We’ve Got Our Mojo Back.

So how deep was it???

The drive down proved a bit exciting. I-90 through eastern Idaho and Western Montana was icy and snowy. The plows seem to have been caught off guard and so were many motorists. We passed about a dozen cars, trucks and trailers in the ditches alongside the road. All the while in our truck, whoever was not driving was trying to get an Internet signal and track the storm that was heading just south.

Finally yesterday around 3pm we felt sure that Targhee was the place to go. According to The Weather Channel, The Wyoming Avalanche Center and Intellecast, the brunt of the storm was heading there and not into Utah, which was our other destination. We pulled up to Grand Targhee Resort around 4pm and decided to just check to see if they had any ski and stay packages that would make a night in a hotel feasible for us.


The view from Targhee.

As it turns out Targhee is a really reasonable resort. A refreshing twist on the super-conglomerate, highfaluting, mega resort areas in Colorado and Utah. Why, you can pull right up to the base of Targhee at a respectable hour, the night before Valentine’s Day and get a slope side room for $59.00. Since neither of us had come up with a way to carry a dozen roses in the camper, we decided this would have to substitute. We fell asleep under heavy down comforters, with snow falling outside and in our own beds, (Valentine ’s Day or not the chance to sprawl out in a queen size bed all by ourselves was too much to forgo for the sake of romanticism).

I am not a fan of Valentine’s Day. A socially prescribed day of flower and chocolate buying isn’t my idea of showing my husband that I adore him. That said, today was my best ever Valentine’s day.


This morning we awoke to 7” of fresh on top of the 7” they’d gotten the day before. We were ecstatic! Powder, lovely, soft, forgiving powder, I had almost forgotten how good it is. We got second chair (seems there are some really die-hard locals there who beat us to the first one) and rode beautiful gladed, mellow, powder fields all day long. The lodge where we spent the night has a lobby complete with fireplace, overstuffed chairs and free cocoa, we made frequent visits to it, since it was really cold out. After riding from 9-4 we took a quick soak in the hot tub and now we are off for Utah.


Dan riding at Targhee.

Tuesday, February 15, 2005
The Beav.


Before I can really tell you about our day today you need to understand a little bit about snow. If you ski you have heard about Champagne Powder. Well here’s what that really means. There is a method for determining how light snow is, to do this you measure the water content. An area or an avalanche center, will measure the snow in a cylindrical container, the container is capable of assessing the inches of water in the snow. So if 10” fall and the water content is 1” then you divide 1” by 10” and you get 10% snow. Champagne is generally thought to be anything less than 10% snow. So basically the lower the percentage the lighter, and by my way of thinking the better, the snow.

If you are not familiar with the sensation of riding in Champagne then know this, it can make even the biggest hack feel like they are a rock star on the slopes. A single day of riding in Champagne Powder has resulted in throngs of people abandoning friends, family and careers to ski the rest of their lives. Today we skied 17” of 5% snow. In scientific terms this is known as heaven.


The shiny crystals you see here are surface hoar. The winter equivelant of dew. It forms on cold clear nights, and leads to blue bird days. Surface hoar is what makes snow sparkle on days like today.

Unfortunately our fantastic day comes at a hefty price. I am not referring to the $30 lift tickets (really a screaming deal) or the $9.00 lunch (also a screaming deal), but to the debt we now owe to the person who turned us onto Beaver Mountain. That person is the one person you never want to owe, Brother Pat. You see until very recently Pat lived in Logan, Utah. For years he’s been calling us and leaving messages like “you punks, hope you had fun skiing that inch over there in Colorado, I just rode 20 at the Beav.” Well until today I didn’t know how much of a dig this truly was. The Beav is fabulous! Too bad for Brother Pat, he lives in Moab now.

Here are some pictures from our great day.

Dan tuckin in the trees.


Me in my happy place.


One of the runs takes you trough an old burn area.


Me still happy.


This picture makes me smile, an untracked tree line, what's not to love. Even though this picture doesn't look very steep, I promise the trees at Beaver Mountain are really nicely pitched, making for fun fast turns.


Dan? Where'd you go?

Red Mountain/ Rossland, BC

Well we did it, we drove to Canada even though everyone told us there was no snow here. Unfortunately THEY were right, and worse, according to The Weather Channel, The Farmer’s Almanac and the Canadian Avalanche Center there is no snow in the foreseeable future. That is with the possible exception of Saturday when there is a 20% chance of flurries. But do not be dismayed, ever the optimists, we are happy to report that BC is only a short two-day drive away from Utah and thus powder.

