Bloated Skiing: 2019

Dec 19/20 West lift laps

Thursday started with 4-5 inches of 28 degree snow. Ended up skiing till 4:00 due to steadily increasing powder. Francine even crept out of the office and wasable to hit Wild Side on it's first day open. Went to bed with snow piling up greatly. Unfortunately over night temps warmed up and snow switched to rain. Manage 2 hours in the rain on okay groomers with poor vis. Hoping for good conditions on Sunday.

Skis getting buried during my ten minute car break. Almost lot one, skiing the old Thunderbird liftline.
Luckily spotted my bright orange bindings.

Dec 12 @ 14, Season gets started at Snoqualmie Pass

Day one, did one quick lap at Summit West. Managed to only hit on rock, but it was a big one.

Day two hooked up with Francine, Kelly, and Jen. With more snow skiing was actually pretty good. Did 3 laps at Summit West. Lifts ran for the first time on Sunday. Francine and I had a nice morning with lift served cascade powder. Forecast looks good for later in the week. Hoping to get more untracked soon!

MAUI Escape to the warmth, Nov 28th

With temps below freezing and no snow in sight, we made a last minute decision to escape to Hawaii. With temps between 72 and 82 the weather was perfect. Instead of our normally hyperactive vacations, we actually relaxed a little bit. Our hotel deck had a great ocean view to watch sunrise and sunsets. Yoga on the lawn got us stretched out for the day. Nice way to get a break from the NW grey weather. Unfortunately when we got home, we still had no new snow. Stay tuned for ski reports. Hopefully, they will start soon.

Deck had a great view of the ocean

Did the scenic drive North of Kaanapalai up to the "blowholes"

Stopped at the Burger Shack for a great lunch, although a little pricey.
Did I mention Francine's sister Sally came with?

I did hit the beach for one day of windsurfing

No pictures from Aloha Mixed Plate. Great restaurant in Lahina with a good happy hour!

Park City, Utah - Awesome trails

What a great trip...

Tom and Francine with Deer Valley Ski Resort in background

Francine and Kevin

We started our first day, at altitude,
by riding the Park City chairlift.

Nice dirt, thanks to recent rain

View of Park City, Crescent Express chairlift

Tom, riding the Specialized Stumpjumper

Day 2, used Deer Valley chairlifts to get high.

Took Monday easy and rode ebikes to The Canyons resort
with Lori.

Quaking Aspens

It was a little wet on Pincone trail,
but what a fun downhill.

WOW trail. Paid 15 bucks each for the 8 mile shuttle

Mountain high alter. We were celebrating
22 years of marriage this week.

Getting a little tougher on our last day

Hood River

Kevin sailing at The Hook

We missed Hood River last year due to our trip to Italy, but we found some time in June this year to make it back. Just to make it a little more interesting, Kevin ordered a bike from one of the local shops to avoid paying sales tax in our home state of Washington. So far have hit Post Canyon, and the 44 trails area. Also got one day in for windsurfing.

May 22 Whistler

May 14, Red Hill/ Devil's Gulch Loop, Cashmere, Wa.

Francine grinding up Red Hill Trail

With rain on the west side of the Cascades we headed east looking for better weather. We didn't quite find sunshine, as it sprinkled throughout the day. We did find amazing dirt and a great loop with lots of climbing. I think we ended up with 6,000 feet of elevation gain. We started at the trailhead for Red hill and did the loop counterclockwise. Unfortunately, two miles in, we had to negotiate a fairly fresh clearcut. This added quite a bit of time, and I wish we had managed to do the loop before the logging. It was still a great loop and we were glad to get it with such wet conditions. We were out most of the day and didn't see any other trail users. Great ride!