Back to Work

Skier Days: Sara(7), Caroline(3), Susan(0), Charles(1)


Having taken last Wednesday as a day off, this was the first work day in 5 days.   It started off well as Sara got up and going quickly.  We seem to be getting into a bit of  groove.  She  was the first one at the Competition Center this morning.   There was a light mist, fog and low hanging clouds that were not at all what we are hoping for.   I got back to my desk and dug into the back log of emails.   The day just blew by with one two hour phone conference dominating the morning and some digging into a new issue filling a bunch of the afternoon.   No pictures today.  I had one trip down to Bethel mid-afternoon to bring Sara some money, the crew was going to head down to Walmart to pick up supplies.

I took a short side trip to the local hardware store to pick up a fresh pair of insulated work gloves, a windshield scraper, a folding shovel and some cool blue duct tape (you can never have enough duct tape).   My skis were ready to go when I checked in at South Ridge.  They have a super cool tuning machine that is run by an equally cool professional tuning women.  She and the machine did the most awesome job on my skis that I thought they were a different pair.  You get one free tune per season with your Gold Pass and I definitely think I may take them up on it sometime later in the season.   The machine has put my hand tuning skills to shame.  It is a beast and well worth it..

When the fog lifted the mountain looked just a bit browner and dingier than it did yesterday.  Fortunately the temps have dropped down into the twenties tonight,  the sky is clear and you can hear the snow guns running non-stop right outside my window.  It looks like they are going to give it another try on filling in the distance to the lifts at the bottom.  I'll try to post some picture then.

Sara crashed quickly tonight and I was able to finish up my status report while watching the New Orleans Saints just smoke the Patriots.   (sigh...).   Tomorrow is going to be another busy day on the mountain with Sara training in the morning and having her first classes; Algebra, Science, and Humanities.  Dad might even try to get out for a couple of runs before lunch...

Skier Days: Sara(6), Caroline(3), Susan(0), Charles(1)


Yeah, thats right, day numero uno for the 2009/2010 ski season.

Last night the Millers came over for a swim and dinner.   Our friends Quentin, Julie, Brennan and Owen had booked a weekend of skiing for this weekend.  They were clearly hoping that the skiing was going to be as good as it had been last year.   Sadly, the rain of the last week had made the terrain pretty limited and somewhat on the advanced side shall we see (as you saw in the pictures yesterday).   They made the best of it and enjoyed the pool and met up with of our other friends from home that have a place in Andover.   They came by our place around 5 bringing beer and wine :-)  The kids went down to the pool on their own (joy of joys,  they have no passed the age milestone such that I must no more wait in the cold doorway of the locker room while they wait for the one shower at the pool) and the adults hung out and chatted about the day.  Quentin had brought along a bottle of Maudite, which I had just happened to be looking at on Wednesday at Atlas Liquors in Medford on my Thanksgiving packy run.   It was really smooth and we followed that on with a bottle of the Alligash Trippel that I had bought.


 Quentin and I ran down to Bob's "Real Pit" BBQ to pick up a large tray of meat, beans, cold slaw, and cornbread.     So that you can get an idea of what Bob's is all about I snagged the picture on the right from a Google search.  Yes, even Bob's tiny roadside barbecue got a whole slew of hits.   Clearly this picture was taken a bit later in some prior season, but you get the idea... Not only do you get dinner at Bob's, but you invariably get some really interesting chatter and trivia (Who was the starting short stop for the 1967 Dream Team Sox? Reggie Smith).   We also learned the etymology of Hip and Bummer while learning about the fineries of good barbecue.



The night was capped off by the first fireworks of the season viewed form the end of the parking lot.  It was a really great display on a background of white clouds whipping across a waxing moon.   The wind made the fireworks dance and float in a way that I have never seen before,  with the circular spirals collapsing dynamically and other rockets being driven into the trees..  The best part of all was hearing the snow guns up high on the mountain.  


The next morning it was finally sunny, and the wind had died down.   Caroline, Sara and I loaded the back of the Highlander with skis and drove down to Barker.   The girls went directly to the competition center and I found a spot upstairs in the lodge with in range of my cherished number 7 mug.   

