! Got back on the road to Lake Bomoseen, a beautiful evening to light a fire to watch the sunset while we waited for the other couple we were skiing with to arrive. Saturday we ski’d Killington, overcast and temps in the low thirties, conditions were rough with sugar piles and ice after the week’s rain. I ski’d tele all day as one of the other skiers was a beginner, it was fun social skiing putting new root combos together and I didnt feel like I was missing much with the conditions. I thought about hitting the Killington-Pico traverse and checked out the entrance, it wasn’t roped but didn’t look inviting either so will save it for another time. Mrs S made the best of her time The forecast had changed from rain/mix to snow and it started coming down hard during apres. Sunday morning woke up to a coating of slush but at Pico they had reported 9”. Got there at opening to 10” or so of thiiiiick snow. Tracked out the lower mountain solo while waiting for the summit lift to spin. The heavy snow was a lot of work, took a quick break followed by a few more down low then got word that the summit lift had opened. The snow was a little better up high, one of my favorite trails anywhere is Summit Glades and lapped that until my legs were cooked. The intermittent wet snow and sleet changed to full on nice snow after lunch. I went back out to do a few more summit runs with our friend but visibility was bad and I had no gas left in the tank so I ski’d right past the summit loading area to call it a day. Ended the trip with a nice dinner pit stop at Rip VanWinkle Brewing.

Hey All, I’m here in Jackson hole with Atomic Jeff and Mute, NMSki and Dirtwolf arrive on Thursday. Flight from Newark was at 10:09am EST and me and atomic Jeff arrived at the Jh airport at 12:46pm MST. Went to the 49er, rooms weren’t ready yet. Back to the airport and picked up Mute from his Chicago flight. Back to the 49er, Mutes room was ready and me and AJeffs not ready. We then went to the brewery for a late lunch and finally checked in. Gonna relax a little and then maybe have some supper. It’s super warm in town, upper 30s and not much snow. Looks like the mountain should ski well due to the 5-6 feet they’ve received the past two weeks. Also some snow shower activity. Not many pictures so far, the cloud ceiling was low so I didn’t take any pics from the sky.

02/24/2024 - Travel Rick, son and myself left the house @ 2am headed for Newark to meet up with Slim, Gary, Gah skier George & Jr. for flight @ 6am headed for Toronto, then bro Vancouver. Uneventful flight and even stayed awake for all of Oppenheimer. Good flick. Since we’re actually on an Upper Bucks tour, we had to wait around a bit for the tour bus to arrive. Typical Pacific Northwest weather: rain and fog. Drove through downtown Vancouver because there’s no highway around it. Brilliant! Drive up to Whistler provided some amazing views of the Howe Sound, with mountains knitting straight up out of the water. Unfortunately I was on the wrong side of the bus for pics. After a grocery stop in Squamish, we resumed the ride into Whistler and checked into The Listel Hotel. Some pretty nice digs right next to town square. Dinner was some slices from Dat Tony’s which were delicious, the sauce was crazy good! Recommended for the food, no place to sit though. It didn’t matter since we were starving. Walked around the square a little and stocked up on essentials from the cannabis and liquor stores. Some light snow was falling and supposed to continue through the night. Leaving Newark… Vancouver airport… Vancouver… Squalmish… Witch of something imprint on the mountain… Whistler…

100 out of 10.

Fun times today even though it was a little gray. The steeps were smooth and very nice. Tower 3 was so nice we had to do it twice. @AtomicSkierin paintbrush @AtomicSkierin Tower 3 @dirtwolf in stokeville Dropping in to stokeville hot dogging after a fun tower 3 run

