Spring Break Wrap

The final day of this blissful, school-free week is approaching all too quickly, and as I sit here, back home, it must be said that it was indeed a rad break. Since the last update, we traveled from Revelstoke to Kicking Horse. We spent three nights outside of golden, bc in a little b&b sorta place, and skied two days at the horse.

The snow left quite a bit to be desired, with the majority of this skiing done on bulletproof big icy bumps. We did get a small dusting of white that made it a bit softer but still, not so good. Despite the sub-prime snowpack, and often cloudy flat light weather, we did get some really spectacular skiing done. For a good handful of runs, the clouds parted and gave us some really stunning views of the surrounding mountains. the vertical here is truly remarkable.

As of yet, I'm not super psyched to go back to the resorts, not without serious snow fall action. But I really want to do a hut ski trip, or a tour, that would be sweet beyond imagination.



In other news. went for another ride on the devil today. 2nd outing, but first real ride. I may have to officially proclaim myself as a member of the 29er bandwagon. All of the problems that people on mtbr argue about... nada. in fact, this bike seems to have increased my technical riding skills by several times.

Take for example a particular section of trail up in the hills. Its not really that tough, and most riders would probably scoff at my hesitation (Some i know for a fact ride it on 26ers without blinking but still...), but I have never successfully cleaned this bit. in fact, I haven't tried to since I buried my front wheel into a rock and went sprawling over the bars sometime last summer.
Today though, there was no problem. all the way through, no dabs or anything. so easy to just float over the rocks. way sweet.

Of Canadian Mountains, Good Skiing, and Slightly Squashed Grizzly Bears

Hello from Revelstoke!

So, for our spring break trip this year, we came to Revelstoke British Columbia for a week of skiing in the Canadian rockies. Yesterday was a long travel day, something like 13 hours of flying and driving. DIA to Calgary, and then a 4 hour drive to Revelstoke.




The town its self is kinda lame. the surrounding mountains are sick no doubt, but the town, lies somewhere in between 1970's era leadville, durango, and craig. lots and lots of redneck sled-heads. maybe more snowmobiles than any other place ever. not to mention the fact that the guy behind us at dinner was wearing a shirt "help i've fallen and i cant find my sled." sweet.



The ski area is very nice. incredibly different from colorado. there's huge vertical relief here. the resort only has two lifts, but more than twice the vertical of loveland. the mountains are just huge. also, it's the first year of operation so everything is brand spanking new. no old funky lodges or lifts. just shiny wood and stainless steel.





on another note, canadians are incredibly scary skiers. asides from a group of fairly core locals, the majority of folks here are goofy-talking, hockey-jersey-wearing, out of control skiers. not the coolest people to ski with, but what ever.

way too much stuff to do, and not nearly enough time!
The family and I are headed to Revelstoke, BC tomorrow morning for a week of skiing. and here's a quick update on whats been going on. More when I get back.

NEW BIKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!



So despite it being slightly traitorious to my black death roots, I opted to race for Van Dessel cycles for the season. Got a sweet deal on the bike, and it just showed up yesterday. May I introduce to you, the newest addition to my stable, The Jersey devil.




Twenty nine inches of beautiful green bicycle. Alu frame with carbon seat stays. xt build, ritchey wcs, american classic wheels, wb magic 110 fork. and it is wonderful.

To christen the beast, went for an epic (ride) with some of the junior crew on a route that was definitely not ridable, and probably wont be for another month or so. after a while of climbing pavement, we ended up on a (road) completely covered in snow.

So, fueled by the eternal optimism of youth, we trudged on, post-holing through knee deep snow for somewhere around 3 hours. It was terrible snow to walk on too. Breakable suncrust that tore the flesh away from numbed shins. It honestly was very little fun at all. there was a cool descent at the end, but that didn't erase the fact that we walked for five miles of snow in cycling clothes.




From what I did get to ride, the JD is sick, it's fast and stable, super solid. have to ride it more for a better idea, but that won't happen for a little while. :)

dojoe and skiing

winter ain't dead yet folks. This weekend was a blast. dojoe on saturday, which hurt like hell, and an excellent day of skiing up at loveland today.

