Martha S comes to stay

What a superb visit we've just had from our Atlanta cycling friend Martha. We raised many toasts to dear Dick whom we missed greatly,  our last and final meeting being on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia - April blog entry refers.  Dick lost his long and courageous battle against cancer in October.

Martha made the most of every minute here and the tie up with Gracie to whom we introduced her was memorable. They were born within 5 days of each other and went to the same girls boarding school briefly, but at different times ( and had therefore never met ), in Connecticut. Both great athletes, both have/had their own landscaping businesses and both with the same zest for life and adventure.

The birthday girls. A surprise party for Martha at Gracie's house

Gracie and Sunshine

On the morning of the skin up to Gwyn's with M and Martha. Managed to get first chair on High Alpine and enjoyed the virtually virgin Upper Green Cabin

and then the traditional breakfast at Gwyns - not much left of Martha's pancakes.

Skinning up to The Cliffhouse on Buttermilk - almost there!

Made it - Highlands in the background

Saying goodbye after a leisurely breakfast at Main Street Cafe

See you, Martha, in Pueblo, CO at beginning of May ! She's going to join us for the last leg of trans am Part 2 once we've crossed Kansas, and hopefully all the way home to Snowmass via Hoosier pass ( elevation 11,542 feet ) and Breckenridge. Keep up the training !

Buddy Ski Day

Annual Buddy Ski day at Buttermilk. Here at the top of west Buttermilk about to "drop " into the terrain park

Sergio sets the pace

Lunch provided by the Buddy program restored energy levels

G and Sergio about to hit the half pipe

Sergio leads the way over the box .....

......  Mary following - the upper extreme of our terrain park skills. Just as well we were on skis, not boards.

Oregon

We got off to a bad start with all flights out of Aspen (more accurately flights into Aspen were cancelled due to tail wind and therefore no planes ) cancelled - landing and taking off both in same direction has major hazards. so after a couple of hours waiting in vain at the airport , we got RFTA back to MR and had a relaxing day here. All went smoothly the next day although re-routed via Denver and direct flight form there to Eugene.  What a contrast to see some green. All well at NW Monterey Drive and a superb week with the family.  Wee Maggie a dream baby. Oli as cute as ever.

Steamboat Springs

For decades I've had dreams of skiing this high profile Colorado powder ski resort. How fortuitous therefore to discover from our new Provence cycle touring friends Carol and Bill Overmeyer ( of I-dotter fame for those who know anything about the OSU , Columbus , OH  Buckeyes football marching band  ) that they spend a lot of most winters in Steamboat. And they kindly invited us to stay. The beauty of having 3 days off work each week made it possible. Minor last minute hitch was that I.70 had closed the day before with rock slides entailing a longish detour through Rifle , Meeker , and Craig. In fact it was a gorgeous 4 hour drive through the high plains of central, western slope, Colorado. Two and a half days of skiing there guided expertly by Bill and Carol culminating in a powder morning on the last day.

Stopping for breakfast in Meeker - traditional western style. Not used to strangers it seemed.

First sight of Steamboat

Looking west over the high plains.  Not majestic , but hugely impressive in its own way . A big sky ! Mary with Bill & Carol......

....and with Beaners outside their house

Back in Snowmass with my good pal Peter - well recovered from bone marrow transplants and seemingly endless treatments. Still on though for a hike to top of Long Shot. Highland Bowl next time

Off next week to Oregon to see our newest grandbaby Maggie.

Mid Season Review

It's been a fabulous snow winter.  Sadly the really good powder days have come on our working days. We have though had one or two epic days the highlight being the powder tour on Richmond Ridge with Harry.  This came only 10 days after we thought Mary had damaged a tendon in her knee following a nasty fall on her board at Buttermilk in the powder. Thanks to our new Medicare cover she went  to Emergency at AVH and had a scan and an MRI only to reveal that it was muscle and bone bruising.  Phew ! And she managed the powder tour with no ill effects.

Our new and delightful Little Buddy Sergio .

Harry and Diana come out from London.

At back of Ajax on Richmond ridge. This Cat gave us 12 spectacular runs with a cabin lunch in the middle.