January 25…Day 2 of 7 Hey All, I’m back from another fun day at Jackson hole mountain resort. We departed the 49er at 805am and arrived in the village lot at 825ish. Booted up, hit the head and walked up to the gondola. First civilian gondola and down Aphitheater which was flat light but at least not foggy like yesterday. Up Thunder and down Grand which was groomed and very nice. Up Sublette and down Bivoac, yesterday Bivvy was a mogul field and today it was groomed and really nice chalky powdery surface. Skied that to Rendevous trail back up Sublette and did ten sleep bowl to the cirque. Most of the cirque was bumps and a section had been groomed maybe two days ago, first few turns a little slick and better lower down then into some 3D snow in the gully below and back into amphitheater to Thunder. Up Thunder to another grand run to Sublette and another cirque back down to Thunder then another grand to Thunder and then Bivoac to Rendevous train to Rawlins bowl to lower Sublette ridge. Rawlins bowl was pretty nice some semi 3D snow then lower down was where it was above freezing yesterday and refrozen so challenging. I got real sweaty but survived. Up union pass lift over to teewinot, then up teewinot to apres vous down one of the herb routes on AV to teton lift then up teton lift to wide open, past the Casper chair over to the bottom of lower tram line. Mute said we skied just under 20k vert and 13 runs…We had lunch at Osteria, then picked up NMSki at JH airport. Dirtwolf arrives in a half hour or so. JADIP

I had a conference in St. John's Newfoundland and took some time to do some quick exploration in the area. Got in some really nice trail runs, some good hikes, good beer, etc. It was such a beautiful part of the country. Very cool place.

Today was super dope and once everything warmed up it got really good. Huge props to Ben for getting the skis signed and killing it on Razors. I despise the end of ski season, skiing as a lifestyle is my dream of dreams but we did take what was a very shitty weather season and make it tremendous fun. It was an honor and a pleasure.

went tubbin'

First off - everyone in the group was pinging (beacons) and had shovels/probes and back country training. I was least experienced of group. As beautiful as Cody Peak is it’s no joke back there. You can see slide debris in some of these pics and earlier today read a story about two guys from SLC who went out a gate during the storm Jan 28 and didn’t get rescued til almost midnight. https://www.jhnewsandguide.com/news/cops_courts/rescued-skier-no-excuse-for-bad-decisions/article_7a8c4bf6-793b-58e4-86ca-abdca9587f93.html Crew was hoping to go get a look at a line called Four Shadows (red circle) or perhaps No Shadows (yellow circle). So the exit gate is far right on a Rendevous Bowl so you need to stay on the high traverse which usually has a bunch of tracks. We hiked up to the purple circle area and decent wind gust hit us. Stayed there a few mins and after a few more gusts the group bailed on the Shadow lines and went for easier Powder 8s. Local intel all said not a good hike when the ridge line is windy. So just drop down into there and there is a well established boot pack. Below pic2 purple circle you can see slide debris fur early week. Boot pack was pretty set but still a few spots you could get hip deep into snow. (Pic red line) Moved pretty good through that. The final climb was not to bad but I don’t think I could have gone further that day. I try to take pics and just my luck another wind gust starts and blew snow all around making pics foggy looking. Snow here was best snow all week. It’s was tracked out for sure but still a lot of fun. I should have had done pics down in Rock Springs area just below but I guess that will have to wait for a future trip So be nice steep pitches and features to try down in there That area also waa very tracked but it was easy fo get back in bounds at Lower Hobacks. Total time was about 3 1/2 hrs Took a long break before final hike. Worth it? I think so, such a beautiful day and good snow out there. I don’t think I would ever consider going out there in poor viability or weather.

Day 3 - Lake Louis Left the house at 7:15am and arrived at Lake Louis around 8:15am, with light snow flurries the entire ride out. In the lot we saw a heli-ski helicopter circling. Unfortunately we didn’t hear anymore the entire day. Much colder today, with temps starting out in the low double digits. The mountain and those that surround it are truly magnificent. Pictures never do them justice. First runs were lapping the Jupiter lift as there were Ikon issues again, but they’re better here as a radio call got them fixed. A few inches fell, so the early groomed runs were soft and fast. Headed over to the Glacial Express and up the Top of the World Express to find some 6”-8” had fallen at the top that made for a nice, smooth run down Helen’s and Kernahan’s. Back up the TotW and the sun was out. Decided to try the bowls now while the sun is out as the forecast called for clouds to roll in. Dropped into backside via 1st Gate and down Rodney’s Ridge which while already pretty cut up, there were pockets still there for the taking. After breaking for lunch, headed up the Larch Express, eyeing up Tower 12 and the Lookout Chutes. Seeing cliff signs all the ride up, decided to do some recon via Bobcat to check things out. Having not seen any real cliffs, went back up and down Tower 12. Big mistake. Lots of rocks and thin snow made it a rough go and bailed to other areas. Spent the rest of the day lapping trees off TotW lift. Morning view… Random pics… Elk by the road on way to dinner…