The new revised plan is to ski Red Mountain on Saturday, maybe Fernie on Sunday and then retreat to the one place in North America that is set to be dumped upon for the next ten days, our old stomping grounds, Southwestern Colorado.

What a strange twist of fate it is that as much as we tried to get out and experience the rest of North America, we keep getting pulled back home. Is this a sign? Are we meant to be in Durango? Well you may rest assured that it will take a mighty big frying pan to beat that message into us if this is really the case.

We knew things were really getting bleak when we went into the Albertsons north of Spokane and the 70 something year-old checker commented upon learning that we were not from there, “I sure hope you didn’t come all this way to ski.” I laughed…to keep from crying.


This is one of the tree runs on the north side of Red, not so good right now. See all of the ice?

We got to Rossland this morning and visited the ski area right off. First let me tell you that this is the place! If there was even a slight chance that it would snow here in the next few weeks or so, we would buy passes and settle in. Alas, as I said before there is no hint of snow, in fact rain is much more likely. Red Mountain is a glade/tree/powder skiers dream come true, our dream come true. Except, it would seem, this month and perhaps this year. The Mountain is quaint, and friendly. It has produced Canadian Olympiads and was recently ranked in the top 25 ski towns by Powder (I think) magazine, and the #1 by Canada’s Ski magazine.


We learned that this was the first ski lift in Canada. Yup, it is still running.

The town nestled a mere ridge line away is small, charming and utterly gear toward the hard-core, live it-love it, no friends on a powder day, skiing way of life. There are 4000 acres of slack country (lift accessed backcountry) accessible from the top of Red. There are acres upon acres of epic, beautiful cross country trails, some leading right back to town. For goodness sake its Main Street is four blocks long and it has 4 coffee shops on it, none of which are giant US corporate chains! I am meant to live here!


To make this decision even harder on us there is the fact that Red Mountain offers, free RV camping complete with electrical hookups, and not in the boondocks somewhere but right up front, perhaps 50 yards from the lift. They will even allow you to buy day passes and then credit the cost of the passes towards a season’s pass should you later decided to buy one.


This is the run you can take back to Rossland.

So to recap, we are on the doorstep of our dream ski area and town. We have free ski-in/ Ski-out camping and the ability to use our electric heater to keep us nice and toasty. We can buy no-risk day passes and turn them in for a season’s pass when it becomes cost effective to do so. We love the town, more so than any other that we have visited (save for maybe Sayulita), and we pre-bought beer this time, so we could even afford to drink here. Sounds like our idea of Mecca wouldn’t you say? Except there is no snow. Why God, why???

As our dear friend Erik Wienk is prone to saying when something he’s done goes array, “the blueprint was SO good.”


Rachel's first ever Magic Carpet ride.


To drown our current sorrows we opted to drive north and spend the night at Ainsworth Hot Springs. This place is gorgeous, it is located right alongside Kootenay Lake and surrounded by mountains. Camping here runs $5/ night and a soak is $4.60 U.S. Tonight we will soak and drink and pray for a snowy miracle.

Saturday



Ainsworth was great and made for a nice distraction from our woes. The springs boast a 150’ long horseshoe shaped cave, which has in its depths the mother spring and acts as a hot springs/ sauna. It is fantastic. We tried to take pictures inside, but the steam made it very difficult.




Yesterday we soaked in the morning then drove over to Whitewater Ski Area, outside of Nelson. Yet another area that looks like it could be great if only there was snow. With our depression mounting by the moment we returned to Rossland. The base of Red is covered in frozen granular; it looks like mid April snow, not February.

Across the street from the mountain is the Rock Cut Restaurant and Bar where we spent last night drinking jugs (Canadian for pitchers) and chatting it up with some locals. They assured us is has to snow, although they are all banking on March and calling February a loss.

The 20% chance of flurries seems to have turned into a 100% chance of partly cloudy skies with no chance of precipitation. Today we will ride granular and appreciate the water proofness of our ski gear, while touring what was to be our home this winter. We have set a 2pm deadline for the next decision to be made. Stay, go to Fernie or go home and ski SW Colorado, we shall see.

5:38pm

We had a really fun day at Red. It was the kind of day that was fun because we were exploring a new area, and because we were only there for one day. It would cease to be fun after a few days. We met up with a ten year-old Rossland native who described the conditions as such, "the snow is really bad, but the skiing is tolerable." He was right, as long as we stuck to groomed green and blue runs, we had fun.

Today made us realize more than ever that Red is a fantastic ski area. If we could have on a day like today, I can only imagine the sheer joy a powder day here would bring. We are already planning for next winter's trip up here. This year, however was not meant to be.

