agnoli

After lusting after that floating on air feeling for years, I finally broke down and purchased myself a pair of powder specific skis.
Yes, I know, I should try snowboarding, but I'm old skool with a capital 'k', and I'll always be a skier at heart. And with the new tech skiing is so much more versatile than boarding. Sorry, but when was the last time you saw a boarder tear up a mogul field with freestyle liquidity punctuated by the occasional hellicopter.
Anyway, After much consultation with the venerable Mr Hinton I ended up purchasing a pair of Volkl Gotamas with some Salomon Z12 Tis mounted boot center. Micah recommended going shorter with the 176s, and I'm glad I did.
The skis perform great in powder, no surprise, 105 underfoot gives lots of lift. What was surprising was that they worked almost as well on the hard pack and moguls.
Saturday skied the remnants of the mid week dump, found the occasional pocket of fresh in the trees, spent time on outer limits enjoying slicing through powder that had the most amazing crystal formations on it's surface. Reflected the lake beautifully.
Sunday skied granite chief with the same boards. They held great on ice and navigated the moguls well.
Verdict, go with a stiff ski, it's paramount to maintaning control when not in the powder. Go short, otherwise the skis get too fast on the groomers, and unmanageable in tight spaces. Choose lighter bindings to keep the overall weight down. And most important, don't forget to take the day off next time it dumps 7 feet on your favorite mountain.
Remember, no regrets.

Sat in the sun, enjoying the view of the lake from Outer Limits, the snow was exceptional, with humongous crystalized snow flakes resting on edge, giving the powder a bedazzled appearance. Paris Hilton eat your heart out. 

Skied the day with Gretchen, Ms Ross, Jason and Nellie. Cut fresh tracks through the powder on my new boards. Really enjoyed the day, missed my kids.

yet another gratuitous shot of Alpine meadows looking across the valley.

food running short, but refrigerator full, we resorted to casserole for breakfast.
 
the breakfast table looked like an internet cafe. you can tell we live in a modern world.

6 laptops, 8 smart phones (5 iPhones!), 4 iPods, and a router in a pear tree.

   

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more_cabin.zip (421 KB)

I'm not sure what Enzo is reading. But its the new yorker, how bad could it be?

   

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0more_cabin.zip (544 KB)

trying to make Liam laugh?

     

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1more_cabin.zip (693 KB)

Everybody has their strategy, some work, some don't. Some only work against other equally warped strategies. Obscure strategies change the nature of the game. Witness Enzo and Adrian playing the Boardwalk and Park Place strategy. It had Adele puzzled if not a little entertained.

         

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monopoly_strategies.zip (1147 KB)

mmm, pork chops and cabernet.

     

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0monopoly_strategies.zip (696 KB)

Dave brought his camera gear, we played around with remote triggering his flash (Canon Speedlite 430EX) with my master (Canon Speedlite Transmitter ST-E2). I originally bought the ST-E2 for its AF-assist beam so I could shoot in extremely low light conditions, but using it for its intended purpose was also very cool. I ended up holding the flash in my left hand while shooting with my right. The flexibility of the rig makes for infinite lighting possibilities, none of which i fully explored. It did make night into day, the change in temperature being my main complaint, will have to get a set of gels or something.

           

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1monopoly_strategies.zip (1462 KB)

Skied alpine all day. the slopes were nice with a couple inches of powder top of packed powder. There were some windblown/packed slopes, but by the middle of the day these had warmed up to a sherberty consistency.

Picked up adrian from ski school, he showed me his new style on hotwheels, a short run down yellow, and then we headed for summit six.

We rode last chair to the summit to meet Ange, Lewis, Avery and Enzo. Enjoyed the view for a while, and then took our time getting down. 

smile, the paparazzi are everywhere.
 
more pics from yesterday. once we returned from skiing it was straight to the internet. we are all so connected.
 
B and T were already back from their snow shoeing/rock scaling experience and were preparing dinner, good smells filled the air. flank and serrano appetizers set the stage for the 6 inch thick lasagna, truly a wonder of the modern world.
 
we celebrated my 40th b-day. complete with angel food cake and rocky road.
 
after celebratory dunk in the snow the kids were put to bed.
 
Drank all night waiting on news from kitty and vasco.

                                             

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ski_weekend.zip (7482 KB)

pics by kristol,

went to homewood to ski with sander and karen.

love the shot of enzo in the snow, showing of his newly found powder prowess.

                     

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homewood.zip (783 KB)

Homewood was beautiful, nice views of the lake, not a cloud in the sky Reminded me of skiing homewood as a kid. Except my clearest memory of homewood as a kid is the time it snowed so wet that we donned blackbgarbage bags with holes cut for the neck and arms. Hi tech gear for the time, doesn't compare to the outfits Adrian and Enzo are sporting. do they know good they have it?.