Stuck Like A Beached Whale...

I looked out my window this morning to see this windy, cold, snowy scene, and decided to go skiing again. That's what powder days do to you...



These are our icicles that hang outside our window (they've grown another foot today!), and are the biggest on the whole building (I know, because I've checked!). This reminds me of earlier on in the season when Jeremy and Steve had two icicles outside their window and were betting on which one would grow the longest. But the contest was called off when Steve was caught 'feeding' his icicle by splashing it with water at various stages...

Anyway, after getting togged up for the high of -18 degrees it was forecast to get up to today, I headed out for a couple of laps of Standish. The snow wasn't nearly as good as yesterday since it had barely dusted over the night, but the wind had shifted it around a bit and compacted it, making the going a little easier on the flat bits. That same wind had also piled the snow against our building's front door and rendered it impossible to close fully. The snow blew in over the day, and had covered the stairs by the time I returned.

Anyway, I had soon had enough of Standish and headed up Angel for a run on The Shoulder, one of the open and steep areas where snow often accumulates. After saving a child stuck upside-down in a tree (which is a suprisingly normal occurance here at SSV), I met up with Georgie for a run down that run. She went first and I went second, and after setting off I was immediately fustrated with my sudden lack of proficiency in the deeper snow. So, fed up with turning, I just pointed my skis straight down and tried to catch up- and completely failed to negotiate the bend at the end. Next thing I knew, I was face down in the snow with my legs spread and groin muscles starting to feel a bit strained. After struggling for a bit (this is heavy, 2' deep powder remember) and realising that I was only going to hurt myself more, I just laid down and made myself as comfortable as I could. I kept checking on people coming down the Shoulder and yelled at any who looked like they might be coming my way, but they mostly ignored me. At least 3 people, including an instructor, saw me but carried on skiing! But after about 10 minutes of yelling someone came to my aid and helped remove my skis. When I'd extricated myself from my hole I realised how sore and cold I was feeling, and could think of nothing better than to go back to bed and warm up. So I went back to bed and warmed up.



Angel Express disappearing into the murk of Lookout Mountain, with a celebrity guest appearance from the Sun!

After lying in bed, and catching up with family on MSN till lunchtime, I re-dressed in my now dry clothes (although I needed to replace shirt and gloves) to head over to staff cafe. Delicious beef stew later, I went to watch the downhill freestyle competition taking place on Pandemonium, the run into the Village where the groomers have been confusing us for a week by sculpting the
snow into most perculiar features. This is the BOZO cup (http://www.bozocup.com/), and the main even today was like a mini-slalom with 2 jumps in the middle.



Photo finish?



Of course, there was also an inflateable Ronald McDonald, a giant washing machine, and an ancient Snowcat with a 'BOZO' banner on the back...

After watching this for a while I headed up Angel again with some instructor friends, but when they headed in for lineup (and, apparently, 'cos they were 'cold'), I went and did a few runs on Divide. I've really been working on my quick turns in bumpy terrain, and the soft snow which was starting to form moguls was a challenging yet forgiving way to practice. My mission here was to beat the chair (Number 1) that I'd taken to the top, back to the bottom. After 1 run, I had to take chair 3 because I spent too much time faffing, but next time I made up and took chair 77 instead (there's 81 chairs, so I overtook 7 of them on the way down!). After being bored of this easily-won game, I headed over to Goat's Eye mountain which was simply fantastic. Plenty of opportunity to practice powder skiing, soft moguls, and simple cruising. I played there until the lifts shut before catching the gondola back to the village for some warmth, some food, and some rest.