Basque Festival

Sitting down to watch "Caddyshack" after a short yet hard day on the slopes. Last night Craig and I supported his co-worker Dominic by going to a Basque Festival. The people there were so warm and energetic, sharing drinks, heart-warming food, traditional dancing and "irritzas" (throaty yowls hollered across the mountains to warn of Nazi invasions). What an experience to be welcomed to a celebration about such an ancient, distinctive, and proud heritage! Definitely highlighted by the festive costumes: crimson, twirling skirts, rustic patterns, ballet flats with espadrille laces, and lots of neckerchiefs!

Back to the slopes.

The 2009-2010 ski season has been lean. Not much snow. Not much sun. Not much motivation to go skiing. But today, that changed! The day began slowly because of we decided to get Valentine's Day drunk last night (that's another story). Anyway, we made plans to ski with our friend Jeff, who is a Michigander, but now lives in San Francisco. At 8:45 am, and after a trip to McDonalds for Breanne's egg mcmuffin, we met Jeff at The Canyons for a big day of skiing.
It was shaping up to be a great day...a few inches of new snow, sunshine, and nice temps. We skied trees, steeps, and bumps all morning. It was fantastic! Unfortunately for Breanne, she had to leave at 12:00 for work. But Jeff and Craig skied like rock stars until the lifts closed...Perhaps that is an exaggeration, but that's the way I remember it!

It's been a while since we've posted anything here, but we're back! Since Thanksgiving, Breanne and Craig have both been steadily working, which has adversely affected their play time in the Wasatch Mountains. However, we did have a couple of memorable visits from Dirk & Steph (our Michigan snowboarding buddies), and from Joel Fortuna.
Dirk and Steph were here in Park City over Christmas, and we were able to spend some great days on the slopes of Snowbird and The Canyons with them. Actually, it hasn't snowed here since they left town, so we're really hoping they come back soon!!!
Joel visited last week, and, for three days, kidnapped Craig and drove him to Portland, Oregon. But Craig didn't object much, and as it turned out, Craig and Breanne inherited many fine pieces of furniture and other housewares from Joel's former apartment in Portland...Thanks, Brother!
How's the skiing, you ask? In a word...terrible. Neither of us has bothered to strap on the skis and dodge rocks in the past 2 weeks. But the forecast looks REALLY good for next week!
Today, Craig, Gordie, and Greta hiked to the peak of Parley's Summit (Breanne was working, unfortunately). Here are some pictures from the adventure....
It took about 3 hours trying to keep our footing over snow-covered singletrack to reach the summit. Along the way, we met many dogs, a few other hikers, and a couple backcountry skiers. The skiers were nice enough to let Craig in on the secret stashes of backcountry powder. Next time he WILL bring his skis, but probably not the dogs...

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Well, we got only a taste of the snowstorm that the midwest is experiencing right now, but it has been frigid here for the past week. Daytime highs in the teens, nightime lows around zero. Skiing today was pretty cold, due to the -14 deg wind chill, but I needed to get in some turns on my new skis. So, I think it was worth it, but Breanne stayed home (perhaps wisely).
It was really nice to have Stan and Nancy here over Thanksgiving, and we all had a traditional turkey day at our house (including a Lions loss!)
Hopefully, we'll have some decent pics to post here from our upcoming epic powder days! Everyone do your snow dance...please.

It's dumping snow in Park City!! We're watching the MLS Cup final inside, and watching the snow fall outside. This is great for me (Craig) because I get to go skiing tomorrow. However, for Breanne, this isn't good news because she has to be at work at 6 AM tomorrow. But not only that, but Breanne was the one who shoveled the deck and carried in the firewood tonight. Here are the pictures to prove it!!
The dog poop picture is interesting...We found it at a local trailhead, and notice it says "no dog poop", not "no dogs"...that seems to be the philosophy here in PC.
We are looking forward to spending Thanksgiving with Stan and Nancy this week, and we'll do our best to get them out on the slopes before they return to Hawaii.

Finally...The snow has arrived!

The warm, sunny weather for the past 3 weeks has been nice, but really we've been waiting for the white stuff to start falling...and yesterday it began. At our house, we got a couple of inches yesterday and a few more today. That means that the ski areas got even more snow than that! But just to be sure, we'll be driving to Solitude or Brighton tomorrow to investigate. Of course, we may need to strap on the skis and make some turns if the conditions are favorable.
As for today, all we did was lounge around by the wood stove and well, that's about it.

The Ski Season Has Begun!

November 8, 2009 officially marks the beginning of the ski season for the Flatlanders. We spent today riding the 2 available runs at Solitude. OK, they were green runs and it was all man-made snow, but at least we were out there! Actually, it was a bluebird day, hardly a cloud in the sky, and this is apparent in our sunburned faces. Breanne skied better than she ever has before! Maybe it was the new boots, maybe it was her superb physical conditioning...who knows? But she was tearing up the mountain today!!