End of a Winter.

As i sit here and write the winter is not really over. 3 Days ago we got 5in of snow and right now it's snowing outside.

It is the end of ski patrol for this winter.

It was a good year. I had lot's of fun and some great times. I think the best times were when i was teaching avalanche classes. I love knowing that when these students leave me they have a healthy respect for the mountains in winter.

I won't be coming back to patrol full time next year but i will be back part time. We'll see how many day's they want me to work. I wish patrols paid more but they don't so i can't do it full time any longer. They say the pay is low because everyone wants to patrol. This is true but what they get are people who only do it for a short time and are not dedicated to the profession. At Keystone the pay is so low that our turnover is very high. We need a livable wage seeing as we're the ones keeping our guest alive. That's too bad but that's the way it is. I too can no longer be dedicated to patrol.

So, I'm moving to Boulder (I almost moved back to Aspen). I found a great little house with little yard to grow a vegi garden. I'll still guide for Aspen Alpine Guides and work for Neptune Mountaineering. On my time off I'll climb Eldo Canyon, do alpine routes in Rocky Mountain Nat. Park, run trails, ride my bikes and be with my friends.

So, this blog is shut down for the summer, it is called Ski Patrol Chronicles. Next winter I'll start it back up. It'll only be "Part Time Ski Patrol Chronicles" but it'll be filled with fun adventures of the winter.

See you next winter.

Back from guiding a hut trip.

Patrol is over and i was fortunate to be brought on to guide a hut trip for the Aspen High School Ex Ed program. The kids were great and we all had a great time. The trip was 5 days and went from Eagle to Aspen.

Here are all the kids skis piled up outside the Estin Hut.

We broke the kids up into teams and gave each team 2 hrs to build a snow cave and a fire and they had to boil water. Only one team didn't get a fire going.

The high point of the trip was on the way from the Margy's Hut down Spruce Ck. The principal, Charlie, came down the trail too fast. There was a river crossing that he didn't see. He hit a snow covered log which launched him 12ft in the air landing in the river filled with water and rocks.

After i jumped in the river to pull him out i found he was OK. We dried him and warmed him and made our way to the McNamara hut.

Patrol is being a little relaxed on the shaving policy.

Josh Thompson sporting the cool new look.

Going for a little tour of the summit house.

Josh is always scoring with the ladies.

Is this January or April????

The crew heading out to do some early morning bowl work. Gotta make those bowls safe for the 5 guest that'll hike to ski them.

Holy she-ite!!!

Yesterday we had 6in of snow and winds in the 40's and temps in the single digits.

Man, i want some spring and sunshine.

Oh well, only 2 days left on patrol. It going out with a powder bang.

A good weekend in the heat.

This was a weekend that i needed. It's been a cooooold winter here in Summit County. 2 friends and I went to Grand Junction/Fruita for the weekend. We did well with the weather and the sun was warm and wonderful.

We left the Mtn Bikes at home and just road biked. We got in about 130 miles. On one ride i saw a bouldering area and left the buds to get my car so I could climb a bit. Felt good!!

We drank lots of beer and even played golf on Saturday. For all of us it had been awhile for the golf thing, but it was fun and it gave us an excuse to drink more beer.

I love the Barracudas.

Feeling good after one of the rides. Yes....that's sunshine you see.

The roadies!!

The BEER!!!!

The ride.

Just hang'n in the desert.

I ran over Bills ball. I think you're suppose to play the ball where it lays. We were doing one beer per hole and betting $1 per hole.

A little practice.

Well, this is the last week of patrol. Looking forward to it being over but i know I'll be missing it.

Slow boat from North Peak.

I wasn't in much of a hurry to get back to the front side after opening Erickson Bowl so i took the super slow Outpost Gondola. Kicked my feet up and made some phone calls.

The wackiness continues.....

Josh thinking he can load the Ruby chairlift with the Doo. What, you can't??

Man, you can tell it's close to the end of the season. It's all about goofing off and having fun.

Wacky day at North Peak....

Somewhere in the middle of the day Alyson decided to toss my ski on the roof of North Peak PHQ. Not to worry, i got her back.

Alyson making the toss.

Hey...is that my ski???

Hey.....is that Alyson's backpack???

Days like this are fun on patrol.

Rottefella does right.

A month ago i broke the 2nd of two pairs of Cobra R8 bindings. I sent them back thinking i wouldn't get anywhere with Alpina. Well, they sent me two new pairs. I'll sell them and get Bombers or Hammerheads.

By the way, next year BCA will distribute Rottefella.

Denver Extreme!!!!!!!

Well....it's that time of year again. Denver Extreme time. It's THE event of the year when, if you sign up for it, one can show who has the biggest balls.

The catch is, you have to dress up for it. That in it self takes big balls. Basically, this underground event is the brain child of patrol but it is unofficial.

I heard one guy did a double back flip off some big rocks.

The poster hanging in PHQ.

Three of the intrepid competitors waiting to battle the extreme.

The bad ass bunny learning how to ride the slope cycle.

This is after he hucked through a small pine that wasn't that small.

I like morning meetings.

Morning meetings are always fun at Keystone.

Here is our Patrol Director, Jeff Hill, showing us rock the baby with his yo-yo.

Yooohoooo.....Giselle. Where are you!?!?

Last night while on patrol we got a cell call from a 29 year old woman saying she was lost.

We get these calls often. People like to feel that they're intrepid adventurers so they ski out of bounds into closed areas.

