Ski Day 10: Definitely A Cover Day

A look uphill from Lower Bowl. The sun almost made an appearance in the morning.

The forecast for Government Camp today was 42 degrees and rain when I checked last night. I knew it would be a pack-cover day, but was pleasantly surprised that I didn't really need it until after lunch.

I met up with my guest coach Toby and the rest of the 'D Team'-ers at the patrol building in Govy, which was a rather busy place since avalanche training was also happening today. We got everyone all signed in and headed over to Ski Bowl. We only had 5 of the 10 or so we usually have. No idea why.

One of the paid patrollers setting a rope line. Apparently, this was for some kind of speed-trap.

As usual, we spent the morning helping out with opening. It was hard to resist just skiing the beautifully groomed trails right off the bat, but there was work to be done. Fortunately, there is one good thing about the lack of recent snowfall or freezing precipitation - very little needs to be done to the rope lines, tower pads, etc., so we were done quickly. And I did get to make some nice sweeping carved turns on the corduroy. As much fun as skiing the steep and deep is, there are few things on skis more satisfying than perfectly carved turns at the ski's natural radius.

The obligatory 'Hi Mom & Dad' shot.

We did some skiing drills and worked on some other fundamentals in the morning, but really wanted to try and take advantage of the groomed stuff in the Upper Bowl. It was pretty much like spring conditions up there, and even the off-groom stuff was pretty decent. We did a couple practice transceiver searches in the morning (the first one was unsuccessful - the person who hid it forgot to turn it on), then grabbed the sleds and went over to the east side for lunch.

After lunch, it was sled-running time. The gang is getting better, and we were running loaded sleds over on Raceway off the Cascade chair. After last session, we felt like the pitch on Raceway was a perfect choice to get them working on some steeper stuff before throwing them down Accelerator or Radical. I would have liked to have done some work on the Upper Bowl, but the guys I'm coaching just weren't ready for that, in my opinion. They should be ready for some steeper stuff at Meadows next week, though. I'm going to spend some time thig week picking out some new drills for them for Sunday. They've all got a similar set of flaws I want them to fix.

After sled-running, we headed back to RC for a quick transceiver-search - mostly so we could put the thing away for next week - and then rounded back up for Outback sweep. Sweep was fun, as I took a route I don't recall having taken on sweep in a good long time, and the snow was a nice mix of spring-like crud and mush. After sweep, we zipped on back to the Palace to hoist a brew to a fallen patroller who'd passed on a week ago. I never met him, but everyone who'd been on the patrol a while and knew him had all kinds of great stories and surely miss him.

I moseyed back over to the patrol building to finish my paperwork (brief rundown of the day and comments about the apprentices' training and progress), fax it off, and head home. Despite being a bit soaked from the afternoon's rain, I felt good.

Well, It Kinda Couldn't Be Helped

After resisting it for as long as I could, I decided to join Facebook. I always felt like MySpace, Facebook, and similar kinds of sites were for people much younger than I am, and it just seemed trendy and lame. I have a blog, what do I need other crap for? I barely post weekly as it is.

But...my folks are on it, my brother is on it, and a crapload of my high school classmates are on it as well. The novelty of it might wear off after my 20th reunion this summer, but so far it's actually pretty neat, and I'm catching up with all kinds of people I've lost touch with.

Ski Day 9: No Cover, No 4WD, No Pix

Finally, I am back in the groove (I hope) for sled-coaching.

Today was off to Ski Bowl with my gang of apprentices and guest coach, to finally get in a proper day with my team. It was shaping up to be a no-cover day, and the roads were clear and dry on the way up to the mountain, so no need to flip the 4WD switch.

Damn shame my camera battery was dead. No hat-trick.

On the up side, it was a fantastic day to train. The snow was nice and hard on the upper bowl, which made it excellent for sideslipping and edge-setting drills. We did some carved turns to start, however, on the nicely groomed Canyon. I've noticed this season I have a propensity for sitting back a little on my skis on my first real run of the day, so my turns are crappy, but today I think I finally started the day right. My demonstration turns for the apprentices felt perfect.

The only thing that bothered me today was my lower back, which I had tweaked a bit Friday night while trying to coax our 128-lb Great Dane into the bathtub (Kingston was a stinky puppy and he had a vet appointment Saturday morning). But even with things not entirely right with my lower back, skiing felt fine.

The sideslipping/edge-setting drills went fairly well. I suppose it'll just come with some more time, but some of them were having a lot of trouble catching on with the whole keeping-the-shoulders-square-to-the-fall-line thing, so maybe they just need to keep at it. I did give them some things to think about and work on off the hill, so maybe that'll help.

We had them running sleds today, and they looked pretty comfortable on the easy runs. Some of them seemed to be applying what we worked on in the morning, so that was nice to see. Hopefully, that continues.

Things warmed up as the clouds rolled in, so the snow was getting a little softer by the afternoon. I led a small group on the peak hike portion of the Outback sweep, hoping maybe the snow out there was decent.

It wasn't. Well, it was decent enough, I guess. The upper part was firm, but skiable, and I actually enjoyed the turns up top. But the Black Label Pitch was a nasty little chatter-fest. But we got through it and the trip out the Log Road was actually not as bad as I'd expected. Back up top to drag the training sleds back to the Palace, and then it was time to sign the apprentices' training sheets.

I wrapped up my day with some more coaches' paperwork at the Govy building, faxed it off, and headed for home. Hopefully, we get a heap of new snow. They could use it up there, and the apprentices need some nice slop to train in. Like I had.

Sixburgh!

Wow, what a game! I was worried there for a minute, but that TD catch by Holmes was something else. I might well have sweated off 5 pounds in the last 7 minutes of that game.

Ben had a decent game, not spectacular, but he was awesome when it mattered most.

Super Sunday

Well, I didn't put any money on the Steelers on my last trip to Vegas, so there's nothing really on the line today.

Well, except for whether or not my "5-time Super Bowl Champions" shirt becomes a collector's item.

My prediction?

Steelers win, 28-17. Ben has a solid game to make up for his awful showing in Super Bowl XL.