The boots were not nearly as painful going on as I anticipated that they might be and my Carhartt's were working pretty well as ski pants.  I climbed up the muddy slope to the Locke Triple and rode up for the first time this year.   It worked out that I rode up with one of Sara's coaches from last year.  Kaz is a really great guy and a former member of the Japanese national team.   We talked about my fancy Carhartt ski pants and the finer points of which set of cheap work gloves make the best ski gloves.  I have learned over the last couple of seasons that this is the way to go for warm rugged ski gloves.  Add some extra water repellent spray and you are good to go.




Looking at the mountain on the ride up it became really clear just how busy the snow makers had been last night.  It was truly amazing what they had been able to accomplish just since sundown the night before.   T2 and Sunday punch were now solidly open and there was snow making all across the top of Locke and even over onto Barker.    I have to hand it to the crew, they have truly saved the day.    


I started down the top of T2 thinking that it would be relatively soft and was kind of sitting back when I came over the first lip and got a goggle full of icy snow gun goodness.  Not being able to see at this point I immediately went into a long skid that took a couple of attempts to get under control.  After this inauspicious start to the ski season I managed to get my ski legs back and after some time waiting in line managed to get in 5 whole runs.  The line time was not even that bad, and I was able to catch up with a bunch of folks and kill some time while waiting.     Sunday Punch had some nice smallish moguls that reassured me that I had not forgotten how to ski them over the summer, so I did 3 runs down that.   The most exciting part was the dangling 10 year old that didn't quite make it onto the chair at the mid station and was being held in a death grip by his Mom.  He was just low enough that the lifties were able to pop off his skis and a few heroic types were able to catch him and bring him down to a safe landing to a rousing cheer from the onlooker from the line.   


I skied the bottom of Sunday Punch to where there was real snow and then walked the rest of the way down.  It was entertaining to watch folks skiing over the barely hidden rocks, then the slush then the dirt and grass as you got further down.   Susan and Maggie had walked over and we met up with Jenny, Rod, Nat, and Drew as well as Adam (Meg's bo).   Rod got himself a mug (apparently there are 37 remaining, so get them while the last) and I gave old number 7 its inaugural.


We went back to the condo and did a bit of cleaning and packing and I ran out and got some water repellent. My plan is to see if I can waterproof my old Carhartt work pants and use those as proper ski pants for the couple of times I am likely to get out this week.  I may be crazy,  but I think it might just work.


At 3pm we went into Bethel as they had an informal reception for the parents and faculty of the winter term.  I am really impressed by the teaching staff.  They are young and enthusiastic and I think that Sara is going to have an fantastic academic, as well as athletic experience.  I am proud of her for wanting this and working for it and proud that Susan was so immediately supportive.   It didn't take me much convincing,  but I am glad things have worked out the way that they have.


Anyways, I just dropped another pile of money at Artech, my favorite online provisioner of ski equipment.  It is time that I wrapped this up and got an early nights sleep as tomorrow it is back to work and school.  Sara has a bit of training in the morning and then orientation in the afternoon with honest to god classes starting on Tuesday.


- C

Finally some snow

Skier Days: Sara(5), Caroline(2), Susan(0), Charles(0)

We packed up and cleaned up again, bidding farewell to the family unit and drove up in both cars this morning. It pored rain the entire drive up and it was only when we got close to the condo itself that it started to look like a sleety, slushy mix. Susan and Sara had arrived before us, speeding ticket last week apparently having not really had too much impact on the weight of her foot. The girls are getting much better at helping to unload the cars and it was only about 3 trips up to the third floor for each of us. It amazes me just how much stuff we can fit into the small space that we have here. Despite all of the stuff that we have brought up here I managed to neglect to bring my ski pants. I scoured the condo for 30 minutes before it dawned on me that I had left them in my pack in the basement.

At the end of the season last year the plan was to hike up Tuckerman's Ravine on Mt. Washington and I had brought a bunch of stuff home and packed it in preparation. It only finally dawned on me that this was something I had told myself I was going to bring up, and then promptly forgotten. The first reaction was to try to solicit Grammy Ellie to swing by the house on her way back home, she had stayed down in Halifax to visit with Jenny and to shuttle Jon and Marybeth back from the Vineyard. In the end it seemed like a lot more effort than it was actually worth. It looks like I am going to have to be a really Mainer for this week and ski in my Carhartt working pants.