Today was #1 or #1a on the list of deepest powder I’ve skied. Over the head a few times and all in the grill on most turns. Amazing.

1/25/23…Day 1 of 7 Hey All, I’m back from a fun first ski day at Jackson hole. I was up super early which I love cause I can just relax and catch up on the internet. Went to bagel place, got a toothbrush from the front desk cause I forgot mine and at 755am me and atomic Jeff loaded up the Giant Jeep and picked up Nazareth Jay at his hotel. Despite a semi late arrival we were second or third civilian gondola. Temperatures today were in the single digits rising into the teens at the base under cloudy skies with a few flakes initially becoming party sunny. First run down Amphitheater and so good best run of the season so far..2” of Perder on top of groomed…The thunder lift was down so we skied over to the Casper chair and took a run down Casper to black tail to Sundance to the base which was super good. I usually don’t ski that terrain so early in the day so was a real treat. Since Thunder was down we took the Tram to the peak to access Sublette terrain. We had a walk on Tram but it was a full one and very uncomfortable. The most contact I’ve had since my rubdown by security yesterday at Newark airport. Down Rendevous bowl which was ok conditions..semi solid giant bumps with a little fresh..first bumps of skied of the season to Rendevous trail to the Sublette chair and Jay and Atomic did Bivoac. R trail wasn’t skied off yet as it was before 10am. Up Sublette to ten sleep bowl to the cirque to amphitheater to thunder chair which was running. First time ever on the new Thunder high speed quad and you exit the lift sideways which is progressive, I guess because the unloading area is compact. Then cut over to below the expert chutes which was filled in and yielded some fresh to Nez Perce traverse, as I was crusing along moderate speed some goob turned right into my path uphill blind…then a few seconds later his buddy did the same thing and nearly collided with atomic Jeff..that’s a pretty dangerous move on their part and they’re lucky they didn’t get destroyed. Then back into Casper area up Casper and down wide open to the Teton lift then up Teton which was the busiest lift and the day with maybe a 1 minute liftline then down Crags run towards Apres vous which was super good so went back to Teton again and did crags run again then to the base of Apres vous and finished out under the top of the Apres vous lift to St. John’s to buck to the base. Nice lunch at Osteria, I had very good Bolognese and an Arnold Palmer. Today was a fun ski day, wasn’t really a pow day although we skied some pow but it was very pleasant. Right now Mute and Ryan are at snow king and NMSki is probably charming the front desk lady with his sparkling smile. I didn’t take many pictures but I’ll post what I took. Looks like the real snow arrives tomorrow afternoon through Saturday night. Probably about 15-18”+ total.

This has been one of the best ski days I've had in a while. Everything is on point and the crowds are low. . Sun is shining post storm. Awesome

