what a sunday (morning)

that is "THE ROYAL GORGE"
GROUP SHOT
DEVILS PEAK IN THE BACK GROUND
HOLLIE IS RIPPING

HOOT OWL RD

We made it home from N.O. and it took a day for us to recover. We both felt hung over on Saturday, so we layed low and took the dogs out for a few walks. After a good nights sleep and springing our clocks forward, we headed up the hill for some skate skiing

HAS IT BEEN THAT LONG?

Hollie kind of fell into a sun cup that she did not see in the flat light...glad I was there to capture the moment.

SHE WAS UP QUICKLY AND READY TO POSE FOR THE CAMERA

We headed out sterlings canyon to east ridge and up to Pt. Mariah. Our goal, to snaps some cool photos and to take in some stellar spring snow.

THIS VIEW WAS ON THE WAY TO EAST RIDGE

AND WE SAW THIS STRANGE TREE

It seems to have broke and grown back to itself. Ahhhh, nature being nature. Speaking of nature...I am a little freaked out by how warm it is. Not for ecological reasons per say, but more for selfish reasons. I still have a lot of skiing to do this year! I may put my snow inspector hat on tomorrow and SKIN in and SKI Mt. Tallac. Its like a 3 hour tour for some great skiing.

(the first 4 photos should come last in this blog, but i posted them backwards...sorry)

New Orleans

hollie blah blah blah

So tuesday morning Hollie and took off for New Orleans for work. Neither of us really wanted to go on this trip, but we are trying to have some fun while we are down here. We are both jonesin' to get back home and get on the snow before its all gone. Our days consist of food and meetings...boring. However, we have worked out everyday and managed a 7 mile jog this morning with a few other members ofout group that led us by a giant cemetary and to a big museum it was a nice morning

Hollie giving scale to this Naval Boat

We also took a little foot tour yesterday to see some sights. We walked down Canal st. and Burbon st. and we also ventured over to the mighty mississippi. That is where we saw the USS New Orleans. This boat is being commisoned this Saturday.

Hollie made a friend

Hollie also met this guy. We gave him a buck thinking he would start to break dance or something but he just stood there. Strange. I bet if I would have grabbed that buck back he would have moved!!!!!!!!!!

New Orleans seems a sad place to me. There is still ruin here but the sad part to me is the action here. Drinking, Flashing, Strippers and Vodoo. I guess the Vodoo is kind of cool, but I dont get the whole out of control burbon st experience. I guess I am getting old, I felt bad for a lot of the people down there. After we left Burbon st. we went to some famous cafe for fried donuts...i passed.

Brian Boe would be soooo proud!

the black circles are smaller than a silver dollar! Nice shot from 10 meters!

So Hollie is alwyas bugging me about learning how to shoot...rifles! I dont know anything about shooting, perhaps some whiskey on occasion, but not guns. I have a friend who is a skilled marksman. He was a navy seal sniper, and worked with the US biathalon team back east. He is a bad ass. anywho, i asked him if he would give her a taste...who knew that he shoots everyday while roasting coffee, (thats what he does now). He has a 10 meter range inside his work space and he shoots all the time. Well Hollie went up there today for about an hour...check out the grouping! She shot from a prone position and a standing position. she learned all the techniques etc...now she wants a proper rifle for herself!
I had better start doing the dishes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the Great "space case" ski race

hollie at the "GORGE"

last years great race...(thats chris in front)