With everything unpacked I walked over to Barker Lodge as tonight was the lottery for the number for the new Mug Club. $45 gets you a collectible 20 oz. Mug with a picture a of a Viking on it and a cool retro hoody. There were a ton of regulars there from Black Diamond club,  including Alicia who has somehow managed to get in 9 days already,  and quite a few from GACP. It was a great time and I ended up with lucky number "7" on my mug. Not a bad deal at all.  Susan and the girls made it over after a while.  Caroline hung out with her pal Maddox and they managed to mostly stay of out trouble and managed to line up a sleep over. While we were hanging out and socializing the rain outside turned into snow and the general mood around the place lifted just a bit.   Sara had been in electronic contact with her pal Margaret and they ended up going to see "New Moon" at long last.    So a movie night it was.

Overnight and into the next morning you could hear the wind howling through trees outside the window.  Sara was to meet up with Margaret to get their day of skiing this weekend.  Despite continued protest she walked over to the competition center through the mud.   It really wasn't as bad as it was the previous night when I had walked across.  There was a coating of white on everything which made the whole place look a lot more like a ski area for the first time this season.   It was actually warm, too warm to make snow unfortunately.

Maggie game with us and was having about as much fun as a dog could have.  She really does love it up here in the mountains.  After dropping Sara and her stuff off at the Comp. Center I plotted a course up the hill so that I would at least get some exercise.  I hiked straight up Monday Mourning to where it crossed Over Easy and then crossed over until I hit the top of the Tempest lift.

It started out as only barely speckled mud and snow but grew gradually slightly deeper.  As I crossed this elevation it seemed to be a good 3"-4"deep with occasional drifts that were 8"-10" in erosion bars.   Maggie ran every which way sniffing out rodents buried beneath the snow.  At one point she was truly on the scent and buried her entire head in the snow trying to get at what ever was underneath.  The fortunate creature managed to avoid capture and we continued on up the hill.

The conditions themselves were not all that bad and certainly a lot better than I would have expected looking from the base lodge.   With the correct camera angle things actually looked pretty darned good.   Despite some bits of mud here and there the top of T2 actually had pretty good cover.  They had set up a little terrain park for the twin tip crowd and it was possible to load from the mid-station.  I stood and waited a while and started to get the itch to go skiing.  Maybe tomorrow.

The line at the mid station went from short to fairly long in a very short time and that was a bit on the discouraging side.   In the big scheme of things it didn't seem that terrible considering.   We really, really need some much colder temperatures and one wicked snow storm to get this season moving.  I cut through the woods across from lift and ended up on Southpaw, perhaps my favorite trail on this side of the mountain.  It is a fairly steep trail and the further down the mountain I got the slipperier it became.


 I ended up boot skiing down big stretches which was pretty fun.   Agony cried out for snow and Sunday Punch was as slimy as the moss on the bottom of a brook and downright treacherous.  I longed for some really crappy old rock skis.

It ended up being a day to work on a few chores around the condo and do some blog writing.   I think the next job will be to head down to the locker and see if I can file some of the nasty burs and get the skis waxed and ready for when the snow does finally arrive.

Home for Thanksgiving (Day 4 + 5ish)

Skier Days: Sara(4), Caroline(2), Susan(0), Charles(0)

I picked up Sara last evening at the competition center. They coaches had put together a pizza party (one gluten free pizza please, courtesy of Pat's Pizza) that included some high intensity Wii playing on the new big screen TV mounted on the wall over the summer. By the time I got there it was just Sara and Tyler waiting in the dark. He really is an awesome coach and a really nice young guy. I am really pleased that he will be working with the kids this winter. He is not much more than a kid still himself and brings a lot of energy to the mix. The whole group seems to be melding really well. Sara was still hungry when we got back so we made a little bit of extra pasta and after a shower we laid out everything for the morning and dropped into bed.

I meet with my manager, Mac, every Tuesday morning and send him a little recap of he week every Monday. Somehow I always managed to procrastinate putting it together and today was no exception. So I was up just a bit longer before crashing myself.

Having a teenage girl is quite a roller coaster. This morning Sara was right on the ball. We got up with plenty of time, had breakfast and repacked her stuff for the day. The plan was to ski slalom gates today so we had screwed on her face bar and stowed her shin pads the night before. She had been scolded yesterday for not having sharp edges so the plan was to run the stone over them this morning. We did this together and they were looking pretty good, even with the hole still staring at us from the middle of the ski.

