Ski Bumming 2020 & COVID

March 10 - 14

Keep reading to find out what Big Sky and The Bear Vault Bear Canister have in common. Pretty cool connection!

We finally made it onto the slopes of Big Sky, and there was nothing to disappoint. This mountain is HUGE.

It's massive and really spread out, which means lots of variable terrain and, for the most part while we were here, minimal crowds / no lift lines. This is the beauty of skiing only during the week. We are sooo lucky...

We parked each day at the Big Sky Mountain Village area. There are no lots at the base; instead only a 15-minute or so loading zone parking area. All lots are located down the road or much further away, and depending on how lucky you get, you can either walk from your car to the slopes, or take their open-air people mover.

We always took the people mover. Even parking in the furthest lots is convenient, fast and easy with this great system. But what struck me most was how utterly miserable it would be to take this during the dead of winter when it is bitter cold. It's cold now, and we're just about to officially enter Spring.

BTW, when you want to get the driver's attention to stop at your lot / location, just wave your arms high or to the side so you can be seen. Yelling is definitely not the preferred method of signalling to the driver.

Unfortunately I didn't take a lot of images because my focus was on skiing and exploring this really fun mountain. Getting to know this mountain is no small feat as there are so many places to discover.

But I did manage to take two images; here is the first:

As mentioned, Big Sky is huge, with multiple mountains. I took this from the slopes of one mountain (I think off of the Challenger chair) to show another part of the ski area.

Another "unfortunately," and this is a biggie: we never took the tram 😫. On the one day it was clear and the tram open, it was the free boarding day for those who registered for the "A Day for Jake" event to honor John Burton. Translation: the line for the tram was huge, and I didn't want to spend a chunk of snow time waiting in line. Luckily we have another day left on the pass, so we'll catch it next week on Monday or Tuesday, depending on the crowds and weather. Hopefully all the stars will line up for us on that day.

Here's the view of the tram and the famed white-knuckle terrain from the top of the Powder Seeker chair.

The mountain didn't have full coverage everywhere, so it took awhile to discover my favorite chair and runs: the Big Rock Tongue side of the Challenger chair. It's a super fun bump run, and we loved hitting the trees in the Magic Meadows at the bottom of the run. Just as it is at any ski mountain, I am always so sad when it's 4:30 and our day has to end.

After skiing four straight days here, we're going to sit out the weekend as the forecast is calling for a major, multi-day dump / storm. We're heading to Bozeman tomorrow (did someone say Costco???) to restock and provision, and we'll be back for our fifth and final day when the storm clears. The snow should be epic!

One of the coolest things that happened here occurred off the slopes:

On Tuesday, March 10, we did something we rarely do: we ate out. 1der was craving a margarita, so we went to Alberto’s Mexican Cuisine in the town's main shopping area.

Eating out is a break from our preferred norm of eating in Beastie, which we LOVE to do. It's so quaint and fun, and with some nice music and a great meal, who could ask for more?

This is a typical dindin after a hard day of skiing. It's one of my favorites because it's super fast, healthy and dee-lish: Miso broth with fresh Pho noodles, two hard boiled eggs, tofu, veggies and marinated, super tender pork. YUMSTERS.

We'd been waiting for a table for about 20 minutes when a group of guys came in and asked if we wanted to join them at the community table for 16. They were told they couldn't be seated at the community table unless all 16 seats were taken. This made no sense whatsoever, and the hostess, who communicated this very strange message, wasn't being very nice about all this. So yes, let's do this! All of us, plus one other party of four, were simultaneously seated at the community table.

1der was seated closest to Jamie, the gentleman who asked us to join them. Everyone at the table was really nice, and since Jamie and his friends were from San Diego, it was easy to talk with our fellow Californians. These five guys have known each other for years. They met decades ago through the San Diego Hiking Club and have done many adventures together.

When they found out we were living / ski bumming in Beastie for a 2.5-month trip, they were quite taken with the idea. It's always so fun to talk about what it's like being vagabonds, and we really enjoy the conversations and connections made as a result of living such an unconventional lifestyle. We always have so much gratitude for the opportunity to meet cool people and receive their expressions of awe that we are living the dream.

We were blown away when Jamie, as he and his friends were getting up to leave, told us they paid for our meals because they found us to be so inspiring. What??? Such an unexpected gift and incredible gesture of kindness and generosity. No one has ever done this for me or us. We were and are full of thanks and appreciation for their kindness and thoughtfulness.

After the meal, 1der told me Jamie and his wife are the inventors of the Bear Vault bear canister. I was amazed by this new development in an already remarkable evening. Wow! That is sooooo cool. As a backpacker, I am very familiar with this very appealing product (a light-weight, see-through bear canister), and to have just shared a meal with / be treated by half of the invention team was incredible.

According to the Bear Vault website, the story of how the product was invented goes like this:

The concept for the BearVault® was born during a 2002 Sierra backpacking trip with friends from the San Diego Hiking Club. Camped around a mountain lake, the group was lamenting the problems they had with bear canisters. Everybody agreed the available canisters were too heavy, held too little and had too small an opening. Several hikers had external frame packs, and attaching the slippery, tapered canisters of the time to those packs was a problem. Why didn’t someone make a better canister? Thus began the story of Jamie Hogan’s invention…

We look forward to meeting Jamie's wife and seeing him and his friends again, whether it be on the slopes or on the trail. I will certainly ask him then if any of the guys at our table were on that fateful trip.