Day 1 ---- Taos I don't remember when I first heard about Taos but it has always held a shangri-la like reputation so when I was going to roughly be in the area it was saddle up buckaroo. I found a cool place to stay that is basically an rv park where they've setup 60's airstreams and such, update the interior kinda plus it has next level views. I highly recommend it if you're in the area and dig that kinda thing. I woke up early and hit up Leonels for tamales, NM knows what's good but I thought they were delicious and was in the lot by 815. There were negative people around and I was getting all the good omens. The moon could just be seen right over Al's, not a cloud in the sky and two gigantic Crows were dicking around by the ski racks. It was in the 20s last night so shit was firm to start but the groomers had super nice grip and I ran the sunny blues off lifts 4 and 8. Shakalaka or whatever was just perfect set it and forget it super high speed with barely another soul on the trails. Around 10 or so I wanted to up the wager and went up Kachina. I had my eyes set on k3 but stayed up on the ridge too long and ended up in cabin chute which held surprisingly soft super nice steep jump turns with a slush bump apron. I ran main st which was better bumps but not as interesting and then k3 which held super nice buttery bumps. NM had told me about a secret dope bathroom and with the tamales in the chamber I checked it out and followed some patrolers into Hondos for lunch. I had the green chili burger and mussels both were dope and a much needed respite after 12k shenanigans. After lunch I tried to find some lines on west basin I had seen from lift 8. Like an old man getting into the bathtub kinda speed I walked and traversed my way out there twice, both times not to end up where I wanted but took two nice ramps of taters on a plate as consulation. I don't know what the names are, it may be called thunderbird but it's tight entrance called to me from the lift but I couldn't find it. By now my legs where telling me to fuck off hard just about every 10 turns so I ran Hunziker which was absolutely perfect spring super fast falling down the hill carving. I thought it appropriate to end the day on Al's and by the end it was a bit rough but you gotta pour one out for your homies. I cannot say enough good things about today, some places you ski and it's like a religious experience. Alta/Bird, JH, etc, you'll remember the way the turns made you feel your whole life. In my opinion Taos absolutely has to be on that list. Better groomers than DV no lie, I ran so many I don't know the name of with perfect snow almost alone and the steeps absolutely kick your ass. Sitting up top Kachina, behind you massive faces and ramps absolutely sparkling packed full of snow, looking out you can see as far as CO and it's like your on the top of the world. I could have sat there forever, I was fucking Ghandi on Valium.

02/28/2024 - Whistler Up at usual 0-dark thirty, went to look out the window at the forecasted deluge and wondering how we’re gonna stay dry until we got up to the snow line, much to my surprise when I opened the window to see easily 12” or more snow on top of everything and still puking snow. Definitely better than rain, but this is gonna be crazy. We debated going out and standing in the already long lines, not knowing if they were gonna start spinning on time or wait for the bull rush to subside. We decided to let the bull run and we’ll pick up seconds. With the way it was snowing, that wouldn’t be terrible. Out for a walk the lift lines snakes through the village nearly back to our hotel. Stopped for a breakfast sandwich and checked the lines on the way back to find them all but gone. All the alpine lifts weren’t running for obvious reasons and the 2 main gondolas were only serving to mid station, so it was up the Fitzsimmons and then ip the Garbanzo into a snowmageddon. Figuring visibility would be better a little lower, we headed down to Creekside through some of the deepest snow I’ve ever been in. Freshies were still available if you stayed next to the trees. Snow down low was already getting sticky and some needed to drop a layer, so we split up. We headed up the Creekside and then up Big Red. Amazingly people were coming down the lift line without abandon, but we knew what was lurking just beneath the new snow. Garbanzo lift seemed to be the sweet spot holding mostly nice snow and just a little sticky at its base, so we lapped it until we had enough. Not the longest of days, but definitely the most fun skiing through boot, knee, thigh deep snow. Dinner was feee nachos on the club.

Woke up at 5 to find it hat snowed 8-10....Shoveled driveway/walks/deck.....Road didn't look bad though....Don't get many chances to do non resort riding so I made my way to Pulpit Rock trail/road...Arrived around 8....Maybe 4 cars in the parking lot....About 30 with a brisk breeze...Absolutely fantastic skin up...Clouds broke for some blue sky.....The ride down was super floaty....At the bottom I put the skins back on and went around the reservoir and up the blue trail to the AT...Skinned back until it the trail had some pitch and was able to ride it back to the car ....Total distance 6.3 miles....Elevation gain 1385'....Somethin about earning your turns just feels good...One of the best days....

Really nice day up at Montage. Probably the most crowded I have ever seen the place but 75% of the people were on the learning hill. Lots of buses. I thought they started allowing uphill but it was just gapers trying to get off of the harder trails because they got lost. Long Haul was running and I rode that for the first time in my life since it was never open every other time that I have been there. Even thought the lifts there are slow, I can't really complain about the place. The snow was great and the trails are a lot of fun there. Nice to get back there and always a good time. 8.5/10 for a PA day.

