Snowcat Rules

Heliski warm-up guy on his way to Canada. Gear geek with GPS/altimeter inside his goggles. High-flying former freestyler on a “guys trip” with his son. Eastern “bark-eater” soft-snow fanatic who grants himself at least one trip out West every winter. The snowboarder who knows he needs to get a split board and skins to access the backcountry but just hasn’t gotten around to it.

The crew aboard the San Juan Skiing Co. snowcat last week included many of the usual suspects.

Pilgrim’s Progress

Ah, New England.

I had to call Adam when his Patriots lost to the New York Jets on Sunday. I knew he’d be devastated.

Out of Joint

Here’s an essay I did for SKI’s January 2011 back page.

I had hip replacement surgery one month before my first grandchild was born.

The decision to do it, to go for the new hip, had not come easily. Back and forth I went over the previous winters: I’m too young. I can still ski. (I was 59 at the time.) I can barely walk back to the car after a morning on the slopes, but I can still do it, damn it!

Ring the bells that still can ring

At one point on Leonard Cohen’s Live in London album he says to the crowd, “Thank you, friends. We’re so privileged to be here, while so much of the world is plunged in darkness and chaos.”

With so much darkness in the news this weekend, particularly the shooting in Arizona, finding a subject besides the descent of civilization seems not so easy.

Surfing the avalanche

Ellen thinks maybe the second avalanche was still moving when we drove through it.