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Wheeeeeeeeeee skiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
The weather was unbelievably gorgeous up at Kirkwood this weekend. In fact, the only thing that would have made the skiing better would have been if it had been a bit colder. Let's just say that I've been colder in my office at work than I was on the slopes.
The Youngest Brother and![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
scotica gathered at my place Friday after work to carpool, with cryptocosm meeting us up there. Roads were nice and clear with only a couple of slightly icy patches once we got up around the 7000 ft level. Saw a couple of very fluffy coyotes just as we turned off the highway into Kirkwood a little after 11pm. We all slept in a bit in the morning then got out for a late morning session at the Kirkwood trailhead. scotica was taking it easy and getting her ski-legs back, so the routine (such as one can develop a routine in two days) became that we'd do an easy loop all together then she'd sit out while the brothers and I went off for something more challenging. We skied back to the cabin for a lunch break then started the afternoon with a turn around the meadow loop. The brothers and I were going to head back across the highway to the intermediate trails after that, but taking a look at where the sun was standing (remember, we got a late start) decided it was too close to sunset and just went back to the trailhead to pick up the car. This enabled us to view the delights of a Kirkwood rush-hour traffic jam from the counter-commute direction as we headed back in to the cabin while all the downhillers were trying to get out to the highway.
I tossed together a dinner of roast chicken, asparagus a la Anthemus, baked acorn squash with curry and parmesan, and there was supposed to be rice but I forgot to cook it and we were stuffed anyway. Then we initiatedscotica in the mysteries of Settlers of Cataan and ended with one of the most closely-contested endings I can recall (10:9:9:8).
We got an earlier start Sunday morning and drove over to the Caples Lake trailhead (I think it's actually called Schneider-something-or-other). You can get there from the Kirwood entrance via a black-diamond trail, but that wasn't on the table at the moment. Another easy loop to start, thenscotica drove back to the cabin while the brothers and I headed up the hill to do the Outpost trail. There's this amusing phenomenon when sun is shining and the temperature is Just So whereby you get a startling contrast in snow friction depending on whether you're in sun or shadow. And when the shadows are cast by not-too-dense pine forests, you can encounter long stretches of trail where the friction changes abruptly every 8 feet or so. I almost started getting the hang of that by the end of the run.
Back for lunch around 2pm and then the afternoon was rounded out by doing the cabin house-keeping. (The routine is basically the same as for a time-share rental: a complete housecleaning once-over, laundry, re-make the beds, leave everything cleaner than you found it.) Waiting for the last load of towels to dry took us past the end of the Sunday rush hour, so we encountered essentially no traffic on the way back down.
Tired, but not too tired. (At least for me.) A good bit of exercise and truly magnificent vistas. (Which I would post pictures of except that getting them from my Treo to LJ is a two-step process, neither of which can be performed on my lunch hour at work.) We're plotting to do another weekend in March and have decided that we definitely need to bring more people along to share in the fun. The cabin is in a prime location -- right on the meadow and with easy access to both the downhill and cross-country areas -- and has plenty of room for seven or more people (the "more" depending on how many of the people are comfortable sharing the various double beds). So now the only problem is trying to identify which of our friends happen to enjoy skiing and might be available when we locate a possible weekend. Funny thing: I can know people in the SCA or fandom or whatever for years and years and have no idea whether they enjoy winter sports. (With a few exceptions.)
The Youngest Brother and
scotica gathered at my place Friday after work to carpool, with cryptocosm meeting us up there. Roads were nice and clear with only a couple of slightly icy patches once we got up around the 7000 ft level. Saw a couple of very fluffy coyotes just as we turned off the highway into Kirkwood a little after 11pm. We all slept in a bit in the morning then got out for a late morning session at the Kirkwood trailhead. scotica was taking it easy and getting her ski-legs back, so the routine (such as one can develop a routine in two days) became that we'd do an easy loop all together then she'd sit out while the brothers and I went off for something more challenging. We skied back to the cabin for a lunch break then started the afternoon with a turn around the meadow loop. The brothers and I were going to head back across the highway to the intermediate trails after that, but taking a look at where the sun was standing (remember, we got a late start) decided it was too close to sunset and just went back to the trailhead to pick up the car. This enabled us to view the delights of a Kirkwood rush-hour traffic jam from the counter-commute direction as we headed back in to the cabin while all the downhillers were trying to get out to the highway.I tossed together a dinner of roast chicken, asparagus a la Anthemus, baked acorn squash with curry and parmesan, and there was supposed to be rice but I forgot to cook it and we were stuffed anyway. Then we initiated
scotica in the mysteries of Settlers of Cataan and ended with one of the most closely-contested endings I can recall (10:9:9:8).We got an earlier start Sunday morning and drove over to the Caples Lake trailhead (I think it's actually called Schneider-something-or-other). You can get there from the Kirwood entrance via a black-diamond trail, but that wasn't on the table at the moment. Another easy loop to start, then
scotica drove back to the cabin while the brothers and I headed up the hill to do the Outpost trail. There's this amusing phenomenon when sun is shining and the temperature is Just So whereby you get a startling contrast in snow friction depending on whether you're in sun or shadow. And when the shadows are cast by not-too-dense pine forests, you can encounter long stretches of trail where the friction changes abruptly every 8 feet or so. I almost started getting the hang of that by the end of the run.Back for lunch around 2pm and then the afternoon was rounded out by doing the cabin house-keeping. (The routine is basically the same as for a time-share rental: a complete housecleaning once-over, laundry, re-make the beds, leave everything cleaner than you found it.) Waiting for the last load of towels to dry took us past the end of the Sunday rush hour, so we encountered essentially no traffic on the way back down.
Tired, but not too tired. (At least for me.) A good bit of exercise and truly magnificent vistas. (Which I would post pictures of except that getting them from my Treo to LJ is a two-step process, neither of which can be performed on my lunch hour at work.) We're plotting to do another weekend in March and have decided that we definitely need to bring more people along to share in the fun. The cabin is in a prime location -- right on the meadow and with easy access to both the downhill and cross-country areas -- and has plenty of room for seven or more people (the "more" depending on how many of the people are comfortable sharing the various double beds). So now the only problem is trying to identify which of our friends happen to enjoy skiing and might be available when we locate a possible weekend. Funny thing: I can know people in the SCA or fandom or whatever for years and years and have no idea whether they enjoy winter sports. (With a few exceptions.)