What an end to another awesome day, and that encounter was a perfect example of a "Life's Magic Dance" moment. Thank you, Daddy, for making this happen. ❤️

Just as we thought would be the case, the weather was very stormy on our first day in Big Sky, so we decided to skip the slopes (translation: save one of our pass days) and do something fun in town. Keep in mind the town is quite small, but there's still lots to do, like hike / snowshoe the Ousel Falls Trail. Frozen waterfall? Sign me up!!!

We layered up and hiked the first part of the trail, which is technically very easy and paved, but because it was mostly covered in snow with some ice, it was a little dicey. I definitely felt more comfortable wearing my ice cleats, especially since I am still healing from my ACL reconstructive surgery and didn't want to take any chances. I was really glad I wore them as the trail was pretty slippery in several places.

The sun started to peak through the clouds.

It's a short distance to the main Falls, and we weren't disappointed to see other "impostors" along the way.

Don't be fooled! This is not the main waterfall. Luckily we had a short break in the weather.

It's a good thing there was the impostor, because for the "real deal," someone didn't put away the container of vanilla ice cream, and look what happened:

Ousel Falls, frozen over. This was taken from the upper viewing area.

I walked down to the lower viewing area, which is at the base of the Falls. This was only possible because of my ice cleats. It was very steep and SUPER slick; 1der stayed up top in case he needed to call 911 for me.

I could hear water running underneath the ice. It was loud and visible in the opening marked by the red arrow.

I ❤️ the pano feature on the iPhone. Hopefully you do to so you could see, in one frame, what we saw: the entire falls frozen over.

We then put on our snowshoes and continued along the trail. It was a beautiful "stroll," especially because the clouds parted again and we got some sun.

So much beauty. I don't know what it's like in summer, but it sure is purrrty with all the snow.

As we were heading back, the weather took a really bad turn for the worse. It started snowing like crazy; giant flakes, but luckily, the snow was dry.

This is such a great example how one needs to always be prepared. We were on the trail for less than two hours, and in the course of that time, it went from cloudy, to sunny, to puking snow, to sunny again.

Luckily we made it back to Beastie in one piece. By then it stopped snowing and, in typical unpredictable winter weather, it was sunny.

The forecast for tomorrow is clear, so we'll hit the slopes for sure.

I'm so happy we did this. Sure beats spending all day in a van. 😱  If you ever have a down day in Big Sky and want to have a fun adventure, definitely do this hike / snowshoe!

1. Steamboat has beautiful glades. My bro used to live here, and he told us where to find the best locals' favorite tree runs. We hit them, but it was super slushy. ↩

We covered a lot a ground these last two days. The kids, especially Fofi (the bunny), really enjoyed seeing all the impressive terrain. This is Fofi's first road trip. She came from Amsterdam (muito obrigada a minha grande amiga Leninha!!!) and became our daughter in Lisbon. She is quite the international traveler and adventurer...

We left Leadville and made our way to our next destination, Big Sky, Montana via Steamboat, Colorado.

The Steamboat stop is a recon to figure out where we're going to park Beastie when we come back here in a few weeks. We'll be meeting 1der's sister and her family for a fun week of skiing and hanging out.

Two things happened here:

1.The snow conditions and weather were a shock. It was ridiculously hot. As in a bluebird day, but mid-50's hot. As in the snow was suction cup sticky hot. As in people on the lift said it was super icy at 10am so they went into the lodge for a two-hour lunch until it finally softened up at noon hot (good thing we got there at the crack of noon). As in this snow can catch your edge and rip your knee apart in two seconds hot. In other words, the conditions sucked, even when skiing through Steamboat's famed, shaded glades.^[1]

2. We were about to leave Natural Grocers when a woman and her daughter came out of the store and stopped, looked up and started checking out Beastie. They weren't smiling or acting like normal Beastie fanboys / fangirls who typically drool and want to make eye contact so they could give us a big 👍🏼. They were examining him intently, talking and pointing. 1der was in the back and couldn't see them, so I said "there are two women looking at Beastie, and I don't know if they like him or are mad at us."

A few seconds later, the woman came to my door, and when I lowered the window, she asked if this was our van. I hesitantly said yes. She immediately got super excited and really animated. Relief! She wasn't mad at us.

She and her husband recently bought a van, and they were taking it to Colorado Camper Van (CVV) in a couple weeks to get a poptop installed. She had never seen one close-up and personal. Just like us, they are also doing a custom build-out of their rig. The opportunity to talk with us was a real boon for them. Her daughter was looking forward to getting the van so she and her Mom could go on girls-only trips. I thought that was really cool.

I'd say that was good timing for them. And for us too, as they are very nice.

On to Montana...

It's always a feast for the eyes to drive in the mountains at the end of a beautiful, sunny day when the light is warm and golden, and the trees cast long, dreamy shadows. Only problem with that is it's too easy to fall asleep (for the passenger!) with the sun bathing us in warmth.

During the winter, the only way / route to get to Big Sky from Steamboat is a 10+ hour, tri-state journey that took us through Idaho, Wyoming, and into Montana. The plan was to drive as far as we could before boondocking for the night at a rest area five hours away in Pinedale, WY.

