10 posts tagged “skiing”
Yesterday, finally, I got up to Stevens Pass for some skiing. But, we did something a little different this time--we left at about 1:00 in the afternoon, arriving at 3:00 for some late afternoon/early evening skiing.
I was hoping the crowds when we arrived would be a little less due to the Seahawks-Packers playoff game that was in progress, but it was still pretty busy.
I made the mistake of wanting to do a warm-up run on the easy run---it took us about 20 minutes in line to get on that lift. It's a slow lift to begin with, but made even slower by the large number of beginner skiers/boarders that use it. Normally, I get to Stevens about a half hour before the lifts open at 9:00am and you can ski right up to this lift first thing. But mid-day it is a madhouse. I wanted to get out of the line, but once you're packed into the chute it's not so easy.
We finally got through that run though and headed to my favorite lift Brooks. It's got a great intermediate run along one side of the terrain park and it's fun to stop for a bit midway down and watch folks take the jumps and rails.
By 4:00 the light was fading and I was hoping they would turn on the lights. Visibility was somewhat low anyway, due to a light snow falling. It was beautiful, and the snow as good as it gets here in the Pacific Northwest. But my night vision is not what it used to be.
When the lights finally came on, I noticed an interesting (and helpful) effect: I was casting a shadow on the snow. This helped me see my body position as I was going down the slope. I know what I'm suppose to do position-wise, but still have to concentrate to keep everything together.
All my equipment felt great: boots, skis, helmet. I got the helmet last season, but didn't it didn't get much use due to my calf tear. And I don't feel so bad today, at least so far. A bit stiff, but not really sore.
A couple of years ago, I started downhill skiing again. I had skied in high school (Midwest-style, in southern Wisconsin) and then went to college in Colorado where of course there was lots of great skiing.
But then, I after college, I didn't go downhill skiing for 26 years. Drake doesn't downhill ski (though we did some Nordic skiing) and skiing just fell by the wayside.
In 2006 I had a great first season "back" but then last year, I tore my calf muscle on the second day of the season. That knocked me out for basically the whole season, mainly because I had chronic swelling and I couldn't comfortably get my leg into a ski boot.
Stevens, where I normally ski, just opened on Thursday but only a few runs are open and conditions are marginal. The snow in the Northwest tends to be wet and heavy ("cascade concrete") which is much harder to ski through then the light, fluffy stuff more typical of Colorado. But, still, I love getting out--perhaps I'm reliving my youth!
But for now, I'm patiently watching the ski reports, waiting for conditions to get just a bit better.
A colleague finally posted some of his photos from our company ski day in February and this photo cracked me up a bit because it looks like our Operations Manager (Lynnette, in the middle) is riding up with a cup of coffee. (Her husband works for Starbucks.) Actually, it's the white portion of her ski glove.
It's me, by the way, doing the dorky wave.
Even though this ski season was pretty much a bust for me, I'll be back next season. Just wait :-)
I work in an 8-person consulting firm and yesterday was our first (I hope annual) ski day at Crystal Mountain.
We had a blast!
It was my first day skiing since I tore my calf muscle early in the season. I'm still having some swelling from it and it was a tight fit getting my leg into my boot. While my calf was OK while skiing, the boot on that leg bothered me because of the tight fit. And at the end of the day when I pulled up my pant leg to pull my boot off - I discovered that all the swelling had pushed up over my boot top. It looked like I had an apple growing out of my calf! It was freaky.
I feel pretty good today all things considered. But, that swelling - that doesn't seem right. I'm not sure I'll go again until the swelling is 100% gone.
I'm going on week 3 in my calf-muscle-tear recovery. I'm making progress: I don't think I'll be ready for the slopes next week, but I think I could be good to go the week after.
This would have been a cold day to go up - it was in the single digits this morning; now it's 17 degrees.
We had planned to have my cousin Elise and her husband Gordon over for dinner tonight, but they are both contagious with pink eye so we rescheduled for next Saturday. (They got this via their grandchildren.) Drake's got a cold anyway, so it's probably just as well to postpone a week. The result is an unexpectedly lazy Saturday.
I'm now about two weeks post-muscle-tear and recovery is going slowly. I still have a lot of swelling, particularly around my ankle, and a dark solid bruise running along my foot and up my calf. I can limp around pretty well once I get going, but first thing in the morning or after sitting for long periods - that's still kind of tough. The doc had declared it a 4-6 week injury and it looks like that's what it will be despite my initial hope it was not really that serious.
