Variable...

Consistency is contrary to nature, contrary to life. The only completely consistent people are dead. ~ Aldous Huxley

When snow conditions are inconsistent, we call that "variable". When I ski like a champ one run then like a dog turd in a coma the next, I call that "weak". In either event, I had a fun day up at the Basin to kick off the new year.

Pete and Luke met me at Kermit's at 8:30 and we jammed up a freshly opened I-70. This major artery had been closed for about a day due to high winds, blowing snow and super-mega-extreme avalanche dangers. At least that is what CDOT said on their website.

Aside from one semi stalled in the right lane, driving up to A-Basin went smoothly. We were pleasantly surprised to find Loveland Pass open and were able to quickly make it to the area and get ready to make some turns. It was -12 when we pulled in so I pretty much wore everything I brought but with sunny skies and no wind, it felt a lot warmer than it was.

The recent high winds provided mixed conditions - from creamy pow to bulletproof ripples, we saw it all today. As I said before, I made some of the best turns coupled with the worst of the year. Some days are like that but I am trying to get to the root of it all so that I can be more consistent in the future. I was feeling good enough to drop some features here and there so that part of my day was actually confidence building. Even tossed in some drops as part of the flow (as opposed to stopping, setting up, then going off) which is a major goal for me this season. Good stuff.

I took one pretty spectacular fall at the bottom of the Rock Garden. If you had seen me, you would have thought I was trying to take a soil sample from China with my head. Serious auger. I think I struck oil.

All in all, it was a great start to the new year. I am not much of a celebrator of arbitrarily dated holidays but New Year's Day is one of the better days to ski. There is usually no one out on the slopes and arbitrary or not, it is a good way to start off the year.

I am also not much of a resolution-maker. If I need to make a change or start doing something, I don't tend to wait around until some time-stamp to do so. I do have some goals for '08, however. I haven't really vetted this list so we'll consider this a rough draft. For posterity's sake:

• Build a garage (or get a new house with a garage): Living at 9000 feet, one's cars just get hammered by the harsh conditions. We really need to get Rach a new whip but I am committed to procuring better protection prior to doing so.
• Ski the Enduro: This is an annual event at the Basin during which teams of two see how many runs they can complete in a day. Pali starts turning early (7ish) and shuts down at 5 and the team with the most runs wins. Another caveat, the teams have to complete runs in order from far skier's left to right across the front side of the mountain. Luke and I are planning to team up for this one.
• Finish the Leadville 50 in 10 hours: This may be a bit of a stretch but I am planning to run this new event next summer. I may have to adjust the target finish time based on how training goes.
• Use less fossil fuels than in '07: Shouldn't be too tough now that I work from home but I figure it is good to have a couple of soft goals on the list so I can feel good about accomplishing something.
• Use less energy than '07: This may be coupled with adding solar to our home or something and may be tough to achieve with the planned construction but hey, gotta dream, right?
• Start writing again: Okay, I know... I am writing now but I would like to start writing something more structured. Whether this takes the form of starting to write movie reviews again or just writing short stories, I don't really care. I would just like to generate some form of written material in '08.
• Grow my toenails back: Yeah, still working on this one.

Okay, that is a pretty good list for now. I am sure I'll add to it soon.

We also watched The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada last night. I really like Tommy Lee Jones and he directed and starred in this film. Overall, I would say it was decent. Characters were painted with a pretty broad brush but it was an interesting take on friendship, commitment, and human relations. I wouldn't rush out to watch it but if you are in the mood for a slow-paced film, this would be a good selection.

Okay, go check out Pete's blog for some footage of our recent outings and if you are driving, don't drink, if you're drinking, don't drive.

~stubert.