New Years!!

Happy Times everybody!
Getting out of Dodge,
heading on down to the
WV for celebratory good
times in the snow and
forest, do a bit of off
the beaten path exploring..

wonder if I'll run into
these fellas? jam on.

Redneck Wipeout @ Yahoo! Video

flying solo

keep my own company, follow
a rough plan, loose agenda,
knowing that the task is enough,
notthe ends, but the means,
get lost in the task. breath
thru it, one pedal stroke at
a time, one kick up the skin
track at a time.

get lost in the quiet motions,
match pace to how much thinking
needs done, or sometimes how
little. dig deep into it, and just
move forward. always moving
forward, one foot continually
in front of the other taxing
the system, attempting to free
the mind, let instinct rule the
body for a bit.

thru the looking glass eyes
absorb it all and search for
different spectrums, internal,
external. not into the next or
after, but the nowness of it all.
seek that lostness in the present
and see where it goes.

making the most

of 600ft of PA gnar.
how many laps for 17k?
pick it apart and work
the sweet spots, find the
rhythm to the day and
dance with it. new upstairs
pub is sweet, looks like
fun times to be had.

carried the gps to satisfy
curiousity, 4hrs of skiing
before the batteries died.
15.5k of vert, general
comfortable clean carving
GS shaped turning speeds
look to fall into the low 30
range. Speed checking
pitchy headwalls tickle
20ish with high speed
run outs often into the
low 40's, with a max of
49, hmmmm.

did I really need to know that?

for reference

did more digging into the gps
gadgetry, dissecting the data.

first, I think the total vert
ascended is a bit on the high
side. looking at the track info,
while standing at 0mph in the
wind on Bald, my elevation
varied 20-40' up and down,
assume these fluctuations were
tallied into the total...so I'm
rounding that number down,
call it 5k for the day..

then started looking at speed.
always been curious, how fast?
I know groomers rip by pretty
quick sometimes, as in don't
fucking crash your road bike
speeds. And I recognize the
tree passing sensations in the
glades as being quite similar
to that of ripping tight single
track...it all just feels the same.

well, it pretty much is the
same. open main slope
schussin at WG falls into
the low-mid 20's. Flowing
in the fall line glade skiing,
looks to average 12-14mph...

no wonder those trees
hurt when you hit 'em.

curious now, how fast
on the open groomed?

noreaster epique.

play the hand your dealt, or chase
the greener side of the fence, or both.
Storm day ski early at Roundtop, cut
out at lunch. Gather road beta on the
way home, gather intertubez info while
eating, say what the hell, why not?
gear shuffle load the car. depart 4:20,
then again at 4:30 after lap around the
block for forgotten gloves & hat. traffic
is gnarly, roads are manageable 40-50mph,
feels like the plow has been thru within
the hour. after 5hrs of semi truck & deer
roulette the IceBox is welcome sight.

short nights sleep, solo searching dawn
patrol is on the agenda, get out early and
get lost without really going anywhere.
5am wake up, on skis and heading out
at 6:30, sweet. up to BaldyGrove for
poptart snack break, then out to the
overlook to take in the sunrise...

heh, not happening today, there are all of
these frozen little bits of Lake Erie falling
out of this cloud that surrounds me. linger
and get chilled, move back to treed shelter
quickly, then on up to the Breakfast Bowl,
missed the spot I was trying to remember,
lack of pitch is evident regardless. Beeline
to the mainslope and find sweet soft snow
love down to the lodge.

8am warmup w/ Chipper, then back out with
a flexible plan...look for more pitch. Swap skis
from Jaks to Bros, Jaks not doing it for me today.
skin back up to Baldy Grove, have a snack, look
at the steeps then out to the overlook. Can actually
see more than 50ft, so check out the front face.

no. shit. it's filled in! it's been skied yesterday,
but there's more snow in there than I've seen in a
long, long, looooooong time. fuck it, gear up for
the descent and drop in qwik snap.

whoooo hooooooo!!!!!! steep and deeep powder
snow, this is dreams, sublime massaging
weightlessness attached to spring loaded
bouncing gravity. dip a hip just that little bit
and maybe, just maybe, slut out a crystallized
face shot. money money money....play in
Springer's then down into FlatRock and
Cathedral glades.

Jedi white fluffy tree skiing at it's best.
Choose the line and turn with impunity,
no concern for what's underfoot, lay into
'em and schuss on down thru the forest.
Silent loftiness over the natural terrain,
let 'em run and ski the spaces, looking
way ahead and thinking on your feet.
as good as it gets.

tour the mtn on the up tracks, hit the same theme
for two more descents, then up and over to the
main slope, calling a day as the HASH is gearing up
to head out. Apres' scene was chill good times,
everybody with fresh powder ski stoke in their
eyes, good food and beverage in our bellies,
love of winter in our blood. Good times indeed.

carried the gps

in a pants pocket
when I skied today.

