I'm 36 years old now.

Gorgeous sunrise the other morning - I had to stop and take a picture of it before heading to work.


We got about 8 inches of snow last Wednesday - I skied hard both days - on Wednesday I went to Deer Valley and participated in an expert tour of the mountain, which DV offers each day at 9:30AM. There were 4 of us who showed up, and the mountain host took us, on our first run, down "Know You Don't" - which was steep and bumped up. Phillip, an active US Marine and I met Brian at the bottom of the trail, and we watched the two other guys who signed up for the tour pick their way down the run. When they arrived, he let them know they would be welcome to take the intermediate tour, but we were going to be off-piste on runs like that all day, and they were not looking up to the task.
For the next two and a half hours, we skied as hard as Brian the mountain host said he had skied all year. He took us to steep trees, glades and chutes, all of which had great, soft, deep snow.

It snowed all night - and I was invited to the Miles' home for Wyatt's 9th birthday dinner. (quick explainer - Jay and Susan Miles - lived with them - Jay's sister Heather and fam (Wyatt's folks) live here as well as Jay and Heather's parents - and they all live on the same street - AND Julie Minahan (I grew up with her) lives adjacent to Jim and Susan on the next street)

SO... last Thursday I skied with Jay and Buster (married to Heather, yes it's his real name) at Deer Valley and we hit some amazing runs - many of which I had discovered the day before. - By the way, don't bother hiking Empire Bowl - the traverse from Hidden Treasure is only a few turns below the very top...

At noon or so, Jay and Buster went to El Chubasco and called it a day - and I heard from Caleb, who was visiting. I went and met him, and we skiied together for another couple of hours. I felt great - skiing hard, staying out a long time and feeling strong after.... I am acclimating!

Skiing steeps and trees really changes the way you approach a nice groomed blue run. You get really forward and aggressive on it.... At least I have - very cool feeling.


It has been sunny at DV for the last week - it's also warming up. Guests are in a great mood, and I am working to not get sunburn on my face. I have a pretty cool job... and there's more news on that further down!


Monday was my birthday. I am 36.... When I woke up, I saw an email from the manager of the Spur - I got a solo gig for March 31! - I have to say, it was the best B-day present, even though I did receive calls / texts, some special cards and a care pkg, which I also appreciate. Thank you all for remembering me on my Bday.

Another member of my crew, Glenn, also has a March 1 birthday - we had a lot of fun with that. I was sort of ambivalent about the birthday... I'd like to celebrate it, but I also wanted to just come home and go to bed - I have been pretty tired lately. I told Bobby (roommate) it was my Bday, and he made dinner for us both; it was really nice to just chill out here.

Another cool thing that happened was that I sorted out my transition into a new job - I'll be working at White Pine Touring - doing sales, and I am changing to an abbreviated schedule at DV. I am really psyched about working for WPT...


I went for a nice ride today - it was about 40 degrees and the roads were clear, even though it snowed a little last night and during the day today. I rode about 18 miles, it took about an hour and I burned about 1,000 calories. I am not yet in shape - my cadence was in the 80's and my heart rate in the 150's! I have lots of work to do on that. I rode past WPT (new job) and I plan to ride to work as often as I can, so it was sort of a test run for me.

Oh - I forgot - when I was riding I saw some guys kitesurfing -  some had skis, some on snowboards, one on telemark skis.