How I Roll

How I Roll
Originally uploaded by dmourati

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2009 Ski Season: Day 9

Great Expectations
Originally uploaded by dmourati

Location: Sierra-at-Tahoe
Conditions: Powder

A storm dropped 10+ inches of fresh at Sierra. We were watching the weather reports carefully and knew the storm was coming so we signed up for the Sunday trip to coincide with the best snow conditions.

It was an awesome powder day all over the mountain. West bowl was a bit crowded in the morning due to a race being held at Sierra. We did a few laps on West bowl, then headed to the front side for some more action. Castle was rocking and the Gates looked very promising. We headed to the backside to explore a bit.

Jodi and I were cruising along in a progressive terrain park when I spotted some tracks off to the left hand side leading to the powder. I shouted to her that we would meet at the bottom and I followed the tracks to the promised land. We're talking 2+ feet of untracked snow as far as the eye could see. Some of it was pretty flat but it was still fun to ski the powpow. I had a few wipeouts from going too fast and hitting snow drifts. Tired, I kept skiing all along in the powder. I eventually came to the lift but I realized it was NOT RUNNING. Shit, I thought, I had better find the other lift. I kept skiing along, following the trail out when I came to a clearing with a ton of tracks heading to my right. Then, I spotted two snowmobiles heading right for me. One snowmobile came right up to me. The driver had on a Sierra Tahoe jacket on. I removed my goggles to talk to him.

D: "Hey, am I at least going in the right direction?"
Snowmobiler: "This entire area is closed."
D: "Shit, really? I was in the terrain park on the back side and I saw some tracks going off to the side."
Snowmobiler: "There's always going to be tracks."
D: "Where's the other lift?
Snowmobiler: "They closed both backside lifts."
D: "Oh no."
Snowmobiler: "I knew some people would wander back here, so I've just been hanging out here."
D: "I have to tell you, that was some of the best skiing I've had all season."
Snowmobiler: "Yea, I bet."
D: "How do I get out of here."
Snowmobiler: "Well, I can offer you a tow."
throws me a line off the back of the snowmobile
Snowmobiler: "Best thing to do is to put your ski poles through the loop and hang on."
D: rides up the mountain, towed by a snowmobile, smiling ear to ear
Snowmobiler: "Have fun."
D: Thanks for the lift!

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Karate Champ - You are a champion of karate. No, really.

Karate Champ - You are a champion of karate. No, really.

Posted using ShareThis

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Walk Like an Egyptian

Walk Like an Egyptian
Originally uploaded by dmourati

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Too Short in Oakland for Oscar Grant

Too Short in Oakland for Oscar Grant
Originally uploaded by Thomas Hawk

That's Too $hort

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El Camino Real

El Camino Real
Originally uploaded by dmourati

It's a car, it's a truck, it's a cruck?

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Meow

Meow
Originally uploaded by dmourati

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2009 Ski Season: Day 8

Squaw Valley

Conditions: groomed, thin, icy, soft

We started out the day on the Funitel and then took Gold Coast Express over to Shirley Lake. The snow was pretty firm over there so we headed to Red Dog and Squaw Creek areas. Much nicer over there. We met an on-mountain photographer who took a few snaps of us in front of Lake Tahoe. In the afernoon, we did more Shirley Lake, and laps on the Funitel. By the end of the day, the Mountain Run was pretty beat up. There were a lot of icy spots. Still, it was a great day, great weather, decent snow conditions, and no crowds.

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Guy Kawasaki as Steve Jobs

Guy Kawasaki as Steve Jobs
Originally uploaded by dmourati

Sharing photos couldn't be easier. Just ask Steve Jobs, err, Guy Kawasaki.

Eye-Fi

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Too Cool for School

Ski School is Cool

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Iron Horse

Iron Horse
Originally uploaded by dmourati

And You Don't Stop

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2009 Ski Season: Day 7

Kirkwood

Conditions, groomed, random powder stash, icy in weird spots, rocky.

Conditions were variable to say the least. Parts of the mountain were perfect corduroy, others a rocky, gravelly mess. I managed to find some decent power, though, just off the trail in the greens and blues, it was pretty good.

Run of the day: shotgun

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Back of the Bus

Back of the Bus
Originally uploaded by dmourati

All the cool kids in the back of the bus
Rubba dubba scrubba bubba
Whatchu talkin' bout gus breakin the rules
I hope we don't get caught sha la la la la la la la la

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2009 Ski Season: Day 6

Kirkwood
Weather: Bluebird
Conditions: soft and groomed

Today was a fantastic day at Kirkwood. We went up on the Bay Area Ski Bus and got there early, by 8:15 AM. Jodi went off to get her rentals sorted out while I waited (and waited, and waited) for the lift tickets to arrive. I love Kirkwood, but customer service has never been there strong suit. An employee there today confided the the company is hurting financially and that they have had trouble making their payroll in the past months.

Anyway, back to the skiing. We started out at Timber Creek lodge. This is a newer facility skiers left on the mountain. There are two beginners chairs there, 7 and 9. We zig-zagged across the mountain taking two chairs on each of 7 and 5 to get warmed up. We then hit 11 and 1 to get to 2, 3, and 4. A few laps on the backside were great. We then headed back to Timber Creek for our 1 PM lesson with Jim. Jim was a fantastic instructor and has us both changing our skiing right away.

Tip of the day: drop your downhill hand!

Have fun out there and Happy New Year!

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Happy New Year From Kirkwood

Happy New Year From Kirkwood
Originally uploaded by dmourati

Happy New Year from Kirkwood.

See more photos tagged with kirkwood.

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