6:30ish am - 2:00ish pm
7:30ish elapsed.
4:09 moving
10.6 miles
2.8 avg speed
22.9 max speed
6238' of ascent.


the snow was mind numbingly
beautiful and serene, just what
provebrial doctors would order
for ya. will post pics, solo dawn
patrol, limited action shots, hippy
dippy type shit..

'tis the season

what I miss

most about coasting.
looks like a whole lot
of fun, nice work boys.

opening day.

awake after a fitful night's sleep.
head is blurry, stomach is meh.
rally down some oats, coffee,
out the door. it's chilly out, good.

20ish minute commute passes
quickly, into the pass holder lot,
not quite in time for the line up.
phone rings, it's Bender...freshies
on Exi! yeah, whatever, where
are my fucking headphones!

finally geared up, on the chair,
pick some tunes, Super Fly
soundtrack it is. Buckle down,
quick stretch and push off into
the fall line. Ahhh man-made
bliss, how I've missed you.

Snow is actually decent considering
it's lineage, guns still blasting.
Stack the bones, ankles/hips/
shoulder perpendicular to the slope,
hands driving, but not reaching,
find that pinky toe and work from
the inside ski. Just like riding a bike,
right back on it.

Seek that clean carve, find the edge
of the ski and ride it thru the arc,
release and pop into the next, play
with the rolling terrain and softness
under the guns. Take what we can
get, make the most of it.

ski the tight edges, then open it up
GS styley and use it all, hit the lift
breathless over and over and over.
short break mid morning, then on it
'til lunch. Punch out after a four hour
session before overextending and enjoy
a nip of Two Hearted.

So it begins, just need to kick this cold.

politicking

I follow politics off and on. When it's on,
I get bothered by it, the non-sensical do
nothingness. Unplug, come back, and
nothing's changed. Politicians, our gov't
representatives in this democraticly elected
representative governed country, don't do
shit for we the people, they don't have our
best interests in mind. They rely on entrenched
power structures, enabled and enhanced
by hyper capital corporatism, and live the
good life, puppets, pawns, blinders on.

They don't represent we the people, they don't.
Don't kid yourself thinking they do, this entire
Health Care Reform debacle is just one example.
We voted for change, promises were made,
and we got bullshit weakkneed pragmatic
anything but visionary 'leadership' in return.
The public option is overwhelmingly popular,
but somehow 'controversial' for our reps to
enact? Bought and paid for, .

It's amazing to watch the tea baggers.
These dumb ass sheeple, being herded
about ignorantly by the very corporate
fat cat interests that they protest. The
marketing scheme is amazing to watch,
the effective manipulation, wow.

Did we also all get sucked into the 'change'?
Cuz the new boss sure sounds and acts a lot
like the old boss..another 30k troops to do what?
And how about all these new green jobs?
ohhh, unemployment is still rising? you got
played by the Repugs on the stimulus too?
shocking.

2010, election year, midterm. I'm probably not
the only who's not excited to vote next year, or
support these spineless fuckers we put into office.
Ya know? Fuck it, let the country just go to complete
shit, let the teabaggers come out in droves and elect
their freak ass fringe candidates, then you can
compromise with an even more hardcore mindset...
maybe then, the shit'll really hit the fan. Maybe then,
after letting those right wing morans have a say, maybe
after they totally wreck the place, maybe then the people
will wake up and catch a glimpse of what's going on.

Was having conversation, 'Do you really think there
could be a revolution, you know, a revolution?'

Well, you put people into enough despair, and the
marketing hype eventually just won't jive with reality,
and then folks might get a bit pissed off at the right
people. So, have an election that shifts power back
into that oh so successful mindset of previous
administrations, and see what happens in a
couple years or so..

will be an interesting journey regardless, always is.

peace.

Happy Jack!

JAck Frost celebration of all things good and natural and mountains and winter and people was a blast. A blast of fresh air, to break out of post fall doldrums, flip the switch and it's on, like donky kong, or somethin. skiing was great, mid boot cuff over a warm grass base. clumpage was and issue, skiing well past sunset was mystical dreariness on top of a storming Bald Knob, sharing the scene with silent deer, remembering what real cold feels like, and loving the woolie that was stashed in the rucksack. then party party party celebrate dance and mingle and celebrate and put faces to names and names to faces and dance and bonfire and SHOT SKI! then it got sorta off kilter blurry for a bit. Drink it blue and awaken with weary IceBox campers, try to rally the worn out stomach, slowwwww, layzzeeee headache moving start, on skis crack of 11 for a couple hours short tour to flush the blood thru the system. From storm to bluebird and soak it in, short lap to Bald, smidge of singletrack cruising and looking for that turning groove sensation on the main slope, luckily, the snow was realllllly GOOD, unfortunate that the day 2 legs couldn't do it justice. couple of pics, full set on the Smug.

who else

can identify with this?
ahhhhh, bike racing.
(h/t JdJ)

fall photo dump.

fun with friends.










peaked, next phase.