First tracks, first day of 2009

Started off the new year by hitting the slopes for some early runs with my brother-in-law before driving home from Mammoth. This is the view from Chair 5 at about 8:45 a.m. It offered some really nice, groomed, packed powder. You could really trust your edges and carve some fast, long, fearless turns on the surface.


Two views from Chair 9--much better than the actual run which had some exposed rocks and sheets of ice. Still it was decent, long, varied, and fun. (This lift used to be a clunker of a two-seater that would stop frequently and expose riders to brutally cold winds. Last season, it was upgraded into a cushy, fast, detachable quad.)


We hopped on I-395 around 11:00 a.m. and returned to Los Angeles and reality... The snow level is still pretty low, and another storm is scheduled to arrive tomorrow. I'm hoping it dumps more because I'm not going to get back up to the mountains until after a few looming GR-related deadlines pass. There's a ton of great stuff coming up.


But sometimes, you just have to take a break. That's something I learned from Eloise.