Season 32

I'm back... and season 32 has started.
Now that I am officially unemployed (or should I say "actively looking for a job") I can workout, go out and do all the stuff I never had time to do!
Well not quite.
Work has not let me go yet. I still have to finish that paper.
Life has not made things easy either interfered with my motivation over the last couple of weeks.
But the earth didn't stop. Time is ticking and days flying by. I have to get going.
Has I write these lines, I have 4 short days left in Montana before my forced vacation in France.
The snow finally came (not too much but almost enough) and with this I declared started my 32nd ski season.
I know, the first winters were not quite ski-seasons, and it might be more accurate to start counting from the day I actually stepped on skis for the first time. But see, I don't remember when that was.
Anyway. My rule, created a couple of years ago, is that I have to ski at least n days during season n. It gets more challenging every year which is really cool. Of course, beyond the nth ski day, it becomes the more the better...

So here we go: n=32 (I am so geeky I know)
and here went day 1 and day 2!

Day 1 was on November 28th at Lookout Pass with Oggy and Junior. They always open early because they always get tons of snow first. I haven't gone there for the last 2 years: it's not really my favorite hill. They do get powder, but when it happens, the road gets really bad, and it's not quite steep enough to really take advantage of it. I guess this time it wasn't an issue. No fresh snow, and barely enough coverage on the lower portions of the area. I can't believe they even opened some if it. It was baaaad. I still had my workout since I had the good idea to take my teles that day. It was cold enough too... For recovery we headed to the Syme hotel in Hot Springs were we met Oggy's brother and the brother's girlfriend. Nice hot water soaking, decent dinner, great breakfast, and back to the Bitterroot Valley.
So I am still not super fond of LP, but I have to admit I love being able to ski in November...

Day 2 was a short, sunny, very cold day. On Wednesday, December 2nd, I headed all by myself to Lost Trail. It hasn't opened yet but they had already started working on grooming the runs. The Gnome Collector, who had called me the day before to brag about a trip to Big Sky, actually showed up too. Ha ha. I was ready to go when he arrived so I figured I would see him on the hill later.
I chose to hike up Speedway to the top of chair 1. As cold as it was, I had taken off 3 of my layers by the time I reached the halfway point. I should always hike on freezing days.
I picked Thunder as my first run. hmmm. Nice fresh powder, but not too good of a base. Quick feeling with my pole indicated about 4-5 in of depth hoar, a 2-3 in easily breakable icy layer, and on top probably 6in of fresh snow. So I could feel the rocks underneath more than once. Not that great. The snow was quite heavy too.
I reached the forest road where I put the skins back on. I figured there was no point in going further down, it would only get worse.
On the road, I found the tracks of the Gnome Collector and followed them. They were going all the way to the top of chair 1 and then snowboarding down the South Face, which is what I also did (wait SKIING! me not snowboarding!). It turned out to be quite good!
Unfortunately, because of a poor choice of socks, the blisters has started and I decided to head back to the car instead of climbing for another run.
And my conclusion for day 2 is : Lost Trail is still the best area around here.

So what is coming up now? Well I have one more chance to go before I leave: that would be on Wednesday. Mrs K talked last night about going to Lolo Pass. That would be nice...
But will I have time? I have to take Buster to the vet, find him a cat-sitter for January, write my paper, pack my stuff, interrupt my phone, insurance contracts, go to the bank, write my paper, pack my stuff, write my paper...arrrrrrrrrrrgh

Ryan Creek, MT, last night

Born a few dozen milleniums too early

Global Warming Could Forestall Ice Age

Another good time at the Wilma

On may 8th the Gourds were playing at the Wilma, in Missoula.

It's usually not my favorite type of music, but for some reason, I don't know if it's their style, or just because they're really really good, I just love them.

And I think the last 3 times I went to a concert, it was to see them...

Oh wait! No! In between there was also the great Michael Franti... Still at the Wilma...

