Skiing Trapper Peak

EGGS!

Easter was a blast. Olin managed to get in 3 easter egg hunts. The first was what seems to be becoming a typical Missoula fiasco. Like the University of Montana 2008 egg hunt, adults were pretty much pushing kids out of the way to get the eggs and Olin was for the second Easter in a row disappointed with humanity (for another opinion see: http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2009/04/17/letters/fri/fri98.txt). Fortunately, the adults at our house and at Chris And Mary Dombrowski's house were better behaved so Olin managed to experience the joy of finding those colorful little eggs stuffed with tasty little treats.

Ben Gordon is the MAN!

We caretook at the Ben Gordon Cabin the last Tuesday evening/Wednesday morning of march. It had been storming big time at Lost Trail and Chief Josseph Passes. So much that we couldn't get into the trailhead parking lot because it hadn't been plowed. After driving down to the LT ski area parking lot braving that unplowed parking lot I managed to get cell phone coverage on the front deck of the ski lodge. The Bitterroot Nordic Ski Club guy was surprised the lot hadn't been plowed. He said that had never happened before. He suggested parking on the side of the road but thought my suggestion of pulling a bit into the western exit side might work better. So that's what we did. The ski in was stormy. Olin was bundled in the Chariot and both Kristie and I had massive packs. Olin really enjoyed the cabin and the storminess tapered to snow showers by the time we had dinner shortly after arriving. We had a great ski in the morning on Panorama loop and we made it out to find the parking lot completely plowed with our car sitting perfectly in the middle of the exit road adjacent to the highway with no digging required until I high centered the car on the 8 inches of plowder left in front of the car. Made it to work by 2:00.

Did I mention Utah?

Before spring gets underway, I want to set Thursday February 18th, 2009 as the second best day of skiing I've had at Alta. Fantastic powder was had off the Baldy Shoulder and the castle Apron hiing ALL the way out as some locals advised. It was the first full on bluebird day after a series of storms. The Baldy Shoulder and the Apron held knee to thigh deep powder and my timing couldn't have been better. I had intended on taking more pics over the course of the day but the skiing was just so good I never was able to stop myself for long enough! After draggin myself back to the car at the end of the day I snapped this shot. There were a couple tracks off Mt. Superior which were impressive.