Bluebird! Snow is excellent, chalk like on piste. Off is crusty. Excellent views today. Can see the north rim on the Grand canyon pretty clearly. Sunshine and groomers kinda day for sure. They do need snow though. Still fantastic... Demoing Nordica enforcers which I really like. May purchase after the season. Great day!!

Fun day today! Nice and warmed up after my first big mountain day of the year. Hobacks, bivouac woods and washakie were all a blast today. @AtomicSkierin the hobacks. @Dirtwolfin the hobacks. @mute1080 getting silly. Shots from Stokeville

...and that's a wrap on '22-23. Mrs S and I beat ourselves up on Skylarke and Superstar on two superstar days of mid/high sixties, sun and slush bumps!

Posted up at EWR. Plan is to drive to Flag tonight, ski tomorrow, Thurs and Fri, drive to Phoenix to drop off my kid and meet with friends for dinner Fri night. Snowbowl has gotten about 60 inches over the last few weeks. Looking like sun and over the next few days however. Should be fun.

First cat run was awesome. Some stuff was roped off so I just dropped in right before the rope. Gonna be a good day

Shocked at the under 9 pass! Looks like dad can get new skis now

We left right from work yesterday and made it to Manchester from the LV in 4:29. No issues but did miss an exit for a 3 minute delay. Motel back porch hot tub was a perfect 104° and jumped right in after the drive. Arrived right at 9 to Magic and grabbed our wicket passes. Ticket lady did ask if the person I was with was a “advanced skier” as it was very firm to start. I reassured her that yes she is and it can’t be worse than Blue Mountain. First two runs were firm but nothing crazy. Currently 46° but feels cooler. Groomers turned to corn after an hour and everything was soft by 11. No double blacks open but single diamonds are thin and spicy. Grabbing lunch at Black Line Tavern and heading back out for an afternoon session. @Boo Bearordered a loaded baked potato and I went with a burger. Killington tomorrow.

Fun day at Elk Mountain! Conditions were far from perfect but pretty damn good considering how this winter has been. Only a couple closed trails, and they were blowing on a couple. They had blown a couple inches into the bumps on Tunkhannock overnight and it skied great. Even in the afternoon it wasn’t too icy. Definitely some icy spots on some trails and a few skid marks, but that’s to be expected considering the weather lately. Run of the day was Tecumseh. Snow and grooming was NICE on that one. Chilling with a brewski now and going to dinner at my spot Dino and Francesco’s tonight. Nice little day with the family.