The drive was going well, but it was dark and we were very tired as we approached Pinedale. We knew the rest stop was after the town, but somehow we blinked and missed it 😱. Of course we didn't realize it until it was too far out of the way to turn around, so we began to get desperate looking for a place to stop for the night. We even drove up a road in the middle of nowhere hoping there was a turnout, but no such luck. We were lucky we weren't met with shotguns as it turned out to be a private road leading to some houses.

With a stroke of luck, we found a big snowplow turnout on the side of the road. It was large enough that we were safe from cars, and because of a tall snowbank between us and the road, we were pretty tucked away from view from the highway. I get nervous when we have to boondock off the highway, so it was important we couldn't be easily seen (or hit!) by passing traffic. We popped the top and went to sleep.

When we woke up, there was fresh snow on the ground, and it was good to finally see our surroundings / where we were.

 

We were in Wyoming, so of course it was breathtakingly beautiful.

But we didn't know where we really were until we were pulling away and I saw a sign with information. I wasn't able to grab a shot, so I borrowed this image from the sign's webpage...

Sorry for switching seasons on you...

Turns out this was not a snowplow turnout. Rather, we boondocked in a historical place where the first white men, in what is now known as Sublette County in Wyoming, camped for five days in 1811. Click on the image to learn more about the history. This Wyoming Historical Marker is located on the northeast side of US Highway 189/191 between Daniel and Bondurant.

Here's what the sign, erected in 1994, says:

"On this site, Oct. 18, 1811, sixty-one Astorians of the Pacific Fur Company led by Wilson Price Hunt camped for 5 days. They were on their way to the Pacific Ocean from St. Louis and were the second group to cross the continent, just 5 years after Lewis and Clark. Here they met and traded with the Snake Indians, killed buffalo, and cured meat.

The group included Marie Dorian, the Iowa Indian wife of guide, Pierre Dorian, and her two children, ages 2 and 4. Later during the trip, on Dec. 30, 1811, stopping for only one day, she gave birth to her third child.

Continuing their journey, the Astorians crossed the divide one mile north of here on to the waters of the Columbia River. These were the first white men in what is now Sublette County."

In case you want the GPS coordinates from us vs. the web, pretend you got this text from 1der (with the kiss), just like I did. BUT, before you go / stay the night, please make sure it's legal to boondock there. There wasn't any cell service, so we couldn't check and we were desperate. Hope we weren't breaking the law.🤞🏼

We continued on our journey, and it was painful to drive right through Jackson and not stop to ski at Jackson Hole. Luckily we're going there after Big Sky, so no biggie.

On the other side of the Teton Pass is the state line of Idaho. As usual, and like we do every time we pass through this area, we snap a pic of the sign. Luckily there's a very nice, safe turnout.

As I was looking at the sign's image from this year, I thought it would be fun to compare the sign to the last two times we passed through.

The moose notice is new; the Idaho sign(s)? Well let's just say you can't have anything nice without people ruining it... And no, I am not a fuddy dud.

I always love to look at the expansive, incredibly bucolic views outside of Driggs, Idaho. It's easy to get lost in one's dreams of living on a ranch in pure beauty...

No wonder I've always wanted to be a Cowgirl!

After a truly spectacular drive through Idaho and into Montana, we arrived in Big Sky in the late afternoon. We are going to bed early with hopes of hitting the slopes tomorrow, but the weather is likely to be stormy, so we'll see.

I will go to sleep with tremendous appreciation for all the beauty we experienced today. Man, am I grateful for my eyes... 🙏

Three States in one day. Thank you, Beastie!

1. If you ever go to Cooper (or "Coop" as the locals call it), look for Kath, who works the register at the cafeteria, and Shrekkie (Jim) who sometimes works at the rental shop. These are their retirement jobs, so they may or not be there. Tell them we said hi! ↩

It sure is pretty at Cooper. And cold!!!

February 24 - March 5

It was a warm, sunny day when we traveled / drove from Aspen to Leadville. The drive was gorgeous, and the big stress of the day was fighting to stay awake to take in the bucolic scenery while the warm sun streamed through the window, lulling me to sleep.

During the summer, the route to Leadville is 58 miles and takes just under two hours to drive. But because the Independence Pass is closed during winter, the route is circuitous, having to "backtrack" out of Aspen and pass through Glenwood Springs and Avon / Beaver Creek. It's more than double the miles (129) and at least an extra hour of drive time.

This was our second trip to Leadville, and we really like this town. It has a very interesting history, and the main street is quite charming. For a more detailed write-up of Leadville, check out this post from a couple years ago. Leadville is special for us because Shrekkie and Kath live there.

The weather changed as we approached Leadville. It was cold and snowy, and just as we passed Ski Cooper, the road was icy. A few miles down the road, we passed a pickup truck that had spun out just moments before we arrived, and it was now stuck on the side of the road in a deep snow bank, pointing in the wrong direction. When we drove by and asked if they needed assistance, they said they were okay and help was on their way. Someone upstairs was looking out for them...

Spending a chunk of time with Shrekie and Kath was a wonderful. They are really cool, great peeps. Our days were spent hanging out, cooking together, and occasionally skiing together at either Cooper (where they work "for fun") or Copper Mountain.

Cooper is a fun little mountain that's a true throwback in time. The are only three lifts, one T-bar and a magic carpet. The lifts are old-fashioned (translation: slow, as in really slow), and when it's cold like it was on the first of our two days there, the lifts (especially the long ones) are fah-ree-zing. It was about 5°F (the forecasted high was 8°F), and that did not include the windchill factor, which made it likely another 10 - 15 degrees colder since it was blowing.

