Gore-Tex Vortex

I live in the Gore-Tex Vortex. It's a love-hate relationship.

Skiing Links, Brainard Lakes: Mt Toll & Other Updates

Last week: 3 buried (and self-rescued!?) in Avalanche near Ben Eiseman Hut. The Vail Daily article makes it sound pretty sensational. Hopefully the CAIC will have an official report up soon.

Friday: Skiied Mt. Toll. Trip Report + Pictures + Google Earth KML. Videos.

Sunday: Great skiing @ Copper with James. 3 solid hours of skiing with zero waiting in lift lines in some the best in-bounds conditions of my life. Woo-hoo!

Berthoud Pass

I made my first backcountry skiing trip to Berthoud Pass early Tuesday morning. I went with Ben and his friend Grant, pictured here:


I have always been a bit skeptical of the Berthoud pass area... I've associated it with the kind of slack-country skiiers wearing flat-billed hats who live to shred the 'gnar in shoulder-deep pow pow, bro!

But... after skiing the Upper 110's (visible here) on a weekday morning, I see that there's plenty of challenging terrain that's far enough from the road for some good solitude & fun skiing.

Mary & I are headed to Southern California this weekend. It'll be sunny & 80 degrees... As nice as that sounds, I'm already itching to get back & tap the rockies (but not in the Coors Beer sense of the phrase).

Reasons Houston, TX sucks

1. Hot.
2. Humid.
3. Flat.
4. No zoning law for buildings, meaning that sidewalks are optional (and most people choose not to build 'em)... So walking to the grocery & liquor stores sucks.
   
5. Grocery stores sell beer and wine, but not liquor
6. Liquor stores close at 9pm
   
7. I arrived at the liquor store at 9:05 pm and couldn't purchase said liquor.
   

Oh well, guess I'm not drinking tonight...