In the mean time, conditions at Stevens Pass have been a little crazy. Yesterday, it was heavy snow and strong wind. Downed powerlines closed the pass in the morning, so the resort had a late opening. Today it's more heavy snow and wind; chains required on the pass.
I'm not a big fan of skiing in blizzard conditions, so I would have probably skipped going up this weekend anyway.
What's striking is the difference between the snow year here and the midwest and east. Steven's gotten 46" of new snow in the past 7 days, which is more than the total base at most east coast resorts.
Yesterday, my friend Karen and I went skiing at Steven's Pass. Snow conditions were fantastic and we had a great morning skiing the front side of the mountain.
On the last run before lunch, almost at the bottom of the mountain, I took an awkward fall. I'm still not sure how or why I fell. But as I went down I felt a painful pull in my calf and thought "well, that probably finishes me for the day."
The snow and wind were starting to whip up. Since we'd started skiing right as the lifts opened, we were both OK with calling it a day at that point. I took some Advil, we ate our lunch, and then traveled on back to Seattle.
When I got home, I examined my calf. It was kind of freaky-swollen - meaning that it had a large, hard swollen lump on the medial side. My heart sunk. I did some searching online and figured I had a 2nd degree tear of the Gastrocnemius. I called the sports medicine clinic and got an appointment for this morning. Turns out my self-diagnosis was correct.
The good news is that no surgery is required and I'll recover completely on my own. The bad news - I'm on complete lower-body rest for at least 3 to 4 weeks. No skiing, no running, no cycling. I will, however, be able to swim (using pull buoys - no kicking) and do upper-body weights. And, since it's still early in the season, I'll likely still be able to get in some good skiing in February and March.
It looks like I'll be getting a lot of knitting done in January. In fact, last night, Drake (darling that he is) drove me up to the knit shop. I hobbled in and got supplies for a new project. When the going gets tough, the tough get knitting!
I finally got up skiing yesterday, first time out this season. I expected crowds, but it was surprisingly quiet. Guess most folks were getting ready for the holiday (I'll be busy doing that today for sure!)
Because Drake doesn't ski I either go up by myself or with my friend Karen. Karen and I are a good match: she started downhill skiing five years ago (at age 50) and I picked it up again last year after a 26-year hiatus. But she wasn't able to make it yesterday so I went up on my own.
It was snowing like crazy in the morning. I didn't even think about driving the pass - I took the shuttle bus from Sultan, about 40 miles from the ski area.
I am still trying to get on to the "modern" way of skiing. The skis are different now, the turning techique is taught differently; I'm doing my best to learn it right and not fall into bad habits. Yesterday, I took a lesson and stayed on easy terrain practicing drills and slow, studied turns. Really, I just enjoy being out on the mountain, riding the lift in gently falling snow, and overall taking a break from the city.
Karen's going up today with her daughter who's back from college and her daughter's boyfriend, who's visiting for the holiday. It looks they will have great conditions today, too.
We decided skiing was a no-go this morning. Here was the status from the ski area:
We are still without power, however we are scheduled operate, Brooks, SkyLine, Hogsback, Daisy, Tye Mill, Big Chief and Jupiter [lifts] at 9am, conditions permitting. Southern Cross, Double Diamond and 7th Heaven, are closed until we are back on A/C power.
I wasn't quite sure exactly what to expect. Do they have generators capable of running all these lifts? It must be the case, but it seems unclear. Drake thought they might be using a team of squirrels. And what about the lodge? No word on that. It's 14 degrees up there this morning - with no power in the lodge that could be one very long, cold day.
Highway 2 still sounded blocked Eastbound anyway.
Maybe we'll give it a go tomorrow.
Status here in the Seattle metro area is still 500,000 without power. Most won't have power through the weekend. Temperatures are expected to get down into the 20s. tonight. We feel very lucky not to be affected.
Right now, Highway 2 East is blocked with debris. But Stevens Pass says they are planning normal operations tomorrow, so we are going to try to take advantage of that new layer of wonderful white fluffiness in the mountains. My friends Phil and Karen are without power and probably will be for some time, so I'm going to get up early, check the road conditions, and call them with a Go/No Go.
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