When was the last time you saw a lift like this? Let alone working?
It takes about 10-15 minutes to get to the top. Better bundle up big time if it's cold, because you'll freeze your tushy off on the slow lift. But once up top, the other lifts are okay (translation: a retro, non-detachable lift).

How cold was it? So cold that 1der and I both got "ice cream headaches" when we skied. And this was after being super layered-up and wearing head warmies under our helmets.

Even though it snowed the two prior days and we had about 10" of freshies, the snow was not the light, dry powder I would have expected at those temperatures. The snow was oddly sticky, which sort of flipped me out with my knee. Any run that had been already tracked was challenging as my skis would get caught up in the chunkiness and either catch my edges or prevent me from turning. It was sort of like skiing in crud, but I've never experienced crud at 5°F.

After a couple runs, 1der wanted to escape the cold and get some yummies at the "lodge" at the top. The lodge is actually really cool, large yurt, and we liked it so much, it got us thinking about living in yurts vs. building a traditional house when it's time to permanently move away from San Francisco. And no, I don't have any images of the yurt, inside or out. As if I would take my gloves off to take a picture outside when it's that cold. I'm not that hardy (or dumb 😆).

We skied Cooper twice, and here's the deal: this is a sweet little mountain. It's great for families as the terrain is super gentle and everything's reasonably priced. What impressed me was the laid-back vibe, where there were no egos on the mountain, and all the staff are super chill and nice^[1]. We had a lot of fun at this authentic, down-to-earth place, where the management / ownership deserves a pat on the back for providing a wonderful outlet, with reasonable prices, to cultivate the next generation of skiers and boarders. Families love it here.

Let's be serious: who the heck can afford to take their family skiing these days? Well, come to Cooper. Where can beginners feel comfortable without some jerk "hot dogger" barrelling down on them? Cooper! Where does an all-day adult lift ticket cost only $62? Cooper! Where can you get two-fer Tuesdays? Cooper! And if you want some more challenging terrain, check out the double blacks off of the t-bar. Super fun stuff. But I highly recommend boarders stay away from the t-bar — there was a boarder in front of us, and the poor girl fell en-route so many times. We finally saw her at the top about 40 minutes later. That's how long it took her to get back up, and she was NOT a happy camper / boarder.

Copper Mountain (sorry, no photos)

We skied five days (four for 1der) at Copper Mountain, which is an easy, 35-minute drive from Leadville. This was our first time there, and it took a couple days to find our favorite runs. Shrekkie was able to ski with us the first day 👏🏼, so it was great to get the lay of the land from him.

Getting from the parking lot to the mountain seemed a bit convoluted at first, but now that we've been here, it makes sense, considering there are three distinct areas of the mountain, all segregated by level but fully inter-connected by the lifts / terrain.

Except for one day, we always parked at the Alpine lot and took the black bus route. The black bus drops you off near the Super Bee lift. It's not a bad walk to the lift, and at the end of the day, if there's good coverage, you can get enough speed to ski right to the bus stop. All mountain-side bus stops take you back to the Alpine or other lots and drop you where you picked it up.

On the day 1der sat it out, I decided to take the blue bus thinking I could get to the Three Bears and Sierra lifts faster. That was a mistake, as the walk to the American Flyer lift / chondula was a huffer, and there were so many more people. In retrospect, I should have just taken the black bus and skied over to those chairs. More snow time, less people.

But... this enabled me to meet Bob and Todd, two ski buddies from Upstate New York who flew out for a long weekend. They were great skiers and really nice, and they let me tag along with them for the afternoon. I told them I wanted to ski the runs off of Sierra and Three Bears, and since they knew the way, they were my tour guides.

The Three Bears chair is a brand new lift that debuted just this last December. In the past, in order to ski this terrain / Tucker Mountain, one had to either do a 40-minute hike up a rocky ridgeline while sucking air big time (peaks out at 12,412 ft / 3,785 m), or break a ski bummer's bank account and catch a snowcat ride to the top. Now, you can simply park your butt on a chair and enjoy the ride. I loved it, but not everyone's a fan.

Even though the coverage off of Three Bears was not that great, the snow was decent and there was still lots of super fun, steep terrain. The only drawback was having to push / skate up the hill if exiting left of the chair. That was a huffer; at 12,412 ft, everything is a lot harder to do.

It was unfortunate that my last day at Copper was this day, as I really wanted to come back and ski Three Bears with 1der. Oh well, next year.

Our time at Leadville was so relaxing and comfortable, even though it was COLD. We took up Shrekkie and Kath's offer to sleep in their beautiful home during our entire stay, which meant we were really comfy at night when the temperatures dipped dangerously low.

This is what the temperature was (-9 °F) just before going to bed one night.

I suspect it probably got down to -12°F or -13°F since typically, the lowest temps are at 6 or 7am. And since you're asking, yes, Beastie needs to be heated the entire time so the water tanks won't freeze.

We took care of that by running a space heater inside Beastie while we stayed in the house. If your hosts offer that, make sure you give them money for their power bill!

Shrekkie is so nice; he took us all the way to Gypsum so we could restock at Costco. On the way, he showed us the little town of Red Cliff. What a funky place, with a cool bridge.

