Squantch'n in the PNW
5 years ago
Monday, March 31, 2008
Saturday, March 29, 2008
2008 Ski Season Day 13
Location: Alpine Meadows
Conditions: 3" powder and morning snowfall
Alpine is a great mountain. First chair up Roundhouse we went up with a local. He asked if we skied there a lot and told him it was our first time. This guy took me on a morning powder first run. Pretty sweet, he even let me get first tracks on a few runs.
Then, we took Scott's Chair to the Promised Land and into Gentian Gully past Butch Block Rock. Very cool. We had to traverse out of there to get back to catch a lift.
By the end of the day, we were ready to deal with Scott's Chute.
Conditions were soft and there were a few people skiing it by then so we went for it.
Friday, March 28, 2008
2008 Ski Season Day 12
Location Northstar
Conditions: Afternoon snowfal
There was race being held at Northstar on Friday. It was juniors level and the kids were all wearing racesuits.
The day started off pretty slow moving around Northstar. We got to lookout mountain which was the best spot in my opinion.
Got to go for a last run on Martis after talking ski patrol in to letting me go.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
2008 Ski Season: Day 11
Location: Squaw Valley
Conditions: groomed, soft, variable
In the morning, I headed over to Emigrant lift to try to get into the Funnel. It was roped off and the conditions were pretty bad. I took Shirley Bowl a few times then headed to Granite Chief.
I had a lesson scheduled for 12:00 noon. We lucked out and got Thomas Gardtman, a world class skier and coach. He was amazing. The two hour lesson was an attempt to teach us to carve. Thomas would get so low and put so much pressure on his skis, he would come out of turns with more speed than going in.
I tried to follow his tracks for the whole day and failed miserably. He is simply too fast. It was a ton of fun though and i learned so much from him.
Check out hotskiing.com for details.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Goalie Jonathan Roy Fights Bobby Nadeau
This is perhaps one of the most brutal hockey fights I have ever seen. The attacker is Jonathan Roy.
Here's more from SI:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/hockey/nhl/wires/03/25/2040.ap.hko.roy.suspended.0534/
I like hockey fights as much as the next guy but Roy violated the number one rule:
If the other guy doesn't want to fight, you respect that.
Then he proceeds to flip off the crowd. I'm glad number 5 objected to that and came out to give hime some payback.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Tahoe: Skiing into June?
I found the following link on the Accuweather.com site:
Slope Conditions Around California
Some highlights indicate I could be skiing into June!
Squaw Valley USA Updated: 06:00 (03/24/2008)
New Snow: 0 - 0 (None Reported)
Surface: Packed Powder / Base: 126 - 126
(Percent Open: 100 %) Including: Trails 170 / Lifts: 26 / Acres: 4000
Operating Status:
- Projected closing: 05/31/2008
Good thing I'm scheduled to go up to Tahoe this Thursday to catch the new snowfall. My sources are predicting up to 8 inches this week!
http://www.snowforecast.com/CaliforniaSkiResorts
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Four Years in the Valley
Today marks the four year anniversary of my move to Mountain View. Thinking back to my life in Chicago, I recall looking at the Google map for the bay area trying to figure out how I would get around. I planned to move here without a car and go as long as I could. Four years later I still don't have a car and it has been a wonderful experience organizing my life around traveling by bicycle.
It turned out that getting around was not such a problem at all. The weather here permits cycling year round minus the occasional rain storm here or there. The bike, plus the Caltrain have proven to be a complete transportation solution for me and I couldn't be happier.
Another important takeaway from these past four years has been my education about my career. I've worked for two startup companies for roughly two years each and done a fair amount of consulting for others as well. Companies in the valley are generally started with venture funding which makes for a very interesting work dynamic. I knew virtually nothing about this world back in Chicago and this four year period has introduced me to all the nuances of valuation, rounds of funding, stock options, and even buyout.
It certainly is a different world here. Things happen on a different schedule and for different reasons. No matter what direction the economy is heading, people here continue to innovate. That is one major attraction to me about the area and my lifestyle here.