Man, I cant believe how backwards yesterday went for me. Hollie and I set off at 5 am up the hill to work out the logistics of 2 cars in a point to poin ski race. Meaning, we would have a car at the finnish with warm clothes and food. We went early to ensure parking at both places so we would not be trekking around. The early bird lesson paid off, because we had great parking at both places. This is when things started to go bad. In my pre race scramble of testing skis and bib pick up and securing my spot in the 1st wave I made a major error that would send almost the whole day into a downward spiral. When I was taking my warmups off, i left my drink belt in the car. So, for 30km's I had now food or drink, plus the keys to the finnish car and the start car were in the dman belt! I did not realise this until it was 1 minute to start. I paniced, know ing I could do nothing about it. I looked around and saw that about 1/2 of the 1st wave skiers did not have drink belts, so that comforted me but the thought of not being able to get into my car at the finnish rattled me a bit. Anyway, off we went. It was a blistering pace which found my struggling to keep with the top 10. I continued fitting even though my skis were not running until i finally popped. My legs were fatigued and the skis were not gliding. I missed the wax by a mile and my legs sucked. I went over the top of the 10km climb in 9th place and ended up 18th. 1:21:33. an alright time, but I am dissapointed with the performance. I just did not have it. Hollie started 3rd wave (1000 starters) with the mp3 player on and just cruised in her nice 30km pace, 2:00:00 flat. she was 303rd of 812 finnishers. nice work!
So, at the finnish I stood around in my thin litte race suit freezing, hoping that hollie had a key to the car. In an effor to stay warm I went to the beer tent and started drinking the Stout from a brewery from Sparks, NV. I figured that ought to warm me up. While I waited for hollie I realised I was still cold, but it did not matter so much because 3 beers and I was feeling fine! I saw hollie come down in to the finnishing shoot and I went to snap a photo...oooppps, the camera is in the car dumb ass! Hollie came in and we headed to the car...she had a key!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So my day felt better. We got changed and headed back to the start to start for part 2 of our day. We were going snowboarding (hollie) and skiing (chris) at a resort! how fun. As we drove off, i realised the keys to the start car will be locked in. SHIT! our 1/2 day of resort fun was shrinking! Anyway, we got there, AAA took about an hour to get there and about 6 seconds to unlock the car and we got going. TO Alpine Medows!!!!! As we started up the lift i realised I had forgot the camera again, dumb ass! I really was bumbed about it because the views were unreal! We had a blast riding at the resort and most importantly we both remebered how to do it! Hollie is sooooooo smooth, she looks like she belongs in a snowboard video. cruzin' down the hill, riding switch doing little tricks, she is awesome.
Well I guess that is long enough. we got home and crashed out.
30km skate race, and 3 hours of riding the snow wipped us out!
i will take pics next time
we are off to New Orleans tomorrow for work(suck) any tips on how to have fun down there would be appreciated!!!!
cheers

early bird...

STILL SMILING!

well, we learned, or re-learned the old lesson of the early bird and all the fruits he gets by being so early. we got off to a late start this morning and ran into traffic on hwy 20....then on hwy 80, then on hwy 89. we finally aborted going to tahoe city xc and turned around and went back to truckee for "brunch" and split board education from Jason at the backcountry ski shop. He got us up to speed..... after all that we went back up hwy 80 to Royal Gorge and headed out to ski. The snow sucked. there was no glide to be had, the snow was in the sun too much and the suction under the skis was more like velcor...no fun. so, we chalked it up to being late!
Now I have to go wax the skis for tomorrows "GREAT RACE". If we have the legs after the 30km epic we are headed to North Star for 1/2 day of groomers!
I am pretty excited about "ALPINE" skiing and hollie is pumped about busting out the "board" hopefully we have as much fun as I am imagining!

later

the inspector

THE INSPECTOR

did you know that I am the self appointed snow inspector for Nevada, Sierra, Placer, Yuba, Shasta, lassen and Plumas counties. its true. Duty called today, there was 6 feet of new snow so I had no choice but to tear myself away from work to go inspect. Its something I just have to do.......I pulled the Rossignol F2 Xium skate ski from my quiver and headed up the hill. As I left my shop I heard my Backcountry skis whining at me a little when i did not choose them for todays work.

Castle Peak from the Sattelite trail

Castle peak seemed to be doing just fine...looking like it was waiting for some turns to tickle its frontside.......

DEVILS PEAK

I think Devils peak was pleased with its new blanket of snow...the summer like sun we had was starting to get to the peak too early for that much sun!

So all in all todays inspection passed with flying colors. The snow was very good and the views...well I am lucky to have seen them.
This weekend Hollie and I will be skiing inthe Great Ski Race. A 30km point to point route from Tahoe City, over brockway summit and down to Truckee. Its an awesome race and its only groomed once a year, so you have to do it!
We are also toying with the idea of riding a chairlift this weekend. Hollie on her snowboard and me on the skis...just to have some fun.

random stuff

the FOXY looking for love...

the KONA KING ZING, sad on the trainer

the new KULA SUPREME from KONA is almost ready for rrrrripppping!

UDO looking for food

hollie peaking around the corner......

Karhu JAXS...sick

I just wanted to post some randum stuff.
skis...hollie...foxy...udo...bikes...
late