Day 1 cont. - Landed at DEN and pulled out my phone and checked on the rental car while taxiing to the gate. Was offered a couple of Kia Sportage 2WD options, a couple of minivans, a 2022 Mitsubishi Outlander and a 2023 GMC Acadia. Looked at the differences between the Outlander and the Acadia and decided to get the GMC, but when I went to reserve it it wasn't available anymore. Refreshed a bunch of times while heading to baggage claim and saw a bunch of options. Always the Kias amd minivans, and several different Outlanders. The most interesting one was a 2022 Ford Expedition that popped up on about half of the refreshes. About 2/3 of the times it showed up it said "Upgrade $33 per day" and the rest of the time it was a free upgrade. Was ready to take the 2022 Outlander with about 16k miles, did one last refresh and there was a 2023 Dodge Durango with 1195 miles so snagged that. Took awhile to get luggage because the ski carousel was jammed and they were bringing ski bags out on a cart 6-8 at a time. Finally got the ski bag amd headed to the Avis shuttle. Got to the lot, straight to the car and after a longer line than there should have been (Preferred exit closed) we were on the road to Winter Park. No traffic to speak of and got to Winter Park at about 2pm. Can't get I to the condo until 4 so decided to cruise past the resort and get the lay of the town and nearby Fraser. We were also hungry so decided to keep an eye out for the Mexican good joint that PSUFly recommended to me 6 or 7 times. Okay, it was only 3x, but I figured when someone mentions you should eat somewhere that many times, it probably doesn't suck.I couldn't remember the name but I knew that it was short and simple and I would know it when I saw it, something like The Shack or The Dump. We drove through Winter Park and through Fraser and down the road awhile more and weren't spotting it. Spun around and headed back and figured we'd look some more and eat somewhere in WP. On the way back I asked my sisters BF Stephen whonis with us where he rented skis from so we could pick them up while we were in town. He didn't remember the name. Uhm, okay. Can you look for an email? Can't find an email. Has a text message from them confirming pickup for 2/5 and a price. No name? No name. No address? No address. Google the number. No good hits. Called it and it was a computer. Driving back through Fraser and WP amd Stephen is in the backseat calling like 4 different ski rental jawns off "Winter Park Ski Rentals" and asking if they have a rental in his name for pickup today. Can't make this shit up. 🤣 Almost back through Winter Park and still haven't spotted The Hut or whatever so pull the car into a garage to figure out where to eat and where homie's rentals need to be picked up. Walking toward the shops there trying to decide between the brewpub and a couple other places. "Hey, we should go to The Ditch. Right across the damn street, lol. Walk up and get seated amd now have the difficult decision of deciding between all the delicious items on the menu. The burgers all sounded awesome, including the sliders on the app menu. But going to a place like that and getting a burger would be like going to a cheesesteak place in Philly and ordering a hot dog. (A brother in law did that.) So I got the Murphy which was their basic burrito (which is anything but basic) but also stuffed with a Chile relleno amd topped with French fries and cheese before being smothered in their red or green chili sauce, or Xmas style, both. Went Xmas style, natch. It was phenomenal, with the relleno being the star. Smashed the whole thing and probably would have eaten another relleno if one happened to be present. Great food and a great rec by Fly. At some point during the meal I started helping Stephen track down his skis. I figured if I made started making a dummy reservation amd it was the same price it could help. First place I went to asked for renters name amd DOB, put his info in and got "Welcome returning customer!" Mystery solved, lol. Picked up his rentals and headed back to the resort just in time to get into the room. Very happy with the room and location vs price paid. Good view from the balcony. We were all looking forward to hitting some good snow in the morning. First trip out west for Stephen. NEXT - ski day 1 or everybody get low low low low

Nice today. Lots of PASRs in the house and lots of new terrain to ski on. Snow was good but the trails were sorta off kilter with some divots here and there. First run on razors was nice. Other ROTD was Midway to lower main. Upper main was open but good depending on where you skied on it. Chute was also opened and decent. Free fall was also "multi leveled" so to speak (not sure how else to describe it) causing me to lose an edge and a ski at high speed. ..should've known better I guess than to go full throttle first run without seeing it first. Overall it was a really nice day with.good snow, comfortable temps and great company.

Few pics from Winter Park yesterday. stayed on the WP side since my friend wanted to demo some snowboards at the beacon bash tents. Parking was a nightmare, had to park in town and take the shuttle. Snow was great, all the crowds at the base, short lift lines, bluebird sunny skies. Traffic going home was pretty bad. Took me 3 hours when it should have taken 1 hr 45 min. Was able to get some practice in on some non committal bumps on the sides of the trail. Day not complete without spotting a microwave

Hey! What a great day! It felt like the first day back to school. Hearing about everyone’s summer adventures and milestones. In the AM, the crowd gathered by the quad. This was likely taken around 8:45am. The line wasn’t much longer than what’s shown in this pic. you can see Jeff + rando / 2nd and 3rd chair of more PASRs I was so impressed by how many runs were opened from top to bottom. But while riding up, it’s as expected. Quite bare. I loved Paradise. Later in the morning - Where coming soon & paradise meet - I ran into a gaggle of more PASRs and here are some of them skiing down. You can see Jeff, Mixil and others below. by the end of the day, the clouds opened up and parking lot cracked the inaugural beers of the skison

Did some nice hiking in Zion National Park today.