So one of the true pioneers and icons of the ski industry, Warren Miller, passed away this past January at 93(!) years old. We went to see the latest film from his company (he hadn’t been filming with them for many years now), The Face of Winter. I’ve been to WM movies off an on over the years but not for some time, but this year wanted to go again in tribute to the man and his amazing career.

The movie was pretty good – while there were a couple tiny #MeToo moments in it (IMHO) and a few too many ‘fake sly’ product placements, it was still good – the usual mix of heli-skiing crazy extreme glaciers and remote mountains (this time mostly in AK, Chile, Iceland, France and Switzerland), with classic clips and WM testimonials throughout. I did not realize he was making movies as far back as the 50’s – crazy stuff.

anyway, here’s the trailer, it’s still touring around the country if you get the chance to see it:

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candybowl

So happy new year to everyone. It’s been quiet on this blog because of moving to a new host situation but now that’s taken care of, so we’re back in biz!

Went skiing for the first time yesterday at Stevens Pass – great day! Sunny, decent snowpack with minimal ice, and my legs held up pretty decently, although obviously I need to hit the exercise bike a bit more. When we were leaving, my fellow skiers were up at the lodge, so I went back to the van to change and then drive up to pick them up.

As never happens (:)) there were some ‘issues’ of course – I had to (try, not really successfully) to scrape the INSIDE of the windshield so I could see out. I threw my skis on the roof rack, got changed and then drove slowly up to the front steps/pickup area, but on the way, due to a dumba** driving the wrong way had to make an abrupt turn around a parked car, and heard a weird noise down on the left front side. I kept on driving up to the front, and when I got out, Karri was pointing to a cone I had picked up along the way, that just kept dragging along with me – see pic below. I also was pointed to the fact that I never *locked* the skis down on the roof rack, so they were just sitting up there, thankfully didn’t fall down (you can see this and the non-see-through windows in the pic too).

So after removing the cone and loading up, we spent the next 10-15 mins scraping windows (again, the inside of them) – it was a multi-person effort! 🙂 and drinking some Lambrusco – delicioso! Then we lit out for Seattle.

A great start to the ski season! Hoping we get a late one like the last couple years that lasts all but into April again!

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had a GREAT day skiing at Mt. Baker yesterday. Despite the long drive (it is 145 miles from Seattle) the conditions were excellent: over 100 inches of snow, sunny, and minimal lines. The views of the surrounding ranges were also amazing, with many crazy hikers up on those cornices getting ready for extreme backcountry plunges into likely VERY deep powder.

Since I blew out my right knee ACL last year, I’m on the ‘brace train‘ these days, but I was never into the backcountry hiking anyway. Kerewin is doing great on her 3rd year snowboarding too!

Met friends up there and skied with them some – enjoyed the typical beer, champagne and foodfest in the Syncro midday, then back on to the mountain until close – probably got about 12-15 runs total? Took a while to get outta there – sadly someone had to get medivac’d off the mountain via helicopter – then stopped by some friends’ place on the way down the mountain, which meant not getting back until about 9pm (doh!).

Still….amazing day.

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Back to work tomorrow – after getting ACL surgery on my right knee week before last (ski crash in late Feb), i’ve been movin’ slow the past 10 days or so. But no more – I go back to my new job (hooray!) tomorrow am, and start crutching around….wish me luck! 🙂

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In other unrelated news, I was able to pick up a ‘cabaret’ style (meaning about 2/3 the size of a ‘normal’ arcade game) Missile Command arcade game – very cool, hope to get it to Seattle later this spring….

So every year about this time (or late Feb) I typically have a serious cold or similar that puts me down for a day or two, and it happened again last night into today. I was already dealing with a seriously runny nose as of Monday and then last night it just hit hard, this morning was horrible.

It’s weird because while it’s happening, I think it’s never going to get better and whatever plans I have later that week, later that month or etc. are nixed as a result. But then many hours go by (in this case sick at home in bed until late am, then sitting on the couch watching DVDs because you really can’t do much else and can’t sleep anymore either) and you start to pull out of it by late afternoon/early evening in most cases. Still not 100% but feeling with a foot back in the land of the living at any rate. It just makes you think (at least a bit) about how much you take your health for granted – until you stop being healthy.

Another example is tearing my ACL in my right knee while skiing a couple weeks ago. While the injury is serious, mine doesn’t seem near as bad as others i’ve talked to who have had the same thing. While I’m going to get it fixed in another week or so (and endure the longer rehab after – doh!) the knee feels ok in most cases, unless you really try a deep knee bend – OWWW! Not quite there yet on that one. But going back to the earlier comment – you just take for granted your ability to walk where you want to, go and do the activities you want, etc. – you never consider that might change fundamentally, or that if it does it will happen in old age when you would expect it to – and of course that’s many decades away anyway, so why worry about that? Interesting thing to ponder though, your health….

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