Well Giselle, who couldn't snowboard and is very out of shape, thought she was one of these intrepid adventurers.

We have them call 911 so that they can get their long and lat. I was 1 of 3 patrollers sent into the area to find her. We also had another patroller on a Doo to drive the Gulch Road. We found some tracks and followed them. The snow was thin in spots so we would lose the tracks then pick them up again. Eventually she called saying she could hear the Doo engine. The driver of the Doo eventually made contact with her then talked her down to the road.

We all met up and everyone made it to the clinic.

Normally with these the Sheriff is called and the people get a $1000 fine. This time that didn't happen.

I have a question. Why is it that most of the people that get lost in that area are snowboarders??? Never mind, i think we all know the answer.

By the way, the area she was lost in patrol calls, Brousins Glades. The reason is many years ago two boys from down south were lost in there over night. The next day when patrol found them they asked them questions. Patrol soon found out they had the same mother but different dads. The catch was their dads were brothers.

So the boys were brothers but they were also cousins. They were Brousins!!

Man, you see it all on patrol.

A good weekend.

Steven and I, on Friday, skied the back country. We went up Saints John creek into a beautiful cirque. The skiing was actually good but the dark clouds were coming.

Afterwards we went out for happy hour. What was suppose to be just a couple of beers turned into an all nighter. We ran into some strange people and they kept buying us shots. Free shots...hell we had to drink'em.

At the last bar i said i was going to the bathroom. When i got back, a girl Steven was talking to said, your friend left. I talked to him on the phone and he said he was lost in some building and couldn't get out. I said, just stay there and sleep. 2 hrs later he came stumbling into the house. The next morning when i saw him he had a cut on his face that he doesn't remember.

What a good weekend.

After the ski down from Saints John.

No cut on the face.

After a night of crazy bar hopping.

Yes....cut on the face.

Keystone's future patroller.

This is my bro Steven, he's visiting me.

I let him put my vest on and sit on the Doo.

I think it suits him. Hmmm, future ski patroller??

Ride her cowboy!!!!

Don't call it a chopper!!!

Last Tuesday patrol got together for the annual patrol photo. We had to have the flight for life helicopter in the photo. These are shots of the landing.

I can never believe how many times that helicopter lands at Keystone to pick up a hurt guest.......... it's alot.

Here she is on approach.

You can see the avalanche dogs on the right training to get used to the helicopter landing.

The pilot giving us a safety talk.
He's also telling us to never call his bird a chopper..... "choppers are greasy hunks of junk that go down the road".

This is me ranting.....

At Keystone we have night skiing. All patrollers work at least one night a week.

All i can say is, I F#%!ING HATE NIGHT SKI!!!!!!

It's the most stupid thing created. The conclusion i came up with the other night while i was working was........ when the other ski resorts close a bus pulls up in front with a big sign. The sign reads, "Get on this bus if you can't ski worth a crap". Then the buses drop these people off at Keystone for night skiing.

I was standing on Schoolmarm the other night thinking, there's not a person on this run that can ski.

OK, that's the rant.

My other job....

When i'm not patrolling i'm guiding with Aspen Alpine Guides, www.aspenalpine.com .

This past weekend me and the owner and lead guide, Scott, took 4 guys into the mountains for an adventure. It was for 4 days and 3 nights. Everyone had a great time and the guys were already talking about next year.

Scott, in green, and the 4 clients.

A great ridge that we traversed.

The weather was wonderful and we could stay up high all day.

Up, Up we go.

Another rest.

Avalanche in Aspen kills two.

This is a picture of the slide that killed two people up Independence pass outside of Aspen. The aspect is N-NW. The slide on the left they saw run on the way up. They were caught in the slide on the right.

There's a good report on www.wildsnow.com .

It sad that people have to die playing in the backcountry.

Fire in the hole...or in PHQ.

Someone brought some bottle rockets to work. They like shooting them off at work or inside work. The key is to duck when you see everyone putting on their glasses or goggles.

Fire in the hole, PHQ, single shot, 3 sec fuse...RUNNNN!!

Don't tap on my fish tank!!!

Deeter in dispatch being fishy.

Spring Break is here!!!!!!

WOW.........yesterday it went nuts at Keystone. By 10:30am all the beds in the medical clinic were filled. I think that's around 18 beds.

Those Texans gotta stop doing that Texas Tuck.

Sir, will you have fries with that dislocated shoulder.

At Keystone it's been in the 40's during the day. So, we vented PHQ by opening the side door that never opens. Matt Janzen decided to take a short cut and just ski into the first out chair.

What can i say, the guy's efficient.

Keystone Patrollers take their food serious!

Heather Brown left this note for the son of a bleeeeeep that took her juice. You get'em H.B.

Buddha came to morning meeting.

Either Trish has been drinking lot's of beer or she's in a mom kinda way.

Brad gettin' a little sumpin' sumpin'!

Boys and their toys.

This is Mark and Josh getting ready to wrestle over who drives the Tucker Medi-Cat.

Kick his ass Seabass!!!!!!!

Check out this bad boy!!

I used this last week to pick up the Independence Bowl openers. These are the 2 stroke 700's.

I can get this one to pop up it's front skis.

The cutest Keystone Patroller.

Keystone Patrol is selling hats to raise money for the Avalanche Dog Program. I think we should just put a tip jar on their back and have them walk around the summit area.

This Alma. I'm voting her as "biggest flirt" for the end of the season party.

The dog hats.