This bridge is really interesting. Definitely check it out and the town of Red Cliff.
Be careful as you approach the turn-off for the town. Once you see the signs, slow down. The turn-off is a hard right or left, depending on which direction you're heading. If you miss the turn-off, it will be awhile before you can turn around.

Many thanks again, Shrekkie and Kath for everything; look forward to hang'n with you guys again soon!

The Shrekkie and Kath family in pompom bears. Aren't they cute!
I first made pompoms with the colors wrapped a certain way. They I gave the pompoms a massive haircut to shape their heads.

Of course Shrekkie's bear is the biggest. It's huge — nearly four inches in diameter! It took a LOT of yarn to make him.

Aspen
February 18 - 23

Well what can I / we say about Aspen? We love skiing here (Highlands!) and seeing our friends G and M, their daughters I and W, and the animals. Thank you again for your hospitality ❤️.

We haven't been here in two years, so it was really fun to sit around the dinner table with this great family and see how much the girls have grown and continue to mature. We love how this family interacts.

When people ask which area they should go to if they could chose only one spot for a ski vacation, I always say Aspen. Why? Because you can chose between four different mountains and ski so many different types of terrain. This is a strategic choice, especially if going with a group — there's definitely something for everyone, every level. This recommendation has one caveat: since we never go into town / do the Aspen tourist thing, we can only reference the skiing experience.

I also recommend Aspen because of the fantastic transportation system. Why drive and pay exorbitant amounts for parking when you can park at the Intercept / Brush Creek lot and is super convenient. From our experience, there is ample space in the lot, no matter what time of day (can't speak about weekends since we normally stay away). But know overnight parking / camping is not allow and could result in a ticket if you are caught.

Buses to all the mountains run frequently. Unfortunately, during the week, the bus from the lot to Highlands involves a cumbersome transfer that can leave one waiting for the transfer bus. Not a good thing when you're dying to get on the slopes, but still, it sure beats driving. Fortunately, on the weekends, there is a direct express bus that is saaaweet!

Luckily, we never experienced any crowds in all the times we've been here (four), though we've read the mountain has become much more crowded because of IKON pass holders. For all the five days (four for 1der) I skied here this time, this was not my experience as I always skied right onto the lift, even at HIghlands on a Saturday, our last day, February 22.

If you're going to Aspen / Snowmass and want to stay at a charming, cozy, and super conveniently located studio (entire place to yourself), definitely check out G and M's airbnb. The Intercept lot is just down the hill from them. Be sure to mention us when booking.

Meet Felini, one of the three four-legged sweeties you might meet if you stay at the AirBnB. He likes to visit Beastie!

After a nice breakfast and saying goodbyes to Jared and Dana, we left SLC the afternoon of February 17th for the first of our two-leg, eight-hour drive to Aspen. We always like to make interesting side trips when traveling between ski areas, so 1der reached out to Josh, another SMB forum member who lives near the half-way point in Fruita, Colorado.

Fruita is west of Grand Junction, and a small, nice town with a fantastic rest area. It was the perfect place to boondock for the night; really quiet and safe, with excellent, clean facilities, and a Vietnam museum on the premises.

Luckily, 1der was able to meet up with Josh for an early breakfast. Me? I happily stayed all warm and snuggly, snoozing in my comfy, puffy sleeping bag.  I didn't wake up until 1der got back.

Great news: Josh recommended a beautiful scenic route that is a must-see "detour" starting right from town.

There are eight national monuments in Colorado that are managed by the National Parks Service and Bureau of Land Management, and it just so happens the one located in Fruita is actually called the Colorado National Monument.

Bananas Chimpos loves to learn and always reads the signs.

This Monument is 32-square miles of stunning red rocks, dramatic rock formations and expansive canyons, all seen via an easy-to-drive, 23-mile route with numerous (19!) scenic overlooks. Of course there's a visitor center where we got Beastie's National Parks Passport stamped and watched an interesting film about the history and unique geology (that earned the nickname of "Tour of the Moon" given by cyclists) of the Monument.

We highly recommend taking this route and experiencing the Colorado National Monument. Thank you, Josh, for recommending it!

You can start or end in Fruta. It's so picturesque, you can get great views from any stop.

Bananas Chimpos gets his love of sign-reading from his Mommy, who also likes to photograph them. This way, I have content, even when looking at the images years later.

Great examples of Kayenta and Wingate formations. Check out the sign above to learn more about them.

1. In 2017, I was skiing alone after 1der's boot explosion, and met Shrekkie. Since then, we have become good friends with him and his wife Cathy. Even though the long saga of the boot explosion happened, I'm grateful for the great people I've met skiing alone. I highly recommend it! ↩

Alta / Snowbird
February 10 - 16

As always, the skiing at Alta was fantastic. We spent most of our time off the Supreme chair skiing the bowls and through the trees. LOVE skiing the trees at Alta. The snow was great from the recent dump.

I LOVE skiing through the trees, and there's this fun little area that takes you through the area where the houses are actually on the ski mountain. Yellow Bear beckons me every time.

Remember the 52-hour Interlodge I mentioned in my last post? Well here are some images from cars buried in that storm. I'm guessing some of these cars are rentals that were just abandoned by their renters. I don't want to know what are the penalties / costs (to the renters) to get the cars dug out and, assuming they could start, returned to their drop-off locations.

Luckily, the canyon was re-opened Monday, the day we wanted to hit Alta, but was still not possible to get through a stretch of the road. We had to detour through the "town" of Alta (yes, there is the town of Alta...)

