Back home! I've got a few important things to do in the next couple of weeks: get my new passport (spent the requisite hour in line in the passport office today), book my ticket to Calgary, get my cellphone recharger and cut my cellphone costs, etc. etc. But I'm also working on some fun stuff: playing some new computer games (Medal of Honour, Operation Flashpoint) and maybe trying to finish an oldie, Abe's Oddysee, now that I've worked my way past the end of the Scrab Temple level. (Much thanks to Kelly for tying up my main machine with CD burning, which induced me to play on the old machine!)

In short, I'm in regroup/prep/rest mode prior to the next expedition.
posted by Tom at 3:46 AM | link | (0) comments

After a quiet weekend (much of which was spent working on the Exultate contact management database) I hit the slopes again Monday and Tuesday. The skiing was the best yet. We had two feet of snow over the weekend, so there was fresh (and deep!) powder all over the mountain. On Monday afternoon I skied the Saratoga Bowl with Ivy's friend Eliza, who's an excellent skier. Saratoga is a gladed, expert area, and we took our time working our way down through it. We each had a couple of minor tumbles, but suffered no injuries. Tuesday was bright and sunny when I started at noon, and I crossed to the other end of the mountain, enjoying some of the runs that had looked too scary and/or icy when I first arrived. Again, the deep snow slowed things down considerably, and also made for soft landings when I fell down.

Today Ivy, Jeremy, Eliza and I went up north of Jackson and rented snowmobiles for the afternoon. We had a great time, although there were a couple of worrying moments when a little off-trail detour ended up with a snowmobile stuck in four feet of snow. Those suckers are heavy! We were a bit late getting back -- 5:10 when we really should have been back around 4:30 -- but the views along the way were fantastic and we were pretty pleased overall.

Change of plans on my end: I'm returning to Toronto on Friday to stop hemorrhaging money (damn US dollar) and save some of it for the rest of my leave! That means tomorrow is my last day of skiing here... I'll try and get up early to get as much time in as I can.
posted by Tom at 11:49 PM | link | (0) comments

A skiing breakthrough today after a good lesson yesterday afternoon: I can ski moguls! This may be principally because I've finally had enough back-to-back ski days that I've got over the initial fear period and have learned to commit myself down the slope, a key part of the technique. Anyway, I'm pretty pleased with my sk33r sk1lz. ;-)

I'm moving downtown tomorrow -- checking out of the condo I've been sharing with Ivy (her boyfriend's arriving) and into a motel. However, on the plus side I'm also getting a rental car so I will be able to see more of the area, including the Grand Teton National Park, Yellowstone, and, well, anything beyond the ski hill and the town. This might be especially useful this weekend as it's a holiday in the U.S. -- Martin Luthor King day (thanks for the correction, Paul!) -- and the ski hill may finally get crowded.

Hope y'all are having a good month... I wish I could afford to do this every year!
posted by Tom at 12:41 AM | link | (0) comments

A quiet morning here. Ivy has gone with Amanda into town to do some shopping before Amanda flies back to Seattle this afternoon. I'm taking the opportunity to rest up (I'm feeling a bit of a cold coming on) and get caught up on emails and news.

So: Jackson Hole. Quite a bit different from what I expected; it's not at all the same scale of resort as the ones I've been to in Europe, or Whistler in B.C. The town is a 20 minute drive from the slopes, but the condominium complex that we're staying in is only 5 minutes away and there's a free shuttle bus that runs every 45 minutes as well as the town busses that go past. The resort itself has some very impressive runs, an excellent vertical, and generally very good snow conditions, but it's much smaller than Whistler-Blackcomb, with only 10 lifts. Still, there's a good variety of difficulty and style, with a lot of enjoyably challenging runs as well as some daunting blacks that I'm not good enough to tackle yet. I'm planning to take some lessons in the next day or two, so hopefully I can work up to some of them.

After some clear weather for the first couple of days, it clouded over late on Saturday and yesterday it snowed lightly for much of the day before clearing again. The snow is very welcome, as the wind on Saturday had blown much of the soft snow off of the more exposed trails, leaving icy patches.

In addition to skiing, I'm hoping to join Ivy, Jeremy (Ivy's boyfriend, who arrives on Friday) and Eliza on a snowmobiling trek, snowshoeing, and/or hiking, over the next couple of weeks. There's a lot of outdoors to cover, and a lot of options!

Keep well, and please write!
posted by Tom at 1:07 PM | link | (0) comments

Loving the skiing here! Y'all should come. I promise to write more details soon...
posted by Tom at 2:04 AM | link | (0) comments

Hello from Jackson Hole, WY! I got here on Wednesday evening after a long day of travel, and hit the slopes for the first time yesterday. The weather is nice -- just below freezing, bright sunshine in the afternoon -- and the snow conditions are very good, although there hasn't been much fresh snow for a while so it's very hard packed in places. The best thing about the skiing is the total lack of any lineups at the lifts. The mountain is a decent size, but not as impressive as Whistler, so far. The condo I'm staying in with Ivy and Amanda is great, and we're moving to a bigger one tomorrow which will be nice.

I'm having trouble getting my laptop to do email properly, so I may not be as responsive to mail messages over the next couple of days as I'd like. Please bear with me! I'm working on it...
posted by Tom at 12:08 PM | link | (0) comments