Barb

He said he is going indoor rock climbing with his daughter

I’m sure your daughter is a great belayer. My advice is, trust the rope. It’s hard to do when you are new to the sport. Hips into the wall, don’t stick your butt out. Try and use the power of your legs to push you up, not arms to pull you up.

Been so dry here! Haven’t had a good storm since Christmas week. This week we are having beautiful sunny skies and warmer temps. Took my XC skis to the top of McClure Pass this morning. Lots of peeps snowmobile there so it’s packed down. Saw some tracks veer off the road and decided to follow them. Didn’t get too far as my skis were just too skinny and I was just sinking. Fell once going downhill and there was no bottom, was hard to get up. Looking forward to bringing my fatter XC skis back there and play around off road Someone had a beast of a machine in the lot. Said they have a cabin 7 miles up the forest road

My friend and I skied to the Maroon Bells today. Longest I have ever XC skied, 12.5 miles. Thought we would coast down, but no, still had to work. Think my shoulders are the most sore. It hurt just taking off my backpack. temps were mid 20’s and overcast. Strong head winds after mile 3. They run snowmobile tours and that company puts in a classic track. Was great in some spots, disappeared in others. Looking forward to a very lazy morning tomorrow.

That looks like a spicy hill for skinny skis

I remember how those northeast winters felt.

No inversions. They were pretty common in Boulder but haven’t seen one here yet

Went to Buttermilk yesterday hoping it would be a bit warmer since it’s lower elevation. When I grabbed my skis from the shed they were so cold I could not carry them with bare hands. Been -10 here every morning for about a week. Temps were 12 when I arrived, 16 when I left BRR. Buttermilk was uneventful but quiet. Today was due to be warmer so went to Snowmass. Used the parking lot for the pass I bought for the first time. It is literally right next to the lift! Amazing. It’s the other, quiet side of the mountain. Dumps you off at top of elk camp Gondola. I took the second elk camp chair to the top, never been up there (Snowmass is absolutely huge). Really pretty views. that lift is about 1500’ of vert. Ended up at the bottom of Village express not meaning to, just meandering around. It was a gorgeous bluebird day and 30 degrees when I got back to the car. My plan is to cross country ski somewhere local tomorrow. Deep freeze coming in Sat-Tue. Temps due to be -30 at night, real temp not wind chill temp.

I haven’t skied in tracks in years! It was really fun.

Went to Frisco Nordic center today. Some really nice views there. It’s all wide open. 2 degrees but the sunshine felt nice.

For the toe piece I find if you turn your pole upside down and smash the springs up and down a few times, open and close, it clears the snow

After 3+ days being down with the dreaded stomach flu I finally felt well enough to take my new XC skis for a neighborhood spin today. The neighborhood part of the ski, before I got to the air strip was extremely icy! Temp was about 12 when I left my house. Not being used to these new skis I walked down one of the hills. Have to get used to stopping on these, or at least slowing down. started following these tracks down to the river, but the snow was pretty thin so I turned around.

My bindings work as follows; in tour mode, you hold down the back piece while turning the “tower” part that has the pins. One turn to the right. The pins are now not aligned with back of your boot, so can’t lock in. Brakes also held up by this. Then when transition, turn pins back so you can click in boot. I am sure I am in the minority, but I never feel great going downhill in my touring setup. Touring boots def do not feel as structured, and the pin bindings do not feel as secure. Not as much power transfer from boot movement. I always ski more cautiously and my turns are not as clean. But that is probably just fear on my part. Also, my legs usually feel like spaghetti after a long uphill slog, so that may play a part as well. demo starts about 54 seconds

Mine have brakes. Would assume it’s a weight saving measure

These look good! Very similar to my dynafit radical bindings. No brake on them? Guess you have to be super careful on the transitions that they don’t get away from you.