Commando

I knew it was going to be a good day when I was clearing my driveway last night. The intake height on my snowblower is 21 inches, and it was up to the top in places.

I’ve made no secret that I’m a bit absentminded from time to time. This ski season seems to have been a little worse than normal in that regard. Typically I’m really good about putting all my gear except for what I’m wearing and my boots in the car the night before.

Unfortunately, last Wednesday morning I walked out the door to go skiing and didn’t realize until I got to the parking lot that I failed to bring my boots. Thankfully, Aaron had locked his keys in his car, so it worked out that I took him to get a spare key and grabbed my boots on the way and the two of us still got a lap in after the rest of our friends were finished.

Then on Saturday, Tyler and I made it up to Alta and were putting our boots on when I realized my beacon was nowhere to be found. It was five degrees, conditions weren’t great, so neither of us was too disappointed to go back home.

This morning, however, I made it out the door with everything intact. I even brought an extra jacket so I could decide based on conditions which one I wanted to wear for the descent. It would have been a bad morning to miss. First time of the year it’s been over-my-knees deep. Mid-thigh, and almost waist deep in a few spots.

Jon S. and I broke the trail most of the way up Flagstaff, but with the deep snow we were easily caught by Ben and Mike—who started about 30 minutes after us—before reaching the top. The four of us did two laps together. The skiing was so good, I couldn’t be bothered to take pictures except of the first pitch we skied.

First light of the morning on Cardiac ridge:

I laid first tracks and stopped to take photos:

Jon surfs the deep stuff and kicks up some cold smoke:

Ben drops in with panache:

Mike makes good use of his new Megawatts. Unfortunately, coverage is still thin, so he put a core shot in them. I one upped him on lap two with a core shot plus a blown edge.

The coverage isn’t the only thing lacking this time of year. I wish I would have had the fitness for a third lap, but after two, my legs were done. 3,000+ vertical—all of it deep powder—isn’t bad, though.

I can’t believe I’m about to post this on the Internet, but back at the office, I discovered that the absentmindedness wasn’t taking a day off. I’ll need to be running to the store on my lunch break. One need only look at the title to figure out what I forgot.