Go see their website and listen!

Witch doctors and plane seats

My favorites are the PTs. They just saved me when I couldn't move or do anything.

About a month ago, I flew to DC for a "retreat". It was an interesting trip for me because I had never seen Washington. I didn't have much free time, just enough to enjoy a fantastic "steak tartare" at the Café du Coin (hmmm flavors from home!) and long expected sea food at the Sea Catch. I also went for a walk to the National Mall. I wish I had more time to visit the Smithsonian and all these museums. I had to make a choice... and opted for the American History Museum, but on my way there I walked past the Museum of Natural History and couldn't resist. 

I first walked through the Mammalian museum and was chased by a herd of little screaming creatures. I moved on to the dinosaurs and fossils and was very impressed by how they present evolution using words and concepts understandable by kids. Who soon followed me in the fossils hall and drove me out of it.

I then went upstairs to see only the first half (unfortunately) of the exhibition called "Written in Bone: Forensic Files of the 17th-Century Chesapeake". Amazing! They illustrate with remains of settlers the way they can discover all sorts of information just by looking at human skeletons.

I had to run out though to be sure not to miss my plane. Which could actually have been a good thing? It turns out the flight from DC to Denver was quite bad, my neighbor being physically unable to fit on her seat, and therefore occupying half of mine. I have this bad habit of not moving during a flight, just trying to sleep, hoping I won't wake up before it's over. I did because my neighbor needed to get up a few times. It wasn't that bad, except for 1) the water she finally spilled on my lap, 2) the fact that I spent 4 hours crooked on an uncomfortable seat.

But what can you do? I could have complained but the plane was packed and I couldn't see how it would have improved my situation. It might have allowed me to vent some of my frustration, and made my neighbor feel embarrassed or upset. great.

The bottom line: I woke up the next day unable to move my back. Had issues in the past, and probably very unshaped abs, but this hadn't happened to me as far as I can remember.

It took me 2 days before being able to go back to work, and 2 weeks and a half before being able to workout again - and this only with the help of my heroes the physical therapists. Chiropractors couldn't help me there. I have to say I feel almost like a professional of lower back issues. I'm ready to help anyone in need...:)

Of course, this affected my ski-days-count (i still made it ti 20, which means I need to find a way to go 12 more days before the end of spring), and also I couldn't continue training for the triathlon and decided to cancel my participation...

Oh well. I have since resumed training (next race should be June 21st), hope to keep this blog a little more updated, and at the same time find a job for next year. Ouch.

Day 15

A little more snow fell on the Bitterroot last week. Unfortunately, it stopped on Thursday, and once again I went to Lost Trail to ski packed snow.
In my future life, I'll be able to take ANY Thursday off to ski powder. And ANY Friday off too. ANY day off.
The weather was nice, not too windy, not too cold.
I took the teles again, I feel I can cheat less and less.
Oggy took me with him at the end of the day to sweep the SacJack trees and Sacajewea. There's nothing like having the whole mountain for ourselves...
The weather forecast looks good: snow likely everyday. Hopefully, some fresh snow for Saturday this time...

Where was I at...?

I might want to get used to the never ending cold. I have to admit that every day is a surprise, since every day it seems I have a different cold... Today is the dry coughing stage. I had congestion, tears, congestion, runny nose, sore throat, on day off (so I went swimming and running... how smart!), then back to the runny/congested nose friday...

Week end and dry air did not help so much.

What's tomorrow?

My training is not going so well so far.

Looking back at last week, I missed the 2 spin workouts, one run and one swim... which is what? 2 thirds of what I had planned?

I decided to re-try the same program this week...

Monday was skiing so no swim - I already have to catch up

Tuesday run cancelled too... but did pilates in the evening.

Wednesday: Spin+ transition run 10 min. check

Wednesday night: swim 2000yds : I'm leaving in a few minutes.

Let's see if I can complete the program before Sunday.