| What a great day I had today...I first skied knee deep powder under the Apres-Vous chair...then knee deep powder in Saratoga bowl..then down to the Gondola..While riding the Gondola the winds were incredibly intense. I was on the Gondola with a ski patroller and they simultaneously shut down all the lifts around 10:00AM...At the top the winds must have been 80mph...enough to blow over a skirack full of skis and a picnic table into the woods. Then I hung out in the lodge at the top of the Gondola with about 100 or so hardy souls..and drank some coffee and ate some trail mix. Ski patrollers and ambassadors were checking to see if anybody needed help getting down in the intense winds...zero visibility...and heavy snows. I ended up skiing along the tree line on Sundance..I definitely got some vertigo (Snowblindness) in the white-out conditions. Then over to some mellow woods in the Casper area and to the base. I skied that run very carefully because in the zero visibility conditions, I would most likely not be found if I got injured. I should really ski with a cell phone for conditions like that. Then I got in a long line for a refund. I paid $77 for my lift ticket and I received a voucher for $55...I guess they pro-rated it...my 3 powder runs for 6500 vert were definitely worth 22 bucks. Then I went to the Mangy Moose which was packed at 11:30AM..and had a beer and a bloody Mary and chilled with a group from Minnesota and I saw the three MILFS that I rode the lift with yesterday. Then I went to the Alpenhaus for lunch.
What a nice lunch...a screwdriver, a wheat beer, and a swiss lunch special which consisted of a bowl of lentil and fresh sausage soup...a mini-baguette...meat...and cheese...mmmmmmmm
The busses started to run again around 1:30PM and I hopped on one around 2:00PM...I took the bus to Snow King and plopped down $19 for a 2 hour ticket. The conditions at Snow King were mostly cut up powder with a few untracked pockets. I skied 4 runs off the summit double for 6,000 vertical feet. I could have skied another run or two but I was feeling lethargic from my Lunch. I have no idea what runs I skied...mainly blacks and blues with my last run cutting skiers left into the woods..through someones backyard into their driveway and down Millward street right into town..I shaved 2-3 blocks off my walk back to the 49er skiing that route and got a few funny looks from some pedestrians. Nothing like a bonus day of skiing at Jackson Hole and I have alot more snow to look forward to tomorrow.
Jackson Hole 1/29/08...Day 10...bonus day #2...
It snowed another 7 inches in the past 24 hours making for a storm total of 19 inches. Since today was my 10th ski day in a row...I'm starting to get physically tired. I skied pretty sloppy today and had a really bad wipeout near the end of my session which I'll go into detail about later. In the morning I skied one run off the Apres Vous chair in knee deep powder...then 3 runs off the Gondola and one run off the Thunder chair where I skied down to the base via the lower faces below the Sublette chair which were filled in with tons of new snow. The snow from this last storm wasn't cold smoke but alot heavier. I had pizza and chips for lunch at the Village Cafe. It was really cold today..about 10 degrees at the base and below zero up high with a stiff 20-30mph wind. It was windy enough to close the Sublette and the East Ridge chairs.
After lunch I was feeling really tired. I skied a fun powder run through Mr Toads Wild Ride to the Casper bowl and got lots and lots of untracked..then down the packed powder on lower Sundance. Up the Gondola again and this time I traversed farther left and higher off the gondola for more fresh tracks in Casper bowl. I wasn't paying attention and the light was flat and I crashed down about 5 feet onto a cat-track at maybe 25mph...double ejection and my chest..nose..lip..and left thumb took most of the impact. I got the wind knocked out of me and layed on the ground for a minute but luckily I didn't break anything. The only damage was a bleeding lip and my pride. I stood up and looked at my tracks and the drop from the powder to the flat groomed cat-track was shoulder height....yikes..I then got my bearings and skied down to the Casper chair and made one final doodly slow run to the base and skied right onto the town bus and I just got back to the 49er. In total I skied 8 runs for 17850 vert...mainly off the gondola to stay out of the elements. I need a nap..I'm tired...I wonder if my plane will actually leave tomorrow or if I'll be stuck here longer..I'll have to wait until early tomorrow morning to see. |