Of course I've been blogging almost exclusively about skiing lately, my wintertime bay area passion. It has been great being so close to Lake Tahoe and all the resort skiing available there. Once the snow melts and the lifts stop turning it will be back to the bike for me. I have plenty of long leisure rides to tackle plus some training rides and climbs I plan to accomplish.
The outdoor lifestyle is yet another reason why I've been so happy with my lifestyle here. Here's to another four years in the valley.
Monday, March 17, 2008
2008 Ski Season: Day 10
Day 10 was supposed to be a trip to Alpine Meadows but it started out on a down note with the bayareaskibus arriving at Sport's Basement 30 minutes late. I dont' know about you, but waking up at 3:00 AM only to wait in a cold parking lot is not my idea of a great start to the day. Anyway, the bus arrived and we were off. I know the drill by this point and we had to stop in Pleasanton to pick up a second host, some passengers, and most importantly food. Then we were off to Tahoe.
About 2 hours later, I was woken up by the host announcing over the bus's PA system that we had to make a choice. I knew that Alpine was expecting high winds and that the choice was going to be to re-route to another resort. The other resort was Northstar. I like Northstar but it has definitely earned its reputation as "Flatstar." On the plus side, Northstar got the most snow in the most recent storm and was expecting more snow on Sunday. Powder day!
The lines were pretty bad at the middle of the mountain at Northstar. Lots of people were jammed up. We cruised the West Ridge in the morning then the East Ridge in the afternoon. I found some really nice powder stashes thanks to some help from the locals. Always chat up the locals on the lifts up, they know the mountain better than anyone. The trees off Delight were rippin!.
We hit a few black diamonds then went to the backside for a few runs late in the afternoon. After nailing Challenger twice we headed back down the mountain to catch the shuttle bus back to the parking lot. Yet another powder day in the books so I'm happy.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
MAX_DAYS_HENCE
MAX_DAYS_HENCE =
* Specifies the maximum number days in the future, from the current
date, for an extracted date to be valid. If set to 3, for
example, dates that were more than 3 days in the future would be
ignored. The tighter the window of dates the system is allowed to
extract, the less likely are false positives. The default value
is to allow dates that are tomorrow. If you deal with dates
coming from machines which have the wrong date set or for which
their timezone is already in the next day, increase this value to
a few days.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
OnTheSnow
And I'm reading OnTheSnow by my man Jack Kerrouac
Poetry in motion coconut lotion
I had to diss the girl because she got too emotional.
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Alaskan Powder Skiing
Here's a nice lil vid of me skiing some serious powder at Alyeska. Thanks, Omer, for the clip!
Here's a photo of the same slope as well.
Sunday, March 02, 2008
2008 Ski Season Day 9
Day 9 was the second day at Squaw. The morning was super windy. Luckily, the funitel can handle the winds and we made it safely to the Gold Coast. EJ and I got our skis waxed at the demo shop and we headed out. East Broadway was an icy, windy mess. The best snow conditions were wind blown on top of hard pack or ice.
The Shirley Lake face was rippin' though. Lots of good snow, great runs, and not too too many people. 
We also got in a last run after the snow cats cleaned up. Plus night skiing.
A great day to wrap up the ski trip.
Saturday, March 01, 2008
2008 Ski Season: Day 8
Day 8 of the 2008 Ski Season brings us to Squaw Valley. This trip has been in the works for the past two months. Like last year's trip to Salt Lake City, it began with a phone call from EJ. I was on my way back to work from lunch at the Tied House, talking about skiing:
EJ: Hey, you wanna plan a ski trip to Lake Tahoe
D: Yes
EJ: Cool
D: I'll take care of everything
A few phone calls, countless emails, a few dozen text messages and a missed flight later, it was on. Jodi and I hooked up with another friend Eric in Belmont, then picked up EJ at SFO and headed to Tahoe City, CA.
The drive from our room in Tahoe City to Squaw valley runs along the Truckee river. We bumped some Bob Marley and tried to talk Eric into skiing with us. He was on the fence until we drove to the base of Squaw:
"I'm getting a two day pass," Eric declared, staring up at snow covered trails wondering how steep he would be able to ski.
He wound up getting more turns, yardsales, sunburn and runs then anyone on the trip.
Squaw got a few flurries that day. That Day 8 yet another Powder Day.
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