What a great morning and we even had some time to spare. I was planning on calling Mac at 8:30 so I suggested we head down early. Apparently the moon poked through the clouds because my previously princess like daughter was instantly transformed into a strange creature that I did not recognize. She refused to go down early and went back up to the condo. I was okay with a few minutes delay and so went out to take some picture of the not so snow covered slopes.

I ambled over towards Barker out on the trails and realized that I was practically where she needed to go in less than 5 minutes. I called her on her cell phone and told her that I would carry her stuff over and we could just walk. What came from the phone ear piece could be described most accurately as the type of feedback you would hear at a speed metal concert. Ten minutes of repeated cell phone calls and lots of screeching I ended up caving in and driving her down. During the ride down I managed to lay on a rather thick guilt trip and extract a promise to walk back at the end of the day.

I sent back and worked the day attending my first remote face to face, catching up on a thousand emails, generating a project status and working through a number of other open issues. I walked over at lunch and sat and ate lunch the deck of the lodge. Sara finished up for the day just in time to walk back. She was pretty beat after a hard day of skiing. We packed up the condo, did a bit of cleanup and then hit the road. Stopping once to drop off skis at Jack Frost and then by Gould to pick up Caroline's ski clothing that she had left with her pal Maddox's family. I am struck by how really nice everyone is on the campus and in town in general. Todd and I chatted a bit about the upcoming Thanksgiving and we hit the road again.

Sara was unusually talkative and for about the first hour we had some decent conversation about her day, her skiing and the kids in the program. We petered out and she started playing games on the laptop for the next couple of hours. We arrived home to find Jonathan there and MaryBeth on the way that evening. After unpacking the car we hung out for a bit and crashed.

In the morning I ran 3.5 really slow miles with Maggie and felt pretty good. It was much easier than running up Dreammaker, but I did run up the really steep hill in the neighborhood to wrap it up. While I was sweaty and dirty I finished up a little bit of left over yard work, vacuumed the downstairs of the house and did a bunch of other cleanup. Yummy lunch at Tom Yum Thai ...

Marybeth had a college project to see some history so we all drove up to Lexington and Concord and learned all about the revolutionary war. Caroline and I drove back together and hit up Trader Joe's to stock up on ready made food stuff for Maine. We ended the day hanging out and preparing for the crowd that is coming by tomorrow...

Day 3 - The first "real" work day.

Skier Days: Sara(3), Caroline(2), Susan(0), Charles(0)

Not that I want to turn this into a weather report, but the weather started out below freezing this morning and there was a nice coating of ice on the windshield. I don't actually have a scraper in my car yet (doh!) so I ended up improvising with the top of an old CD case that was stuck in the side panel. Sara was really impressed with my ingenuity. We were the only car in the lot last night and the side that was facing the sun was nice and clear. Note to self: Park car facing sun when the lot is empty. The good news is that they actually made a bit of snow last night.

Sara did a great job of getting going this morning. This first week where she can get up a bit later is a good way to ease into the routine. We actually managed to get through the nighttime and the morning ritual with relative ease. I was really sleepy this morning because I stayed up and watched the end of the MLS Cup and it went into overtime and then PKs. I felt bad for Landon Donavan, but it was a good game and it is always good to see LA lose ;)

She managed a full day of skiing and was in a couple of picture on the GA Facebook page. She looks to be doing really well and improving already. I ran out for 30 minutes and brought Sara's ski down to Jack Frost to get it looked at. Fred had sent the boys home as it was super quiet there and he felt this was going to be a pretty serious repair. He mentioned something about cutting out a larger piece and making a plug to replace it so that it would actually adhere. Looks like this ski will be getting dropped off on the way home tomorrow afternoon.

Work felt like a constant interruption today. I had a couple of phone conferences and managed to catch up on a few nagging issues, but there are a bunch of other that I don't seem to be able to get to. Hopefully, tomorrow I'll be able to check off a few more boxes. The day went amazingly fast..

I got in a little video call with Caroline for a few minutes just before dinner that was pretty funny. She had her friend Abby over and they were typically clownish. Anyways, tomorrow Sara is up early to run a file over her skis before we head down to the competition center. We put on her face guard tonight and packed her shin guards as they are doing gate for the first time!