A quick call to meredith assured us that it is currently snowing back home and that the winter is shaping up to be an epic one. Finally we have received all of the signs needed. We are tucking tail and heading south. I post this from just north of Spokane.

If we try hard we can be skiing powder in Utah by Tuesday.

Which way do we go from Jackson Hole?

Those less hardy, (or is that fool hardy), than ourselves might re-think heading north after receiving first hand accounts of the blue ice phenomenon sweeping the Northwest. Still others might retreat to the champagne powder of Southwestern Colorado after being offered free Jackson Hole passes with the caveat of "you can have them, but you won't want to use them". There are some who would see a sudden electrical problem, a faltering marine battery and an illuminated check engine light as divine intervention. But not us. We press on, heading for the icy north with nothing but a faltering truck and a battery that can only heat us for half a night to back us up.

After losing an hour in Craig, Colorado, which resulted in the blowing of 10 fuses, the purchase of a new in-cab inverter and an unsatisfying chat with the Dodge dealer, we pressed on for Little America, Wyoming. You may remember this place from the very beginning of our journey. Little America bills itself as the largest truck stop in North America; it even has its own post office, affording it township status.

This morning while eating in Little America's diner I read the story of how this "Oasis" came to be. Seems the founder owned the land and one night got caught in a storm forcing him to survive a night out with no shelter or food. He proclaimed in his despair that someone should build a place where one could obtain shelter, a fire and a hot meal here on this god forsaken patch of land. Thus was born Little America. Now you can get a room, a latte, a pepperoni log, some of that fake speed truck drivers use and even kitschy Wyoming trinkets, all while filling up at one of their 60+ fuel pumps. Now that's a good time.

Jackson, WY
From our little haven along the I-80 corridor we headed back to Jackson. The lure of good friends and seeing the only mountain that has ever scared my husband was strong. We made camp at Landa and Keith's house again. Dan paid our rent by haying Landa's horses in the mornings and wrangling Raymond, the pet cow, out of the hay shed.



Dan the Cow Whisperer.

Dan went backcountry skiing with Mike and Carol (of Grand Canyon fame). On Sunday Dan, Carol and I went snow shoeing behind Landa's house.







Views from the snow shoeing tour. (This photo was taken by Dan, as was the barn one above, see he doesn't JUST drive ;)

That afternoon we settled in and watched six hours straight of television, The Super bowl. This probably is equal to all of the other TV we have seen in seven months.

Monday we skied Jackson Hole. It was my first time there. What a mountain! Like everywhere besides from whence we came, they need snow, but you can still have fun and I could see how amazing this place must be on a powder day.


Dan reviewing the trail map.




Me a the top of the tram. The ride and views are equally impressive.

There is an RV friendly lot at the ski area. We paid $10 for a ski in/ ski out parking spot. No frills, but a level space and only steps away from the Mangy Moose a classic après ski bar. Apparently the cost to park overnight is $10, the price to "camp" is $40. We "parked".

As the last post and its amendments alluded to, we are at somewhat of a loss for where to go right now. Our plan was always to return to Rossland, BC for the winter. We intended to spend about 3 months skiing Red Mountain and immersing ourselves in this charming Canadian town. However, due to a serious lack of snow, and an abundance of rain, we are lacking the excitement we once had for this part of the trip. We have weighed all of your suggestions, as well as some other options, and have decided to stick to the plan for now. Currently we are outside of Missoula, MT. We should be in Rossland by Friday.

We are going to ski Red, see how it is and make up our minds from there. Spending the remainder of ski season in Canada is an expensive endeavor for us which is a big part of the decisions we are trying to make. To stay in Rossland, we would need to buy season’s passes to the mountain and most likely rent an apartment.

We may decided that this isn't the year to live in BC, in which case we will do a quick ski tour of some of the BC mountains we have always wanted to ride, and then retreat to Colorado. Otherwise we will tuff it out in the great not-so-white north. Either way I am certain we will be able to make the most of it.

P.S. Shameless Plug: have you noticed the ads below here? See how well they correspond to whatever I have been writing about recently? Well if you click on them you can learn more and help us fill our diesel tank. Since putting the ads on just over a month ago we have earned $60 from your clicks. Keep clicking-it costs you nothing and may just help us get to wherever the heck it is we are going.

2/10/05
WOW!!! You are all clicking away it seems. Thanks and I hope you are getting something useful or entertaining out of the ads. We have earned about two tanks of diesel now :)



Our beloved Wolf Creek Ski Area is owned by the Pitcher family. Also owned by a Pitcher, is Discovery Ski Area outside of Anaconda, MT. This is not the year to plan your family vacation there but, this place has serious potential! We will be back.
As this picture of Anaconda shows, as we go further and further north, the snow gets less and less. Uh-oh.

