Mar 9, 2010, Arapahoe Basin

Monte Lowrance and I caught another Powder Day, this time at A-Basin.

1) Tracks under upper lift.

2) Looking down avalanche chute “Standard” at the base lodge.

3) Those a bumps surrounding my knees and "The Professor" avalanche chute in the background.

4) Monte enjoying the fluff.

5) Looking down from the lift at the famous Palivacini avalanche chute.

6) Looking at Loveland Pass, just over 12,000’ elev. A favorite hang gliding site of ours back in the 70s. I made over 100 flights from the mountain to the right of the pass to the hairpins below.

Mar 8, 2010, Leadville, CO

I skied in the morning at Vail then headed to Leadville to visit the National Mining Museum and Hall of Fame.

1) Top of the mountain pass between Vail and Leadville.

2) Memorial to the 10th Mountain Division troops that were so instrumental in WWII

3) Entrance to Museum

4) One of many historical photos

5) Model of the mining method used at the Climax Mine where I worked underground as a mining engineer for 3 years from 1977-1979. The following pictures brought back a flood of underground memories from my work on the Henderson Tunnel (1974-1976), designing underground mines in Montana, Colorado and Chile while working for Bechtel (1979-1984) and working underground at the WIPP nuclear waste repository in New Mexico (Bechtel 1984-1986)

6) Description of the block cave mining method..

7) Low profile front end loader used undergroiund at Climax (called an LHD, load-haul-dump).

8) Haulage drift for transporting the ore to the surface crusher at Climax.

9) Miners working in the slusher drift fingers.

Mar 6-7, 2010, Vail, CO

I skied more Vail powder on Saturday (37,000 VF) and then groomers on Sunday
(34,510 VF).
1) Another great powder run.

2) Looking East: The Gore Range and Eagles Nest Wilderness

3) Looking East: Close-up of my favorite hang gliding site at Vail. Looking from the bottom of the picture, Aspen grove, snow field, long thin rock outcrop, another snow field which was the launch site. Look again at picture 2 for the perspective.

4) Looking West: Holy Cross Wilderness

5) Looking for her Master

6) The Powder Wagon at my Vail camp site. This site rivals the front row spot I had at Jackson Hole.  So far I've stayed at this locations for nine days.
7) From the 70s, this was the classic Lange Ski Boot poster that hung on every ski bum’s wall.

March 3, 2010, Keystone, CO

Wednesday was a most remarkable day at Keystone. I skied the morning with Monte and his friend Tom. I witnessed what true friendship is all about that morning. Tom is about 78 years old and is dealing with Alzheimer’s disease. Monte, about 57, devotes a day every week to skiing with Tom, guiding him when needed, writing notes for Tom to direct him on which slopes to ski on days when he skis alone, reminding Tom how to act when his actions are distasteful, coaching me on what to expect from Tom and what to discuss so as not to confuse Tom further. A remarkable friendship in action that deeply touched me.
I broke away about noon to hike to the top of Wapiti (Elk) Peak and ski the North Bowl. The pictures do the talking from here.

1) After a 1-mile hike to 12, 354’. It seemed like the top of the world.

2) North Bowl, my way down. Not steep, but great tracked powder.

3) Looking North: The Gore Range

4) Looking East: The Continental Divide.

5) Looking South: Breckenridge Ski Area and Quandary Peak (highest on left).

6) Looking West: Peaks 1,2,3 of Ten Mile Range on left, Jacque’s Peak above Copper Mountain in distance (center), low saddle Vail Pass.

Mar 1-2, 2010, Beaver Creek & Breckenridge, CO

Dropped Cheryl off at the Eagle-Vail Airport at 12:30 and was back on the slopes of Beaver Creek by 1:30. Ripped off 20,500 VF by closing time and headed back to Breckenridge for the evening.

Tuesday was a blue sky day at Breck with Steve and Monte. Snow conditions were packed powder in the bowls and groomers on the slopes.

1) Top of Birds of Prey downhill run at BC

2) Sign at top, great name, you must ski to the brink before you can see over the edge as the run drops off below your ski tips.

3) Breckenridge ski area, Peaks 7, 8,9,10 and Quandary (L-R)

4) Imperial Lift at the top of Peak 8, Summit Elev 12, 998’

5) Quandary Peak 14,265’

6) Buffalo Mountain as viewed from Breckenridge.

7) Steve and Monte are so well connected with the bar and restaurant owners in Summit County than we were able to have Pele accompany us for dinner on Fat Tuesday. Of course upon entry, I played the blind guy and Pele was my Seeing Eye Dog. By the time we left and after a few too many Margaritas, Pele was the Blind Dog and I was the Seeing Eye Guy.

Feb 28 and Mar 1, 2010, Minturn, CO

We spent Feb 28 snow shoeing near Mount of the Holy Cross. These were the first days on snow shoes for me. At first I was skeptical of the ho-hum sport, but after shoeing on trails too steep for cross country skis, I was sold on the advantages for certain trails.  We repeated the trip early on Mar 1 before taking Cheryl to the airport for a 1:00 flight to Boise.

Feb 26-27, 2010, Beaver Creek, CO

We spent two days with Boise friends, Tom and Joy Kealey, at their slopeside condominium in Beaver Creek! Tom took us on a tour of the entire resort.

1) Everything you have heard about posh Beaver Creek is true. We were served hot chocolate as we got off at the top of the 1st lift.

2) Tom and Cheryl with a view of the Gore Range in the background.

3) Tom led us down the Birds of Prey Downhill Course, the steepest run at Beaver Creek.

4) Tom wasted no time showing us around as we burned off 30,200 vertical feet.

5) Cheryl cruising behind Tom.

6) It’s great being together!