I didn't get as many skier shots as I was often bringing up the rear, but here are the better of what I got:
tim/Tim Gedney/JohnL
qcanoe
Mdskier
Tim Gedney
unpiste
Matchstix
mdf
Post Gathering
My family came out on Wednesday and we did our own mini Gathering with a day each at Snowmass, Ajax and Highlands. They all had to get altitude acclimated on the first day. As I expected, my wife enjoyed the many blue groomers at Snowmass. I took the kids down KT Gully which was ok, but not as good as it was just a few days earlier.
It got very warm on our Ajax day. The kids wanted to play in the trees hunting for shrines. We only found a few minor ones. It didn't take long for all of the bump runs to soften up so we did several of those including Northstar, Glade #3, Gent's Ridge, Hanging Tree and Face of Bell.
Our last day at Highlands didn't warm up as fast as the previous day at Ajax. We started by showing my wife around on the groomers. The kids wanted to take the cat ride, but none of us were all that interested in the hike. Unfortunately Dad wasn't smart enough to see what trails were actually open up there. After the cat ride we learned that the first few entrances into the bowl were closed due to the melting/refreeze from the previous day's warmth. So up we hiked. Luckily, I had my earlier purchased strap to attach my skis, while I carried my son's and my daughter carried her own. Up and up we hiked looking for an open entrance. At some point the kids decided that we had gotten far enough that we might as well go all the way to the top. There was a ton of people up there. I heard someone mention they had never seen it so crowded. Finally, we made it to the top. I was pretty impressed with my kids - they didn't complain once. After a nice rest on top, we head down towards G-4. Our route down on this day had much better snow than I experienced when I did the hike the week before, so I felt it was much more worth it for me this time. We took a few pictures on the way down including some from the bottom of the bowl. We get through the runout and on to the Temerity chair. By this time it was after 1:30 and we hadn't eaten yet. On the chair I discovered my jacket pocket was open and my camera was no longer in there. I'm not happy with this situation at all. At the top I send the kids down to the Merry-Go-Round for lunch while I try to get as close to where I last remember having it. I skied the trees as far skiers right on Temerity as I could go hoping to get back in the bowl, but of course those runs were all closed for the same reasons as those at the top of the cat dropoff. Luckily the snow in these trees was still pretty nice. I asked the lifties, but no one had turned in a camera. I went back to the Merry-Go-Round to catch up with the family, but I wasn't much in the mood to eat at this point so I got a quick snack and asked if anyone wanted to do one more run over in Temerity to check one more time. My son wanted to go so we headed up the Loge Peak lift. We were joined by a patroller who complained what the previous days heat had done to the snow. Since we had pretty much found good snow so far that day, I figured he was just spoiled. However, my plan to ski under the Temerity lift in case I had dropped the camera from there quickly educated me to the situation. The nice snow of several days earlier was long gone and replaced by hard, refrozen death chunks. Luckily the lift line generally stays close to the trees and the snow in the shadow of the trees was still fairly soft. We made our way down along the tree line but found no signs of a camera. Pretty well exhausted by this point, we called it quits and headed down to the bottom. I wasn't sure if my wife and daughter had caught an earlier bus but after sitting down in the lodge a few minutes, they found us and let us know...they had retrieved the camera from lost and found. So many thanks to whoever found and turned it in! I attribute it to the good karma my daughter got earlier in the week by chasing a woman who was running through the Philly airport who had dropped a hat - apparently she had to track her down through most of the terminal before she caught up with her. Hopefully the good karma continues to whoever turned in my camera!
tim/Tim Gedney/JohnL
qcanoe
Mdskier
Tim Gedney
unpiste
Matchstix
mdf
Post Gathering
My family came out on Wednesday and we did our own mini Gathering with a day each at Snowmass, Ajax and Highlands. They all had to get altitude acclimated on the first day. As I expected, my wife enjoyed the many blue groomers at Snowmass. I took the kids down KT Gully which was ok, but not as good as it was just a few days earlier.
It got very warm on our Ajax day. The kids wanted to play in the trees hunting for shrines. We only found a few minor ones. It didn't take long for all of the bump runs to soften up so we did several of those including Northstar, Glade #3, Gent's Ridge, Hanging Tree and Face of Bell.
Our last day at Highlands didn't warm up as fast as the previous day at Ajax. We started by showing my wife around on the groomers. The kids wanted to take the cat ride, but none of us were all that interested in the hike. Unfortunately Dad wasn't smart enough to see what trails were actually open up there. After the cat ride we learned that the first few entrances into the bowl were closed due to the melting/refreeze from the previous day's warmth. So up we hiked. Luckily, I had my earlier purchased strap to attach my skis, while I carried my son's and my daughter carried her own. Up and up we hiked looking for an open entrance. At some point the kids decided that we had gotten far enough that we might as well go all the way to the top. There was a ton of people up there. I heard someone mention they had never seen it so crowded. Finally, we made it to the top. I was pretty impressed with my kids - they didn't complain once. After a nice rest on top, we head down towards G-4. Our route down on this day had much better snow than I experienced when I did the hike the week before, so I felt it was much more worth it for me this time. We took a few pictures on the way down including some from the bottom of the bowl. We get through the runout and on to the Temerity chair. By this time it was after 1:30 and we hadn't eaten yet. On the chair I discovered my jacket pocket was open and my camera was no longer in there. I'm not happy with this situation at all. At the top I send the kids down to the Merry-Go-Round for lunch while I try to get as close to where I last remember having it. I skied the trees as far skiers right on Temerity as I could go hoping to get back in the bowl, but of course those runs were all closed for the same reasons as those at the top of the cat dropoff. Luckily the snow in these trees was still pretty nice. I asked the lifties, but no one had turned in a camera. I went back to the Merry-Go-Round to catch up with the family, but I wasn't much in the mood to eat at this point so I got a quick snack and asked if anyone wanted to do one more run over in Temerity to check one more time. My son wanted to go so we headed up the Loge Peak lift. We were joined by a patroller who complained what the previous days heat had done to the snow. Since we had pretty much found good snow so far that day, I figured he was just spoiled. However, my plan to ski under the Temerity lift in case I had dropped the camera from there quickly educated me to the situation. The nice snow of several days earlier was long gone and replaced by hard, refrozen death chunks. Luckily the lift line generally stays close to the trees and the snow in the shadow of the trees was still fairly soft. We made our way down along the tree line but found no signs of a camera. Pretty well exhausted by this point, we called it quits and headed down to the bottom. I wasn't sure if my wife and daughter had caught an earlier bus but after sitting down in the lodge a few minutes, they found us and let us know...they had retrieved the camera from lost and found. So many thanks to whoever found and turned it in! I attribute it to the good karma my daughter got earlier in the week by chasing a woman who was running through the Philly airport who had dropped a hat - apparently she had to track her down through most of the terminal before she caught up with her. Hopefully the good karma continues to whoever turned in my camera!
Hopefully some colder weather and snow coming soon.