Do you think there's a car underneath the snow in front of the sign? Pic taken on Monday, 2/10.

So if you called in sick, guess you can't talk about your car getting buried at Alta... In all seriousness, I really feel for this person. Hope their (or the rental agency's) car isn't wrecked...(pic also taken on Monday, 2/10)

Yikes. If a car wasn't shoveled out at this point, the situation will be even worse. The snow gets heavier; water will be everywhere. Hopefully everyone has good car insurance. (pic taken 2/11)

We want to again express our many thanks to our friends and fellow forum members, Jared and Dana, for letting us park / camp out in their driveway during our stay in the SLC area. It was great to see them after a two-year stretch, and we especially enjoyed our time with Dana and getting to know her better. 👍🏼

For me, Alta is a place for connections^[1].This time, the connection came when I was once again skiing alone (1der wasn't feel'n it that day. Can you tell who's the bigger ski bum in this family?). I randomly got on the chair with a mother (W) and daughter (J) team. When I told them where I lived, J lit up. "I really want to study at the San Francisco Baking Institute because I'm a sourdough bread baker!" Well that did it. Now she was talking my language. We spent the remainder of the ride talking about SD bread making, and I did not want to torture her too much when I said I can be at SFBI in 20 - 25 minutes from my house...

We all met a few days later to celebrate J's 21st birthday. What an honor it was that she wanted to spend her birthday with us! We compared bread porn 😆, and J is one talented baker. 1der and I are so impressed these women, and we look forward to following J's endeavors.

Because of the weather, we skied only four out of our five days at Alta. But that's okay - we will use this, and our two remaining days at Deer Valley, on our return trip home. It's a perfect excuse to swing back this way to eat at our new favorite burger joint anywhere (Salt City Burger), and see our old and new friends. Luckily, Alta never disappoints.

*Be sure to check out Salt City Burger when you're in Sandy. They make fantastic burgers that include an amazing DIY selection of sauces and condiments. And can you say all-you-can-eat fries made to order? We had a very nice chat with the owner, who is a Bay Area native. We also enjoyed chatting with the dishwasher, a really nice man who's friends with the owners and is helping them out. His real job is working at Frito Lay. It was fun talking about Flamin' Cheetos, which for the record, neither 1der nor I have ever eaten, so we don't understand the craze.

The highlight of our time here at Deer Valley was seeing the World Cup aerial and dual moguls finals. For both events, the qualifying jumps and runs took place during the day, so it was really cool to see the world's greatest skiers in action as we were skiing / on the lifts.

The aerials event on Friday, February 7th, was mind-blowing. To see, in person, the scale of the jump is downright scary. The amount of cajones it takes to go straight down a steep hill, launch off a super gnarly ramp, execute an uber dangerous move, land and stop on a pretty short "run way," is incomprehensible and literally death defying.

These men / women / kids are freak'n nuts. And kids they are, as some of them are only 15-years-old. On a side note, during the day, we were on the lift with one of the coaches of the US ski team, and we were talking about the aerial competitors. He forbade his kid from being an aerial skier as he said (for the aerial team) there were concussions on a weekly basis. Yikes...

That Friday night, after another great day of skiing, I went back on the mountain to watch the aerial finals. 1der was too tired and didn't want to go.

From the main lodge, I took the Magic Carpet, then transfer to a chair lift. It was really weird getting on and off a lift without skis. The exit was particularly strange as I had to stand up like I would normally get off a lift, but then run off the ramp. It was actually pretty dicey with my knee.

I parked myself right under the tall, stilted camera platform for NBC sports. They were broadcasting the event live, and because I had the same POV (just lower) as the camera operator, I was in the perfect place to watch. The platform also protected me from the crowd of about 4,500 people.

Admittedly, you get a much better view watching it on TV, but there's nothing like being there live. Here's an official video of the winner:

Unfortunately, the skiing on Saturday the 8th pretty much sucked. There were SOOOOO many people. As in long lift lines. We never ski on the weekends because of this, but since we lost two days this week, we decided to give it a shot.

Isn't it supposed to never be crowded at Deer Valley because they limit ticket sales? People were saying this is the thee most crowded they've ever seen it in the 25 years they've been skiing there. So what gives?

The storm that dumped the last couple days also hammered Alta and Snowbird. There were some avalanches on Little Cottonwood Canyon Road which forced closure of the only road up to those areas. This meant everyone with pent-up "I've got to ski" energy swarmed to the surrounding areas and packed them out. Guess the ticket sales limit at Deer Valley is set at "super crowded."

For those who couldn't get out of the canyon, anyone who was stuck at Alta / Snowbird was sheltering-in-place in a historic Interlodge period of 52 hours. That's a long time to be Interlodged, which is a situation where the avalanche danger is so extreme, being outside of a designated building or in a vehicle is literally illegal. Sometimes people are stuck in cramped basements during Interlodge periods. Now that would be horrible.

In spite of the crowds, we were able to see the mogul competitors running their qualifying rounds. These men / women / kids are nuts as well. At one point, I stopped perpendicular to the course to watch. As the racers came down, I could hear (extremely loud) thump, thump thump. This was the sound of the racers slamming their bodies / knees against the moguls. I cringed thinking about how, in less than five years, they probably won't have any cartilage remaining in their knees from all that slamming.