After one particularly mouth watering run in 3 feet of fresh powder.

John and Luanne Milward from Lexington , KY come to dinner.

Next week we're off to Steamboat Springs for our 3 days off on the invitation of our cycling friends Carol and Bill Overmeyer - the i-dotter from Columbus, OH whom we met cycling in Provence and who joined us for 3 days last year on our trans am tour in KY.

Start of the 2015/16 season

Masses of early season snow and the resorts opened a week before the scheduled Thanksgiving date. Good news except that Mary had to start her 3 day work week in Aspen earlier than she'd have liked. For me , Thanksgiving day as usual and back to the 4 days a week ( 37 hours ) and long ones at that. But 4 different routes on all 4 days, and particularly the D5 shift (dealing with the radio phone call-in service) on Tuesdays will keep the brain sharp (or sharper !).

FIS Women's GS finish - Note skier 2 gates from home where Shiffrin fell a few minutes later on 2nd run needing only to cross the line to win

By chance , we happen to catch Beige on his way to work at 7.30

A bull elk on Long Shot. Totally unphased by us as we skinned towards him

Pre-season skin up Long Shot. 4 hours up, one down. M listening to her TED talks on Ipad.

The top

Back on the Woodbridge/Seasons 4 route

Another pre-season skin up - Sneaky's this time catching a boarding instructors' training group

A group of skiing instructors being put through their paces

Oregon

A brilliant 10 days with D, K and O in Oregon. An interesting scenario on flight out there from Aspen to Eugene via DIA. Noticing the day before flying that we had under 50 minutes in Denver to make our connection,  Mary smartly succeeded in getting seats on the early, and first, flight of the day to Denver - 8 am as opposed to the 9.30 flight we were booked on. We turned up at Aspen airport ( usual form of getting free RFTA bus from end of the road and therefore a 7 min walk to bus stop from house - superb ! ) and found they were offering $500 per person to postpone travel to the later flight to Denver. As 8am approached they increased to $1,000. Since the later flight was the one we were booked on anyway and in theory should have given us enough time to get connecting flight to Eugene, we were sorely tempted. In fact no one came forward and they had to "bump" the last 2 passengers in the line ! The twist to all this is that the 9.30 flight was cancelled due to weather and we had time for excellent breakfast in DIA and an easy flight to Eugene ( next one at 10pm at night! ).  2 morals to this story.  One : when flying out of Aspen in winter , get the first flight of the day ( the plane sits there overnight and doesn't rely on incoming plane to get in, and Two : build in sufficient time in traveling schedule to take up option of later flight ( from anywhere ) and cash in on the incentive, holding your nerve ( with a keen eye on other potential bargain seekers among your fellow passengers ) till the offer increases to the 1,000 level or higher ! Exactly the same thing happened on reverse journey when awaiting departure of the return flight from Eugene !

The cute little house Katy arranged for our weekend trip to Bend OR - 3 hour drive west of Corvallis

Didn't take long to sniff out this park a few minutes walk away

..but not so easy to leave it !

D in action in the cyclocross event in Bend that weekend

Go Duncs

Due recognition from his fan club

Elmo tricking ( or more accurately treating ) the Bend community

"scary pumpkins"

Phew !

The following day -  a visit to the remarkable Smiths Rock and a 2 hour hike

A world recognised climbers' playground

Planning the route

He's heavy !

Shortly after this the little feller was on his own feet and made it back thanks to the ceaselessly enjoyable ' splashing game "

Back in Corvallis and setting off for the daily afternoon pilgimgrage

... and exhausting his grandparents

Setting off for the renowned, and favourite,  Gathering Place - a farm 5 miles from Corvallis

Working off breakfast

A big project made bigger by an exceptionally wet day - will keep the ' critters'  out with luck. Foxes particularly.

Back now in Snowmass and preparing for another ( the tenth ) season of work/play. Snow has arrived early and Ajax opening today ( 11/14 ) 12 days ahead of schedule. Snowmass on Mon 23rd. Work starts on 28 and 29 for us both respectively. Wed, Thurs and Fri ( and for M Sat ) off each week.