Finally worked up the energy to spin the legs again, get the gear turning. easy spin on the green machine, out east. asides from a leaky faucet nose and a case of WIND, it was nice to ride again. I have taken a complete break from any form of physical activity this past week in hopes of ending my cold once and for all, and my legs told me about it today. slow, slow, slow.

my oh my

So last week was absent of writing because, to put it briefly, I have been battling some sort of head cold from hell. In addition to making me feel terrible, I didn't do anything fun in hopes of warding off said cold. This weekend, however, I was sick of being couped up, and ready for some outside.
On Saturday, brae mike and i rode up, oldstage, jamestown, peak to peak, ward, and back over lee hill almost all on pavement, ah well too snowy for trails right now. oy vey, even my pansy geared green machine could not stop the hills. and the descents were frickin cold.


Sunday was the real adventure though. A little bit of a slow start, but turned into an awesome ski. Dad and I dove up to east portal and landed right in the thick of spring time conditions. Before I continue, it is important to say that, for better or worse, when I go bc skiing with my dad, it usually involves more than a leisurely tour. For those of you who read this site a lot, you may remember last year's adventure .

(here's a shot of todays accomplishment)
Skinned up, boycotting last weekend's route in favor of the forest lakes route. detoured again in the direction of Arapaho lakes. After a steep windy climb through the pines, we popped out above tree line and continued west. We started climbing up to the divide, up, up, up. I thought it was a bit hairy but, since I was following Mr. Avalanche himself, i figured it was all right.
Photo Courtesy of Dale Atkins
got right up to about 30 feet below the ridge before it was too steep to ski, so pulled the skis off and kicked steps up to the top. It never got much steeper than 45 or so degrees, but it felt really vertical. After a rest on top of some little bump on the ridge, we collected our rewards. The snow was interesting, crunchy grabby sun crust, but the turns look alright :)
The whole descent, what took us some four hours to climb, passed in under 45 minutes, and, while an icy luge run at times was had some stashes to enjoy.

The Plague Returns

Found a cool article the other day, This one courtesy of the folks over at Rocky Mountain News:

***For Immediate release***

WARNING: BUBONIC PLAGUE RISES IN BOULDER COUNTY

Boulder, Colorado is now undergoing a major inspection after authorities recently discovered an alarming outbreak of the Bubonic Plague. The Plague, also know as The Black Death, is a highly contagious bacterial infection caused by contact with another infected person or animal. The Bubonic Plague was responsible for the death of over a third of the world's population in the 14th and 15th centuries.
A team of Wildlife Specialists from the US Department of Fish and Game are currently investigating the outbreak, but experts say that the situation is extremely grim. "Especially in Boulder, where humans have disrupted mother nature's intentions, the environment is so susceptible to disease. The bubonic plague could have astronomical impacts on everything." said local pathologist Susan Dean. The containment of the outbreak is another problem because, the bacterium responsible for transmitting the plague is a mutation of previous forms and a cure could take months or even years to find.
As if residents don't have enough to worry about already, this mutation of the bacteria has resulted in an airborne strain, which makes it all the more contagious and possibly deadly.
Ironically enough, the only group of humans who have been infected are cyclists. Particularly Mountain Bikers. In a recent interview, Christopher Barrow, a member of the Boulder Mountain Bike Alliance, said he is so afraid of getting the plague, he has quit bicycling entirely.
Experts say that typical symptoms include a disgust of bicycles with multiple gears, and urges to destroy things such as derailleurs and cassettes. This can progress to a deep seated contempt for lazier cyclists, leg hair growth, and allergies to lycra. Although there is no way to stop the Black Death, families are urged to keep children indoors and avoid the use of "singlespeeds" (bikes with only one gear) due to the fact that this aids contraction of the disease.



The Plague Returns, 2008...

East Portal

the formerly comatose beast of winter has been resurrected in some degree of force. And after a leisurely morning with a nice latte, my mom and Eoulus and I ventured into the recently awakened spirit of winter, and went up to do a tour out of east portal. I guess I didnt realize how much I've missed my skis till today, but its been almost a month since the karhus have seen the white and fluffy. anyways, skinned around for a while got up to somewhere that wasn't very impressive and made some turns down. not entire the most radical adventure ever, but it was a hella lot better than nothing.