The Aspen Eddy

Voting results:
So far we have a vote for Cerritos, one generic go surfing vote, one for Yuma, one for and against Mt. Bohemia, and one for returning to Durango (I think- or is D-town too good for us "sorry slobering drunks hiding it behind an RV facade white trash barrel racing on skis no good vala-dick-torian gibber promoting movie star smilin bling, bling worthless, best friends a chump could have" types). Utah is a good suggestion, but alas Brother Pat lives there so that's out.

So in summary that's two votes for surfing, three for the 4 Corners states, and a nullified Mt. Bohemia vote. I was hoping for a more decisive spread here folks. Who else has an idea?? Mom- I see no suggestions for good old Ohio. Don,Sandra, where is the "anywhere is fine just get a job you idot brains", request? Brook, I was hoping you'd vote for a trip across the lake, I hear Austria's got snow.

Keep the suggestions coming. We are in Jackson Hole today and the snow is not falling- so unless Rossland is experiencing its own weather phenom- things are still not looking good.





Once back in Aspen we found ourselves stuck in an eddy. For those of you who are not familiar with river terminology, an eddy is a (usually) calm spot in a river where the water swirls back upstream thus creating an opportunity to slow your boat down safely, or in the case of big rivers, a dangerous spot which can require a helicopter to get you out of. I am happy to report that we were able to pull free from the Ahhhspen eddy with out the use of a helicopter, but just barely.


The view from Brook, Bjorn and Kip's ranch, otherwise known as the eddy.

Brook, Bjorn and Kip live on a ranch in Old Snowmass. From their living room you can see Snowmass Mountain and many other mountains which frame a beautiful snow filled valley below. Their house is hard to leave, very hard. The view is stunning, the company fine and as long as free lift tickets continued to appear, we were hard pressed to find a reason to leave.





Sunday Dan and I rode Snowmass, which is a very snowboarder friendly mountain. They had received some snow and the conditions were fantastic. Monday, Kip, Lexi, Blades, Dan and I rode at Aspen Highlands, again there was fresh snow and fantastic conditions. Dan and I hiked the Highlands Bowl for the first time.



The snow cat takes you about 1/5 of the way up the bowl, your feet take you the rest of the way.


Dan and I at the top of the Highland Bowl.

Tuesday we got really stuck in the eddy and never left the ranch. Kip had the day off and we enjoyed being utterly lazy. Dan lost miserably at a game of Risk, he learned the hard way not to invade Europe when your wife controls that continent. Kip and I finally called a draw after almost three hours, and our interest, had been lost. We ventured out once for about a half hour to throw the Frisbee for Kip’s dog, but otherwise were absolutely, blissfully, useless.


Skiing the Higland Bowl.

Wednesday we again rode at Highlands. After riding we enjoyed a few malted beverages at The Endeavor, the local's bar for Highland’s employees. Afterwards we went into Ahhhspen proper for a nice dinner. Thanks so much to our fabulous Ahhspen hosts and friends, you almost got us to stay ;)


The Endeavor is the bar where all of the Highlands instructors go after work. Thanks to Olga and Sarah for the use of the mug.

Now we are heading north, although we aren’t really all that sure this is a good idea. It seems that B.C. is severely lacking in snow, and has an abundance of rain. Did you know that Mt. Hood in Oregon is closed? Closed!!! It is on a glacier for goodness sake! This does not bode well for Northwestern ski areas. But alas, this was our plan all along and we are sticking to it, at least for now.

Or are we???? We are open to suggestions... Where do you think we should spend the rest of the winter? Click Here to tell us.


Bald Eagle outside of Carbondale.

Crested Butte

Crested Butte is a fantastic little town. We rolled in around 4pm on Thursday which was a full hour and a half before our scheduled date. I have been suffering painful and cold snowboard boots for far too long, so with our new found wealth we decide that I have earned new boots. We visited Colorado Border at the base of Crested Butte and had what I would call a perfect buying experience.

A few days before we had tried to buy boots in Aspen and had what I would call a “Pretty Woman” shopping experience. We were flat out ignored by the sales people, I am guessing because of how we looked, we entered their store in Carharts and t-shirts. The couple who entered after us in their Diesel Jeans and Prada shoes were immediately greeted and assisted. Now a $300 purchase in Aspen may be just a drop in the bucket to the local retail economy, but in my world (even with our amended budget) this amounts to six days on the road. This is a major purchase, and I refuse to make it at an establishment that will not acknowledge me.



