Day 17...

It's the bloody Beatles White Album! ~ George Harrison

Speaking of white... Damn today was cold at The Basin. Maybe 5 degrees with a sporadic wind, sometimes quite brisk. I was skiing very sloppily for some reason. Fairly inspired at times but mostly like a spaz. But hey. It was still an awesome time. We all experienced some frost-nip and had to take breaks when the white spots appeared on cheeks and noses but it was worth it to get some turns in. Plus no one was out on the slopes. The warming house was seriously as full as I have ever seen it. Pretty funny.

The crüe consisted of Luke, Obie, and two of Obie's friends from Highschool -- one of whom I knew from way back in our earliest Boulder days. Small world.

We jammed up the hill early to avoid the weekend traffic mania and were quickly spinning laps on Pali. The Spine was simply dreamy -- wind buffed and creamy. Can't complain about that at all. I finally dropped the upper rocks with only a hint of hesitation and launched off of a good drop on the bottom portion of the hill with ease. Generally hesitant but feeling pretty good for what is still early season. Most of the really hard stuff is still closed but we're keeping our fingers crossed for some cycles to line up and really hammer things home. All in all, however, they have decent coverage and times are good.

We have been watching a ton of movies of late. Good way to pass the short days and cold temps when not out on the slopes. Here is a run-down:

• Ratatouille: Great Pixar movie. The animation is amazing and the story is fun and engaging. If you haven't seen it, get busy.
• The Shawshank Redemption: Another classic. Just a well put-together film.
• Lone Star: Terrific Sayles. A must see.
• Breach: Not super but entertaining at least. Again, Chris Cooper puts in a pretty solid effort and though the movie wasn't awesome, it was still watchable.
• Silver City: Another Sayles/Cooper partnership. This one is just a mess. Really, really boring movie that just didn't seem to go anywhere. It was shot in Colorado, so that made it a little bit interesting being that I was able to pick out locations but other than that, just bad.
• Notes on a Scandal: Actually, I wasn't sure what to expect with this one and was pleasantly surprised. Well worth the time.

So we were discussing fuel efficiency during today's festivities. Seems that two of us are proud (or not so) owners of gigantic SUV things. I currently drive a 2000 Yukon XL. I have thought about selling it to get something more environmentally friendly but since starting up the new biz, haven't really been putting many miles on it. When I do, I usually cram as many people as possible (and all our gear) into the beast so that we only have to take one car up the hill. This makes me feel a little less guilty about driving the behemoth. Actually, I did get 19.5 mpg when I fueled up this afternoon, so that is pretty sweet. If you count the fact that 5 of us were able to get transport to the area using Holmsey, that is actually really good. We would have had to take at least two normal cars so all in all, we came out on top. So I guess my point is: Carpooling good, giant SUV not always bad. Say it with your Frankenstein voice and it is even more fun.

Play hard.

~stubert.