That evening, we headed up early to the spectator's area. Even though it was going to be cold standing, at night, in the snow with 15°F temperatures, there was no way I would let 1der miss this event. I knew there would be a huge crowd, so we left Beastie at 6:00pm for the 7:30 pm starting time. Because I watched the qualifiers earlier in the day, I knew where we needed to stand in order to get the best viewing spot: perpendicular to the course at the bottom, right where the racers stopped. For anyone who wants to attend one of these events live, do not stand right at the bottom facing the course. You will get sprayed with snow every time the racers come in.

Huge throngs of people piled in. The announcer said the crowd was over 5,000 and growing. We were settled in the perfect place, and the competition began. We had a great view of the bottom part of the course, and the racers came barreling in and stopping right in front of us.

There were giant monitors that displayed the live NBC Sports broadcast. It was great having monitors since no one could see any details when the racers were navigating the top of the course. We had no idea just how strategic was our viewing spot. It turns out we were at the edge of the camera frame where they interviewed the racers, which meant we were on TV for every race.

Who are the freaks in the corner?

It was hilarious! 1der was hamming it up for the camera and constantly making these funny, over-the-top cheering gestures and noises. I'm laughing just thinking about this as I'm writing.

As the evening progressed, the people around us were edging towards us, horning into our spots. They wanted in on the TV action after seeing 1der and his antics. We were edged over by about six feet by the time the event ended.

We left as soon as the final run finished. I knew from the night before that walking down the mountain was very slippery and super dicey, and it was even more scary when thousands of people were coming down at the same time. Luckily, I had crampon spikes on my boots and had no problems getting down.

We got back to Beastie quickly and took off before the traffic got bad. Since we moved to the other RV park (River's Edge) the night before, we were "home" in less than 20 minutes.

What great timing. Had we not delayed our departure from San Francisco, we would have missed all of this, our first World Cup. We need to plan next year's trip around this event. Definitely a must see!

A note about the River's Edge RV Park: We had a nice, relaxing stay here. While the "plush factor" pales in comparison to the Mountain Valley RV park, the bathrooms (stalls of showers and toilets) were very clean, and the management was nice.

One very important factoid that's important to point out, especially for anyone thinking of staying here: it is located directly at the base of the giant Jordanelle Dam. And I mean directly, to the point where we discussed, without any stress or worry (seriously), how we'd be done in less than five seconds if the dam broke. The great news, beside the fact that dam didn't fail 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼, is we were 10 minutes closer to the Mayflower entrance / Jordanelle Gondola than from the Mountain View RV park, so it was totally worth the risk. 🤣

Here's what's on the other side of the dam. We drove through Jordanelle State Park after a day of skiing. After seeing the other side of the campground, I revise the five seconds to a micro-second. 😱

The surgical order I had to sign the morning of my surgery, October 26, 2018.

If you've torn your ACL or injured your knee, I hope this post helps you.

Today was my first day back on the slopes since I tore my ACL nearly two years ago.

Do yourself a favor: don't tear your ACL. Easier said than done when you're not a couch potato. Being an athlete / athletic person exposes you to risks, but the risks are definitely worth it.

I tore my ACL in late March while on our Ski Bumming 2018 tour. It was truly a freak accident. I was off of Chair 22 at Mammoth Mountain when I fell, which was no big deal. But then I started sliding down, on my back, head first. I had done this before twice in my life, and both times I slid quite a distance, and it was SUPER scary and dangerous, especially with a bunch of trees around.

So this time, as I’m sliding, I’m thinking I better “right” myself. I picked up my skis to rotate around. Unfortunately I didn’t pick up my left ski high enough, which caused the tail to hit the snow while my body was rotating around. My knee went uphill; my body kept going downhill. I heard the dreaded “pop,” and then came the pain.

I didn’t realize it then, but I also tore my hamstring and had bone bruising. I made the STUPID decision to get myself down the hill and not call ski patrol. DO. NOT. DO. THIS.

The decision was even more ridiculously stupid because I was skiing alone on a ◆◆ run (Shaft) not frequented by many and away from the view of the lift. I was incredibly lucky I didn’t fall again and really blow up my knee / my entire leg. It was extremely difficult and painful (and SUPER risky, and I'll say it another way: utterly ridiculous in the worst way) to do this.

Thank goodness I only tore my ACL and didn’t rip up my knee like what can happen when there is weight load on the knee at the time of injury.

I was also so incredibly fortunate to have an amazing, renown surgeon, Dr. Kenneth Akizuki, located right here in San Francisco. I spent a lot of time researching / looking for the right surgeon. I wanted a sports medicine ortho, ideally one who was associated with a professional sports team (Dr. Akizuki is the team physician for the San Francisco Giants).

If you ever have to have surgery, hopefully you have excellent health care nearby and the luxury of interviewing a few so you can find the one that feels just right for you. When I met with Dr. Akizuki, I felt like a healing blanket was put over my knee.

The black marks are where Dr. Akizuki indicated the incision and drill (through the bone) points. Yes, that's correct: five entry points. I purposely made the image small so no one would freak out thinking this was dried blood (insert fainting — or other 🤮 — emoji here ).

I had the reconstructive surgery and worked SUPER hard for eight months in physical therapy to get myself back onto the tennis court and the slopes.

All the research I’ve done shows two things: a) the chances of tearing the ACL in the non-injured leg tends to be high with a return to sports, and b) the hardest part of returning to the slopes is the mental aspect.