Back to Crested Butte, after my fully satisfying retail therapy experience we ventured down to The Eldo, to meet our friend Eddy. You may remember Eddy from our time in Sayulita. From there we went next door to Baccanale for our first really schmancy meal out in seven months. Eddy had a yet unused gift certificate and we took full advantage. Then we settled in for a long winter’s nap before an even longer day of riding.


We powered up at Camp Four Coffee before heading up to the mountain.


There is a free bus system in C.B. so you never need to drive.

Prior to this trip I had never been to Crested Butte before. The mountain is legendary for steeps and craggy shoots. The past few years have been rough on the mountain though and less and less snow was falling here. This year however, while we were skiing 44” at Wolf Creek and 18+ at Telluride, Crested Butte was receiving eight feet of snow. This made for a fantastic day, as did the company. Eddy, his brother Elliot, Dan and myself all boarded the entire mountain. We even got to ride in the Teocalli bowl which had just opened for the first time in eleven years and the first time ever to the general public. The coverage was great, the mountain challenging and the views are stunningly beautiful.


Remenents of the 8' dump.

For some silly reason I chose not to take my camera to the Mountain. While it was nice to not have a pack on while riding, I kicked myself all day because the scenery was so stunning. From the main lift you can see the town laid out on the valley floor and yesterday there were clouds inverted framing the town, with Mt. Gothic just peaking out behind. It was a truly great day.

We rode until 3:30 absolutely unable to coax our legs into cooperating for another run. Eddy and Elliot were fabulous hosts and mountain guides. Everyone we met here was charming and down to earth. This is a truly great mountain town.


Everyone in town rides bikes even in the winter.


One of the more eclectic buildings here.

From here we are returning to Aspen for a few days. Then we have some decisions to make...


Deer that joined us for lunch along the drive from Aspen to C.B.

Aspen to Crusty Butt

We finished up our work week in Vail on Monday. The event went well as far as us lackeys could tell. On the last day of competition, I handed out the award check to Tanner Hall. The show airs on NBC, February 19th at 2pm, look for me during the Men’s half-pipe awards ceremony, that will be the back of my head in front of the check.









While parked here, we estimate the value of our camper went from about 10 grand to 2.5 million.

After we got off of work Monday night we found ourselves at the entrance to I-70 wondering which way to go. A quick check of www.onthesnow.com showed that Red Mountain, B.C. had lost snow!!! It seems the “Pineapple Express”, which hit the Northwest last week, hit there too. This did not inspire a “hurry up and go” attitude in us. A couple phone calls later and we opted to turn left on the freeway and head for Aspen (pronounced ahhhhhspen, by the beautiful people). Aspen is home to our dear friends Brook, Bjorn, Kip and Blades, all of Grand Canyon fame.


The gate to the Aspen Ranch where our friends live.

Once we’d arrived at the most expensive zip code in Colorado, we settled in for a few days of laughs, laundry and snow sliding. Tuesday Dan, Bjorn and I were delightfully lazy, although we did manage to leave the house to run an errand and to meet up with Blades at their favorite watering hole the Endeavor. While at the Endeavor we drank a pint for our dear friend Sarah who would have been there too, had she not chosen to spend the winter at the South Pole (thanks for the use of your mug Swiller). Wednesday Blades played scenic tour guide and showed us all over Aspen Highlands. It hasn’t snowed in a while, but the runs were surprisingly soft and were well groomed, we had a blast.

The forecast is calling for some snow in the next few days, but the storm looks to be going a bit south of Aspen. We have decided to visit friends in Crested Butte for a couple days in the hope of catching some powder down there. This is a bit out of the norm for us since it is much further than our 100 miles or less detour rule allows for. Since Independence Pass is closed for the winter the drive will take us about five hours. A long drive when you consider that CB is about 20 miles from Aspen Mountain as the crow flies.

After a few days in the Butte we plan to return to Ahhhspen for a couple more days with the Canyon Folk before heading north, or west, or wherever we think there may be snow.




Foot notes: You may have noticed that I have not been posting our expenses for some time now. Basically this is what our financial situation boils down to…. We had budgeted for $40/ day. Realistically we have spent more like $50/day. However, never fear, our recent spate of employment has put us ahead of the game and we feel that there is still plenty of money to carry us through June, and perhaps a bit longer.

If you are planning a similar trip, I still believe you can travel for a year on $40/ day, just not as much as we have. Choosing fewer places to go, and driving less would have allowed us to stick to our budget. Additionally if gas prices reverted back to say… 75 cents a gallon and you never spent a dime on alcohol, you could do it ;)

Concerning the question that EVERYONE asks us…
We are fairly confident that we will end out trip next summer and settle down somewhere other than Durango. The place and length of time we will remain there are still to be determined. That is as much as I can tell you for now.