Day 148: April 29

I forced myself to leave work at 5:15pm to go ski at Smuggs and found a few other dedicated skinners... I went up the wrong trail and had to skin over grass patches, but managed to find top to bottom vibration skiing down the alley and Treasure, which had some serious cracks. It was more …

Day 147: April 28

I wasn't super motivated to get to the mountain this weekend, but i got pinged by a young and adventurous friend (Cole) who didn't really have to twist my arm too much, and we decided to meet at Smuggs this morning at 10am. I know Cole from Husky where he was an intern in the …

April 25

I have to admit that I've been rowing instead of skiing... I still will try to reach my goal, but the rowing has been better than the skiing this week and we have rain in the forecast, so it is not looking promising for this weekend... Besides, zen fluid dynamics is better than vibration skiing

Day 146: April 23

Today's skiing adventure started from a top down approach, followed by a bottoms up approach... Top down approach: scouting lines in the notch at 7am Perks of my new job: scouting for ski lines in the helicopter with my boss, Kyle.He even let me drive because he's a daredevil... 7pm: Bottom up approach: Sunset skin …

Day 145: April 21

Easter Sunday brought us 73F in the valley and 65F at Smuggs ! Needless to say, it was sombrero skinning time... There were quite a few people on the mountain, including some small kids skinning up with their parents. Pretty cool! Some deep crevasses are starting to formThis one is about 2 ft deep.I'm using …

Day 144 : April 20

Skiing and rowing!  It was a wet day but I managed to earn 3 runs on Rumrunner, which had been groomed just before I got to the mountain ! Not sure why Smuggs had groomed it since the resort has closed for the year, but it made my day because everything else was bulletproof. Water …

Day 143: April 18

I eloped from work at 2:30 pm to ski at Dewey before having to play taxi parent at 5pm. It was about 50F, with 40 kts wind gusts and looking a little thin, skiing a little thin and I probably spent more time looking for ways to ski around open water than making good turns. …

April 17

Instead of skiing today, I bought a car. Why??? Because this car will be smart enough to drive me to the mountain for dawn patrol, while I finish sleeping... and will not pollute the planet! #protectourwinters

Day 142: April 14

To celebrate my last day before I become a full time engineering geek again, John and I went skiing at Smuggs this morning before the rain... Conditions varied between crusted and corny. The mountain has lost a lot of snow in the past 2 days, and we are starting to see and hear streams running …

Day 141: April 13

It's official, i'm now a part time ski bum and I'll have to ski around work for the rest of the season. To celebrate, I skinned up Sterling in the pouring rain... and since it was 45-50F on the mountain, it was prime sauna conditions. As soon as I got to the top, the rain …

Day 140: April 12

This could very well be my last Friday as a full time ski bum, so I decided to make it last by skinning up really really slowly...😜 . It was 41F in the upper lot at Smuggs at 11am, but the wind was blowing pretty hard from the south and it felt a little cooler …

Day 139: April 11

I started skiing exactly 5 months ago, Nov 11. (except for 1 ski day in October) That means that out of 151 days, I've skied everyday except for 12 days. If I hadn't been so lazy, I could have completed my challenge already... ahha. So I made up for it today by chasing the corn …

Day 138: April 10

I reached my 150,000 ft of uphill skinning today. It was 25F this morning in the Smuggs upper lot with about 10 new snowflakes which added up to maybe 1-2" of new styro snow. Looked like winter, felt like winter and skied like winter... so it must be winter again. I skinned up Pipeline to …

Day 137: April 9

It poured all day yesterday and I needed a rest day, so I took a day off from skiing for the first time in 30 days... But today, we had a 3 hr window without rain in the morning and John decided to take a break from maple syrup production and we went to Smuggs …

Day 136: April 7, Sunday

I went to Smuggs this morning and it was 39F in the upper mud lot. The snow was perfect and corny, with no sticky spots on the main trails. The only sticky snow was found on patches that hadn't been tracked out, so I stayed on the steeps inbound. Skier traffic mixed in the new …

Day 135: April 6

We received 2" of super wet snow overnight, and I decided to skip skinning this morning since it was raining at 5 am. I showed up at the upper lot at Smuggs just before 8 am, and there were no parking spots left, as it was filled with tailgate partiers setting up for the Pond …

Day 134: April 5

The temps didn't really go up much above freezing at the mountain today, so it stayed pretty hard, but I did find a fun surprise in the notch! Read on... I went up the Sterling lift, skinned on the Long trail to the top of Spruce Peak, where at 10 am it was still really …

Day 133: April 4

It didn't feel like April today, with temps barely reaching 32F in the valley and a windchill of -5F at the top of the mountain. After yesterday's meltdown followed by a 30 degree drop, everything locked up solid, and the only skiable surfaces were groomers. I didn't go to the mountain until late morning to …

Day 132: April 3

I had to drop off the Chickadee at EHS this morning, so I decided to go see how the conditions were on Teardrop, because I didn't feel like riding lifts today and I wanted a bit of solo time in the mountains. I got to the deserted trailhead at 7:20 and it was 33F, but …

Day 131: April 2

I had to go see about a new hobby this morning, so I didn't get to the mountain until 11am, but it was just as well, since snow and ice needed to soften a little. I was planning to ski my target chute in the notch, but conditions are still not quite right for my …

Day 130: April 1

We received 18" of new snow, all light and fluffy, and I skinned up to the top of Madonna in 22 minutes (2000 ft, 1.8miles) and after that, I skied the headwall and did a double back flip followed by a 1080 flip flop twister with front grab. It was an awesome day. April fools.... …