The boy's in red skiing the sweet POW.

The boys of North Peak.

Mark, Dave, Chris and Pete.

Broke my binding again!!!!

Today the powder was sick!!!

So sick it broke my binding. OK, i like the Cobra R8's but i won't buy another pair. Tomorrow i send them back for replacement and when the new pair comes i sell them and get Bombers for my on hill sticks.

Early morning routes.... too early.

We've had some heavy snows and strong winds lately. When this happens we meet early to run routes and cut slopes. 6:30am dressed and ready. Here we are in the cat making our way up the mountain to the bowls.

Gizmo looking awake.

Everyone else looking asleep.

Flash does a cartoonable offense

Flash, Kevin Cousins, made a cartoonable offense. This is where someone does something nutty and everyone on patrol draws a cartoon about it.

Flash was skiing at Beaver Creek over the weekend and was skiing fast in a slow zone. He got stopped by mountain watch ( yellow coats ) but tried to make a run for it. He told mountain watch he doesn't read signs on his day off. They caught him and faxed a report to our patrol director.

The cartoons are funny and it's the way patrol shows their love.....i think.

The last Avi Awareness class at Keystone.

Today was the last Avi Awareness class at Keystone for the season. They're fun to teach and i know the students get something out of it.

Here's Mick Daly doing power point in the Yurt.

Here are some of the students about to drop into Erickson Bowl. We got about a foot of snow wind loaded into this thing so the skiing was awesome.

A very nice Thank You.

This was a nice thing to see.

This father hit a tree while skiing at Keystone in December and messed himself up badly. The patrollers stabilized him and got him to the clinic where he was flown to Denver. The doctors told him that he should have been paralyzed but for the good care in the field by the ski patrol.

This week in the mail was a box full of goodies, gift certificates for the patrollers on scene and this thank you booklet written by his whole family.

This was a very nice thing to see.

This cracks me up.

Alison Riley, who's an incredibly talented artist and patroller, doesn't like anyone using her mug. This is how she solved the problem. Gawd, it cracks me up every time i see it.

I hope you can read it, it reads "I have herpes, don't drink from this"

This is my mug, no one drinks from it. At least i don't think so!?!?

The First Losers....

Well, the streak is dead. The Keystone Ski Patrol float has won 1st place the last 8 years in the Fat Tuesday parade. Alas, this year it was not to be. The win went to Property Management......who the hell are they??

So, today in morning meeting they said, heck if we can't get 1st place then at least we got 1st loser.

The float being built. The theme was "Little Miss Sunshine".

As you can see Patrol has interesting looking tool belts.

Winchester getting some lovin' from Baxter.

We tossed these out to the crowd plus many many beads.

19,281!!!!!!

On Sunday Keystone broke all kinds of records for skier visits. On that day we had 19,281 guests skiing our mountain. Let me tell you....that's a crap load of people. The crazy thing is that on that day we didn't have any wrecks on the North Peak and the Outback. On the front mountain, Dercum, we had 52 wrecks. That's actually good for a day that big. I think on our average day we get in the high low 40's for wrecks with 8,000 to 9,000 guest.

At Breckenridge they had 22,000 guest on Sunday. They said the wait time at some lifts was over and hour.

Yikes!!!

Avalanche Awarenesss Class.

Every Monday in February we have an Avalanche Awareness class for the public. It's taught by me and Mick Daly. The first 2 Mondays the class was canceled because of the lack of people. It was because of the cost. They lowered the price and the class is filling up.

We only have 4 hours to teach but we get the basics across and i feel people learn a lot and want to learn more. This is when i give them the information to take a class with the guide service i work for.

We start with a one hour power point presentation. Afterwards we head outside for a ride in the cat to a place where we dig pits, look for layers and teach a couple of stability test.

We then get back in the cat and ride to the top of Independence Bowl so we can look at avalanche terrain. We talk about traveling safely through avalanche terrain and how patrol does control work. Then we ski 2 laps in the bowl.

It's a great quick class and it's fun for me.

Mick and some of the students in the front of the cat.

Me and Mick in the pit about to teach the compression test.

Mick doing that patrol thing.

One of our students skiing down Patriot in Independence Bowl. We were showing them how to ski one at a time from safe zone to safe zone. I wish i had a better camera then you'd see the Cat waiting for us at the bottom.

Fat Tuesday will be Phat!!!!

These are 6 of the 8 first place plaques that Keystone Patrol has won for best float in the annual Fat Tuesday celebration.

Last year we were "Brokeback Mountain". We had to show a little skin but it got us 1st place again.

POWDER DAY!!!!!!!

We had about a foot of snow yesterday. I and another patroller opened and checked out the avi situation in Erickson Bowl. Just to make sure we had to check it out twice.

It was sweet!!!!

New Telemark Norm.....NTN.

Here are some photos of the new tele binding by Rottefella. It's the NTN or New Telemark Norm and it'll be distributed by BCA. At keystone this week is the regional retailers on snow demo show. I went down and tried these bad boys. All I can say is....incredible!!!!

These binding are actually light. You can see the lever in front that you push down with your pole to clamp it to your boot. You will need to buy new boots and the boots can fit in AT bindings. Scarpa and Crispi make the boots.

As you can see, they have brakes. The heel also has two up positions for the skin up. It also has a mode for hiking which disengages the cartridges.

Over all it's just a slick binding that i think will revolutionize teleing. Also, the mounting hole pattern is compatible with K2 inserts. BCA said that they'll go for $375 and pro for about $200 to $225.

I'll be sporting some of these bad boys next year.

OUCH!!!!

I fell hard on Monday and messed up my shoulder. It's not bad but I needed to see the doc. It's just a rotator cuff strain but damn it hurts.

Anyway.....I'll be better after some PT.

The Dish has a Bump!!!

This is Trish. We call her the "The Dish".

Hmmmm, what is that little bump above her belt??? I think some one else thought The Dish was a Dish.

Now The Dish can only dispatch. It bums her out but she loves the bump.

-6 and dropping!!!!!

Yikes, my thermometer is reading -6 and it's dropping big time. The winds have to be in the 20 to 30 mph range. All i can say is.......DAMN, Summit county is COLD!!!!

Yesterday on patrol, it was freezing. It never got above -3 all day.

Now I know why I'm having dreams of mountain biking in the desert.

I read that February and March are suppose to be very big snow months. What does that mean? POWDER!!!!!!

I think i can hold off the desert for skiing the sweet POW. I know i can.

What a BAD ASS!!!

On Jan 19th Chris Davenport, extreme skier from Aspen, completed his quest to ski all of Colorado's 14er's in a year. He did it with 1 day left. Whew...that was close!!

Here's his site: http://www.skithe14ers.com/

It's a cool site because it records all his ascents and descents, with photos. I believe he's writing a book and doing a documentary.

I lived in the Aspen area for many many years. I loved the area and the people who live there. Everyone has a yearning for adventure and they go out and grab it.

There's a chance i will be moving to Aspen after the ski season. I hope it happens.