The late teens...

Day 18 Crüe: Me, Caleb, Pete, B-Rad

There are no friends on a hardpacked, punchy, windy, boney, shaved-butt-bump day. ~ Collective effort

Actually, the above statement is false unless you are trying to figure out who the jackass was who recommended skiing on such crap conditions. That would be the not-friend. (For the record, I think that jackass was me.)

Caleb, Pete and I met up with Brad on the 31st for some year-end turns at Eldora. (Day 18 for me for the season.) The conditions were, to put it mildly, challenging: Hard-packed, rhythm-challenged, choppy bumps and wind combined for fun and/or games. Good times. Salto and Westridge were both open though we all agreed that this was a more bold move than usually witnessed at the Rock. We weren't really complaining, actually. So we spun laps until close to last chair then had a beer with Brad and Jess (thanks Brad!).

Caleb shows how it's done.

Pete, Caleb and I headed up to A-Basin early on New Year's day and were greeted by firm and buffed conditions. Apparently the wind did not take a break on the Basin in the last few days and the Spine was firm yet smooth. Pali Face and the Rock Garden were equally tasty once we all figured out how to deal with the snow conditions. Pete was skiing like a champ though he had to bail early to go meet Edy at the airport and Caleb, as usual, was solid. I skied on my new, graphics-free AK Maiden prototypes courtesy of Luke's garage (thanks, Luke's garage!) and good times were had by all. By the time we took off, the A-Frame was absolutely packed with semi-hung-over clientelle bitching about how cold it was (it wasn't) and all in all, it was a great 19th day. Oh, and on the way up, we only saw one hung over reveler puking on the side of I-70 and one woman who appeared to be nursing a very serious headache. So whoopee!

Pete is killing it on the slopes this year.

So if you are looking for a good way to end/start the year, I recommend getting your ski on.

~stubert.