Day Two

Skier Days: Sara(2), Caroline(2), Susan(0), Charles(0)

Up early for the second day in a row. Sara had a nice big hole in the bottom of one of her skis after snagging a rock on the way to download yesterday. She had a bunch to say after I picked her up last night. Sadly, one of the Gould HS kids had a freak crash and it looks like he may have broken his leg. Not for sure, but it did not sound too good. Sara managed to forget to raise her ski through the mid-station and got a bit of a bruise on the back of her calf herself. This early season skiing can be a bit rough. Mark and Jake are going to get the ski taken care of at Jack Frost sometime this week.

Everyone wrapped up early at the hill today. Susan and I walked over and picked Caroline who ended up going to a movie in Oxford with her pal Maddy. Susan picked her up in Oxford on the way back home. Caught up a bit with Meghan(one of our favorite ski coaches in the world and I may call her to catch a couple of runs during the week. Sara was off to do some dry land training with her team and then the lot of them were going to do some bonding by shopping as a group over in Conway.

She is really impressed with her teammates. They are all really strong skiers and she is definitely going to be challenged and pushed to keep up. This is all bodes really for a great season once we actually get some snow.

Susan and I did a lot of house work this morning and got the place all ship shape for the season. Got rid of some old clothing and cleaned a of junk out of the closets. It is nuts that you can accumulate stuff even in the ski condo.

For the second day in a row I actually got some exercise other than walk around at the base. Today I ran from the bottom of the North Peak Chair(6) up the access road and over to the bottom of Aurora. Very slow on the way out and very quick on the way back. 2.7 miles in a slow 29:30 seconds with 550 feet of elevation change.

Discovered Pandora yesterday, very nice to kick it off with a first song and then have it follow on that theme for hours. Great way to hear some new music...

Oh well, no pictures today so far... Susan left about an hour ago and I think I will bank some work hours so that I can maybe sneak in a couple of runs on Tuesday before we head home to Medford for Thanksgiving.

Day One

Well the time has finally come... After talking and thinking about it for months we packed up both cars and started our experiment with living int he north country. There was surprisingly few trips up the stairs to our third floor condo. Just enough to remind me that I really needed to get serious about getting in shape for ski season.

I got most of the technology working in short order. Both the

internet and the cable box all pretty much worked

the first time (thanks Time Warner). I work at Oracle and my office is moving to a new building while I am away so I packed up everything from my work space and put it in boxes before I left. I brought the docking station, monitor, keyboard and have a space that approximates my work real work space if not a bit more cramped. The view is decidedly diffe

rent...

We had an early start on Saturday. The sky was dark and foreboding with a light mist when as I drove Sara down to the Gould Competition Center. She was so damned independent when I dropped her. It is so bittersweet seeing your childr

en grow and mature. The group of J3 girls this year at Gould looks to be a pretty seriously fast bunch. This is going to be a great opportunity for her to grow as a skier and as a person.

There was a bit of confusion about Caroline's boots but it all worked out and she was on the mountain on time with her group as well. She seemed to have a blast despite the poor conditions. She missed skiing with some of her pals from last season that are a bit older and moved up. Fortunately, she did get so spend some time with them anyways. She also seemed to be off to a quick start making so

me new ones.

We drove around and looked at a few places around Newry and Bethel on the chance that we might end up coming up here. Susan and I thought pretty highly of the lots on the top of Paradise Road. They offer a nice views, a healthy neighborhood and a reasonable walk into town. Might be a decent compromise moving away from the city.

We went early to pick up Caroline and hung out

around Barker Lodge. It had a spring skiing mode without all of the snow. There was logs of mud around for sure. Susan and I had decided not to ski and save our skis from damage. Rock skis were the order of the day as this guy was demonstrating. I saw one snowboard girl take a nasty face plant. Sara clued us in that she hit one nasty rock.. Fortunately, they were both still on last years skis and most of the damage could be repaired. One of the benefits of being y

oung and growing out of your skis every year.

When we got back I took Maggie the dog for a nice hike up and over North Peak. I started up Dream Maker and turned off over the access road up. There are a couple of mountain bike trails that cross the road and I have long wanted to explore them. This time I gave it a shot and it

ended up at the top of Sensation. I hike from there up over North Peak and then down the normal end of the day run to the bottom ending up on Escapade. It turned out to be just the write amount of work to get the heart pumping. Maggie put me to shame running up and down the mountain like her wolf ancestors would.