I know my chances of tearing the ACL on my right knee due to Point A is minimal. This is because of all the work I did in PT on both legs, and because my awesome physical therapist, Dorian Danik of Presidio Sport and Medicine in San Francisco, did a comparative strength test between the injured and non-injured legs.

I was good to go. If you tear your ACL (or injure your leg or knee), most definitely do the equivalent PT exercises on your non-injured leg while rehabbing your injured knee / leg. This is a must, and if possible, the best time to work the non-injured leg is right after your PT appoint, especially if they'll let you stay in the facility.

Point B is another story. Most thankfully, my injury was due to a freak accident vs. a blow-out yard sale crash. I can only imagine how difficult it would be psychologically if the tear happened due to a bad fall.

Well, I faced the moment of truth here at Deer Valley: would I be too freaked out to ski like I used to?

I dedicated my first day to the four people most instrumental in my ACL reconstruction recovery: 1der, my Daddy, Dorian, and my tennis buddy Doug. Getting back on the court months ago was instrumental in continuing to build my lateral strength and give me the confidence to move like I used to. But... in spite of my physical condition, I’m constantly thinking and worried about my knee. Keep in mind a full ACL reconstruction takes two years to fully heal.

You may find that factoid hard to believe / question this, especially because pro athletes are back in action in months. I defer the answer to Dr. Akizuki. As he said: the ACL graft must undergo re-population, proliferation of cells and re-vascularization, and the amount of time it takes for this to fully happen, in any human body, is the same, and It doesn’t matter if you’re a couch potato or the best athlete in the world: two full years.

Of course this doesn’t mean one can’t resume activity within several months post-op. For me, this just means my knee and the way I move are always in my conscience / the back of my mind. I must always think strategically and preventively.

The amount of time, energy, effort and hard physical work to get through this is EXTENSIVE and EXPENSIVE, so if one is not constantly paying mind to their knee, I’d definitely be scared for them.

For preventive measures and a safety precaution, I got a medically prescribed knee brace (Breg Z12 non-custom. More on this on another post to come), which I will wear whenever I ski. I don’t wear one to play tennis, and at first, I was hesitant to get one for skiing as I don’t want to become psychologically dependent it. But... I’m not going to take any risks. I will wear one because it’s the smart thing to do, at least for the first couple years post-op.

******************

My first day on the mountain post-op was fantastic. My knee feels "good as new," and my legs really powerful; I was extremely happy with my performance.

The snow was good, though there were several spots where it is crusty under fresh snow. We joined a mountain tour (highly recommend mountain tours; they're free and a great way to get the lay of the land) and spent the afternoon zooming all over the mountain. I wasn’t skiing tentatively.

And then it happened. A big, hard fall — a head banger, and not sure what happened to my body. I laid still for a second and did inventory: I didn’t even think about my knee while it was happening; I wasn’t at all fazed; no pain; no pop; both knees in tact. Everything is great! I was really happy I took a fall this soon and this hard so I could know the answer to my burning question:

I AM BACK!!!!

1. I've since written a post about food preparation for long trips. Check it out. ↩
2. The funds raised from this event are used to feed the public in the Spring during the annual "Festa." I (1derGirl) am a very active volunteer at this organization and highly recommend getting involved. ↩

The preparation required to be away for nearly three months while living in a van in very cold, snowy environments requires a massive effort.^[1]

We really wanted to leave the third week of January, but we delayed our departure until February 2nd so we could volunteer and lend our efforts to the big fundraising crab dinner on February 1st at the Sausalito Portuguese Cultural Center. I mention this event because if you live in the San Francisco Bay area and love crab, this is a must-attend event. If you missed it this year, that's okay. You can go next year, and every year after, like so many repeaters. Thee best crab; all you can eat!^[2]

The plan was to leave the next day, but we didn’t get home from the event until nearly 1am, and there were still so many things that had to be done before we left.

We finally pulled away from the house shortly after 8pm on Monday, February 3rd. We could've left a few hours earlier, but it made no sense to do so as we would have just sat in horrible, bumper-to-bumper traffic. We drove to Reno and spent the night in a casino parking lot.

The next day we drove straight to Heber City (near Salt Lake City) so we could ski Deer Valley all this week. Luckily there are two RV parks in Heber City, and both are no further than a 30-minute drive to Deer Valley.

We are staying at the Mountain Valley RV park, which is really nice (unfortunately, I don’t have any images). Instead of having a large, group bathroom with stalls of toilets and showers, the bathrooms are individual units that each contains a shower. Everything is super clean, and Judy, who took care of our reservation, was super professional, nice and helpful.

Yesterday, we woke up to a raging blizzard, which meant it had to be a complete white-out on the mountain. Normally I would ski in these conditions, and as much as I was dying to get on the slopes, I didn’t want to risk getting injured on my first day simply because I couldn’t see.

We drove up to the mountain anyways to check it out and get the lay of the land. We were thrilled to learn that the World Cup Finals for aerials and dual moguls are happening this week. Way cool!

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Wednesday, February 5th

This morning we woke up again to another storm. It wasn’t snowing as hard, but it was really cold and the winds were howling.

We decided to sit out this day as well and go to the library (one of my favorite things to do while on the road if the weather’s bad), so I could do some work. BTW, the Heber City library is gorgeous!!!

Tonight, we are hitting the sack early since tomorrow is our first day back on the slopes. Get ready, mountain, cuz here we come!!!