Homage to John

So John has moved on to pastures new and decided that Breck really wasn't that much fun and he'd much rather go back home and move out to MInneapolis and get a real job. What a sucker. So if anyone wants to come visit I now have a free bed as well as the couch. Anyway he moved out almost a week ago and I figured it was about time to put up a few pictures and a video so we can all remember him. We had a rather big night out a few weeks ago where John got particularly hammered. I think the crux of the alcohol consumption came at Salt Creek when John ordered a round of Jager bombs for everyone but realised he didn't have any money. So Arthur was called in to throw down the cash, but seeing as he was paying for them all Arthur decided that it really shouldn't be a round for everyone, it should really just be a couple of rounds for him and John. So they took them to the head and throw them down their necks. The rest is history, We needed to carry John to the bus, the driver almost didn't let him on because he thought he would throw up all over the bus, but no need to worry, John just passed out in Arthurs lap, nice and cozy boys. WHen we got back to our place a camera was found and a few pictures were taken, but initially we had the camera set on video while we were trying to take pictures so we have a gem of a video then a few pictures. But the morning was a different story. John had teh last laugh when we woke up at 5:00am still drunk as can be and started running around the apartment playing the hippo song, calling Mike who was in the room next door and telling him his chilli sucked and also abusing Arthur on the phone. John also decided he would have a popsicle during this whole ordeal. But the fun really came at 6:00 when he realised he had to go to work. Anyway, here's the video and pictures.

Nights out in Breck

Arthurs chicken dinner

So for all of you who don't know, Arthur is a man who likes his chicken. He's all about the chicken and he's been going on about cooking a big old chicken dinner for just about the whole season. So with John leaving soon he finally got round to it. We got off the hill around 4:00 and headed home, went back out to the market to get everything and were back and ready to start cooking the two birds we'd picked up by about 5:00ish. After waiting for what seemed like days the chicken was finally getting to be cooked around midnight. During this process quite a few beers where consumed and the crowd was getting restless. It didn't help that he put about 3 gallons of water in the gravy or that the birds were basted in 12 sticks of pure butter, but to give the man credit, it did taste pretty good. Check out the pictures and videos.

Arthur's chicken dinner

Arthurs chicken dinner 1, The bacon


Arthurs chicken dinner 2, The heart attack


Arthurs chicken dinner 3, Swimming lessons

Gaper boarding with sweetness

So my roommate John is leaving after this weekend so we decided to go out and have a good day on the slopes. I broke out sweetness and we rolled in gaper shirts. To top things off we stopped by the liquor store and picked up some beers. The result, a great day on the slopes. We cruised the slopes and had a couple of runs through the small parks. I forgot how difficult it is to ride sweetness. After a couple of runs it was ok but the stance is really close together which makes riding pretty difficult just due to trying to maintain your balance. Anyway, we had a good day out and took a couple of pictures. Check them out.

Pictures from the Breck slopes

IAVSD Conference in Berkeley

I Just got an email from the IAVSD conference thats in Berkeley that my abstract was accepted. So I'll be back in the bay area for August 13th and I'll probably stay and hang out there until I fly back to England. Hopefully it will be a way of convincing potential employeers that I'm staying current with research, not just pissing around having fun in Colorado. The only problem is that I have to write the paper now, hopefully my brain still works.

Mountain madness

So its getting crazy on the mountain. Springbreak gapers have arrived in full force and the mountain is full of Texans falling everywhere. Its almost getting to the point where its not even worth going boarding its so busy. And some of these guys are falling pretty hard. I was working on Rocky Mountain Chair today, which is at the base of Peak 8 and just across from ski patrol, and they were busy. About every 20-30 minutes they would bring in another victim. The worst was early in the day around 10:00 when we saw a patroler bring down a sled while two other patrolers were riding alongside it kneeling down giving CPR and another was stabilising the tobogan from the rear. It didn't look good at all and it turned out that it was an 18 year old guy from North Carolina who skied into a tree under our lift on Dukes and he ended up dying. Its the second guy who has died this year at Breck. Another guy died in pretty much the same way and around the same place just a week or so before I got out here. It makes you think a bit about the stupid stuff you do on the slopes and you realise its pretty easy to get into some serious trouble.

Full moon boarding at Loveland Pass

The full moon was on March 4th and we headed out to Loveland pass to hit a few runs under the moonlight. We jumped in the car and rolled out, with a quick stop in Frisco to meet Jeff's friend, Drew and grab a quick bit in Wendys. We also had a few beers for the ride up the pass just to liven things up a bit. Once we hit the pass we saw a whole bunch of people all riding under undwer the moonlight and having a bit of a party. We hit the back side of the pass first, heading down towards A-Basin. We hiked in a little and got up to a little shack. This was our drop in. We strapped in and took a run. It was pretty sketchy. The snow was heavy, crusty powder and the tracks were pretty icy. The light was pretty good but at the same time it only gave you the general lie of the land, the details of the bumps and tracks were a bit harder to make out. So it took a bit of jedi boarding to run out the flats and carry some speed. The first run was pretty sweet, with a few fresh powder turns. I also almost stacked it trying to carry some speed across a flat. It was pretty tracked and the tracks were iced up. So running through them I was catching edges all the time and I just had to float it and follow my board.

After the first run we had to wait for a passing car so we could hitch hike back up to our cars. This took a while. We finally decided to start walking after half an hour. Another half hour later a car finally came by, it was supposed to be a lot quicker than that. Oh well. Anyway, we made it back up to the cars by sending Jeff and Drew up to the cars and they came back with the truck. Then John, Arthur, Mike and I jumped into the bed like a bunch of sardines in a tin for a riide back up to the top of the pass. From then on we decided that we shoul drun a shuttle and send one person down to pick us up on each run. We also decided to drop down the front of the pass towards I-70, which was seeing a lot more traffic. We took a few runs down the front. The snow wasn't quite as good because there had been a lot more people running it, but we still found some good lines. After hitting the front a few times it was getting late and we decided to jam home. We got in by 3:00am which gave me 3 hours sleep before I had to wake up for work in the morning, sweet.

So whats the verdict? Full moon boarding was cool and I definitely loved it, even if I only got 3 hours sleep before work today. The riding wasn't that good, but I guess we could have hit better snow conditions but thats not the point. It was sweet because just strapping in under a full moon is an experience that is truely unique and something I'll remember forever.

Check out the photos.

Full moon boarding at Loveland Pass

Visitors

So this last week I've had some visitors, Jules and his family all came out for a week in Breck and they picked just about the best week we've had this season. It snowed the whole week and we had some amazing powder drop on the mountain, which we took advantage of. I also managed to swithc some shifts around so I had Monday to Friday off to go boarding with them. We hit a couple fo epic days at Breck on Monday and Tuesday and got some sick powder runs under 6 Chair, down Y Chutes and over on Mustang. Then on Wednesday we cruised over to Vail and got some nice powder runs in Blue Sky Basin and hit a few cliff drops. Then the weather turned a bit colder and stormy for Thursday and Friday but we still went out and hit the slopes for a few good runs. Despite all this great boarding (or maybe to due it) we didn't take too many pictures but you can check out one in my picasa album.

I had an amazing week of boarding and it was definitely cool having people out here to visit. I definitely have to thank Jules' parents for coming out to Breck and bringing the whole family, and taking me out for dinner. So for everyone else thinking of coming out, DO IT.

Pictures from the slopes