Learning to Ski

This weekend I went on a ski trip down to the Eastern Sierra. In my car I had some cross country (xc) skis and a backcountry setup. It's a couple hour drive down from Tahoe and a major storm was approaching along the crest, so when I made it to Bridgeport, I finally bought some chains which was an extremely good purchase since the storm locked me down in the Mono Basin for a day.

My first stop was on Tioga Pass. My goal this winter is to head up to Tuolumne Meadows, so I wanted to see what it was actually like skiing up Tioga Pass road. It's a roughly twelve mile, 2500' ascent to the pass and then eight miles and a 1500' descent to the ski hut. As I begin to ski up this road I'm initially taken aback by just how freakin long and hard this route might be. Just one long slow slog up 120. The snow was coming down signficantly more then when I started, so I figured I should head back to the car and possibly head down to Bishop, but the mountain weather was against me and I was forced to bivy in the van south of Mono Lake.

My evening was great, I just watched a movie and crashed out hard. Although, I was a little nervous about the snow. It just kept coming and coming. I was worried I was going to be stuck in the morning when I woke up, so I kept the chains on all night. Sure enough, when I awoke there was fresh snow everywhere. It was beautiful, crisp, and clear out. With a little rocking back and forth I was able to get my car moving, but then I had to get enough speed to blow through the plowed snow hill that the snow removers built up. So I backed up and blasted through. That was fun. After a quick morning xc ski run around the flat, I was off to Bishop.

Once down in Bishop, I met up with some friends and we headed up to Habeggars on South Lake Road. This was my first time backcountry skiing. Everything was new to me, my skis, my boots, the bindings, the skins, the snow, etc. I was a total rookie in this backcountry ski world. Add to the fact that I've actually only gone skiing eight or nine times in my entire life and only two of those were as an adult, and you get someone whose mind is fertile ground for learning.

When we get to the top of the hill and I ask, 'So how do you ski down?' I think the others might have been a little taken aback. Now isn't the time for those types of questions. But up till then I had too much to think about. I busy thinking about which line to create going up hill, I had to think about how tired I was and I had to worry about the snow that kept on coming down. Skiing in powder was new to me, so I just wanted a one or two sentence answer on the philosophy.

Once at the top of the hill, I moved into 'transition' mode. The crap you have to do between going uphill and downhill is called the 'transition.' Let me tell you, my transition time was atrocious. First off, it's snowing quite significantly, visibility was low, we're perched on the side of this steep incline, all my gear is new and it's cold out. So I'm fumbling and fussing, while those guys are just waiting patiently. Well, maybe not patiently, but silently at least. My skis are flopping around, my bindings won't engage, there's snow everywhere, everything was against me. But once I finally get myself together, I have one more question to ask Jim, but as I turn to get his answer he's already blasted down the hill.

Not wanting to be left alone, I jump right in after him. My initial feeling is speed. I love speed, don't get me wrong. In fact, I drive a slow car, because I love speed too much. I forfeited the right to own a sports car years ago. So going fast isn't my issue, it's going fast without a clue that bothers me. I didn't have too much time to gain speed though since I kept on falling over, but falling over in powder just makes one laugh. It's actually a good feeling. We all made it down eventually before the storm really kicked in gear and my first day of Backcounty skiing was a success.

Day Two was a completely different story though. Crystal clear skies, warm temps, skinning up in tshirts... it's that perfect Sierra day that is just typical of this area. The hike up was less exhausting, the snow was fluffier, and my transition time was pretty much cut in half. No questions at the top, just excitement. This time I make it down flawlessly without a crash. At the bottom, I was able to see the beautiful line I just made on the slope. A beautiful slithering S curve this time, as compared to yesterdays line which looked like someone with a seizure was trying to draw a picture.

Needless to say, the weekend was incredible. Day two was followed up by more XC skiing at Mono Lake and then up to Virginia Lakes Road for some final runs at setting light with an amazing view of Mono Lake in the background. It doesn't get much better then that.

Snow Removal

Typical morning in Lake Tahoe.

Morning Walk

Here's a video from a morning walk. In the morning the air is clear and everything is quiet and there is no one around. Just the quiet sounds of the waves rolling up to the snow.

Graton Gallery

I'm currently showing paintings at the Graton Gallery located just outside of Sebastopol, California. The exhibition is showcasing several well known artists from the Northern California area. The work is outstanding and I'm happy to be surrounded by quality.

Come check it out.

http://gratongallery.com/

Here's a sad story

Towards the end of Michelangelo;s life he was found one day to be tossing old sketches into the fire. He knew that he was going to be remembered into posterity and he didn't want work that he thought wasn't quite up to par.

What's annoying is that his below average pieces are still mind blowing and we all could have learned so much from those works. Sometimes when a painting is ''too good' it's hard to comprehend how the artist did it. If you take a painting that isn't mind blowing is easier to understand how it's done. And replicate the idea if need be.

Amazing Woodblock Artist

Nice woodcuts. Worthy of checking out.


Tom Killion...




http://tomkillion.com/app/index

Purpose

This is not the first blog I've set up. While travelling through India, I set up a blog to tell about the stories that happened. The main motivation was to fill in my friends and family. I knew they would appreciate it, but I've never been one to talk about my adventures all that much. I've already lived through the story of my life, I don't feel the need to tell everyone else how cool my life is. Besides, there are enough people out there with an incorrect assumption about their own personal importance.

Telling stories reminds me of being in high school. I remember several times where something funny would happen to me, and I just couldn't wait to tell someone at work about my crazy day. Then when I get into work I tell the story once and I'm done telling it. Even if I didn't like the person I told it to and I really meant to tell someone else, I would hardly ever retell the tale.

Another time I was telling some people about this ridiculous accident I had on Tioga Pass Road. There was this boulder that almost crushed my car and could have sent me over the cliff. So I was telling the story and getting into all the details and the excitement. Afterwards another guy came up and wanted to know what happened. I said, 'A rock almost hit my car.' He said, 'I don't believe you.' I said, 'ok. That's nice.'

I think my aversion to repeated story telling has to do with hanging around drunks. A repeating drunk who drones on and on about something he just talked about five minutes ago really irks me. Just like when someone is retelling me something, I get annoyed. 'Why are you telling me this again? Obviously what you're telling me isn't important enough for you to remember you told it to me in the first place. So why should I remember it or have to listen to it twice?'

Regardless this blog scene is interesting. It's a possible source of new clients and new patronage, which is always good. And technically the story is only told once, but it's out there forever. It's permanent. My opinions and ideas change all the time and to have people quoting my blog saying 'well back in '08 you said you liked Gummi Bears, but now you say you don't eat 'em. What's up?'

I'll tell you what's up.... if you're going to spend time on the internet, you might as well read this, but if truth be known, I'd rather have you not reading this and doing something more productive.

That being said, since you already are here, why not read some more.