And it begins! Skinned up to the top of Mount Ashland with Dad and had a couple nice runs down. Fortunately, I still remember how to ski! The snow was still nice and soft, so it was a lot of fun floating through it. Those super fat skis certainly help.
Me taking a few turns down Aerial Chairline.
Hit up Mt. A for a couple runs with Paddy. The weather was nice and sunny, and nice slushy snow on the slopes.
A view from the top, towards Pilot Rock & Shasta…
Last day of lifts @ Mt. Ashland. Went up for a couple hours, skied mostly off Aerial. It was nice and sunny, a good way to close out the year. There is still plenty of snow left for more skiing, so I am looking forward to that. Although it didn’t start out how we might of liked, I would say that there was a lot of good skiing to be had this year. You just had to be ready for it.
Mt. Ashland most certainly does rock. Thanks for a great year.
Got some nice spring skiing in with Paddy today. Skied off Aerial, mostly down the first chute. I had some cool tree jibs coming out of the bowl – airing off of a windlip over some trees that were sticking probably 6-8 feet out of the snow. It was a lot of fun, it just kind of happened the first time, and after that it was on. Pretty stoked on those airs…
Me getting sick with it @ the top of the first chute.
Went up for potentially the ‘last day’ of resort skiing @ Mount Ashland. Fortunately, they decided to stay open another weekend! Just hit up the groomers today, mostly off Aerial, but a few off Windsor as well. Nice and sunny. Got my pass for next year, so stay tuned for ski blog 2012-2013!
Made it up to Mount Ashland for potentially the last weekend of the season there (with the lifts running – there will be much more skiing after they close). A few inches fell over nite, filling in a few places and giving the trees a nice coating of snow. Visibility was pretty marginal for most of the morning but eventually the clouds broke and blue skies came in.
I skied mostly off Aerial, but took a few runs down Void while the visibility was bad. Did a few laps on the backside, came back and they had just opened 3rd & 4th chutes of the bowl, so I did a few down there. A pretty fun day.
First tracks down 4th!
I skied across water!!!
With encouragement from my sister and Paddy, I went ahead and entered the Pond Skimming contest. My costume was a rat-tail made from Tecate cans & season pass chord. It was totally awesome. I don’t know if I won anything or not, but it doesn’t matter because I made it across both times! Not only that, but my second attempt I got down in the ‘tele-position’ while on top of the water, which was totally rad!!! It was a lot of fun, thanks a lot to Molly & Paddy!
Me attempting a daffy after making it through the pond…
Update: 04-12-12 Proof that I made it across tele-style!!! Thank you Paddy!
More fresh snow and blue skies @ the mountain today! Was on the 2nd chair up Windsor & and the first chair up Aerial. Had a few good runs off the resort side, the started lapping the back. Low & behold I ran into Dad @ the end of my first lap, so we skied together after that. Again mostly off the back, but a couple down the bowl. Fun times shredding the gnar with Dad.
A view off the top of Mt. Ashland looking at Shasta above the cloud cover
My first line down the backside, totally ripping turns…
Today was the best day skiing I have had so far this season.
I made it a point to get up there super early so that I could (finally) be the on the first chair. I did, and I was. Actually helped the lift operators shovel out the lift in the morning which was fun, got me moving around and them seemed to appreciate the help. Had a good line down Bottom/Windsor Chairline for my first run, then headed over to Aerial for the rest of the day. Was on the 11th chair when it opened, and got first tracks down Upper Winter, which was pretty nice. After that I started hiking over the top to the back side. Met up with Dad in the parking lot on the way back to the lifts and skied with him for a couple runs on the back. The snow was consistently light and floaty which was totally awesome. After he took off I continued lapping the backside and had some just totally incredible runs. Caught some air off a wind lip here and there (and landing it), swooping turns from one to the other, it was really just totally incredible. Whatever words I put here are an injustice to just how awesome it was and I felt. Truly an amazing day of skiing, nonstop from 8:30 am to 3:45 pm. I haven’t felt more alive in a while, still thinking about my runs today gives me chills. Thank you for that.
A couple turns down the back side…
10″ in the last 24 hours (according to the website) lured me up to the hill. Looked like most of that snow fell during the day Sunday, which meant whoever was up yesterday got some fresh lines. I took a few runs on the resort side, then basically lapped the backside for the rest of the time (5-6 runs down the back). The snow was great, nice and floaty with a few face shots here and there. I do love that floating feeling…
An untouched line down the back, soon to be shredded.