Merry Christmas from Tristan and Sibylle

As you see, my son’s quite a bit taller then me now. We’re  at the top of pitch 4 of Hairpin on the Papoose at Squamish - one of Tristan and my favorite climbing areas.

I’ll try to take a picture of us in snow, or skiing, for New Year’s. We’re both teaching skiing at Keystone this winter - Tristan visits Summit county during his semester break from Reed College.

View toward Lake Dillon; Tenmile Range on right; Mosquito Range left of center

Peak 1 sits at the far right edge of the Tenmile Range, with Breckenridge  ski area occupying Peaks 6 through 10.  A 14er, Quandary, forms the far left edge of the Tenmile Range, left of Breckenridge.

On Saturday, I taught my first ski lesson of the season at Keystone. In the morning, before lessons start, a group of  instructors  and I tore up the mountain … Uh, checked out the snow conditions of the different runs so that we’d know where to best take our clients ….

We skied one run on the newly-opened Mozart, a south-facing run that leads from the top of Dercum Mountain (the main area) down to the lifts that allow one to reach North Peak and the Outback.  my son would love this run: he raced for seven years with Team Summit and likes a fast, icy run. For the non-racers, people who don’t thrive on going as fast as possible on as firm a terrain as they can get, I’d wait for more snow to fall. and maybe colder temperatures.

However, conditions on the north-facing slopes were quite good, with several runs open, including Spring Dipper, Schoolmarm, and Flying Dutchman. with fresh snow expected starting Wednesday, the trails shouls be in good shape after the next few days of snow.
We’d worked on repairing the roof and stucco of my Earthship all last fall, and among that repair I had made tin caps for the parapet walls, which you can see slightly below center.  These should keep the parapet walls from leaking in the future, no matter how much snow ;piles up on the flat tops.

Sunrise from my cabin in Silverthorne

A friend and I went skiing, both alpine at the areas, and back country, over Thanksgiving. On Tuesday, we skied Arapahoe Basin top to bottom. This early in the season, only the groomed runs, where the snow guns deposited lots of early snow, are open to the public. Riding up teh exhibition lift, we saw the rocky tips of the big boulders dotting the slopes. If  a group of dedicated ski fanatics wen there in summer and removed those big boulders, giving us a grassier base, those runs could open much sooner!

Sunrise from the roof, with skylights showing in foreground

Despite the lack of abundant terrain, we loved the conditions - perfect weather with  clear blue skies,  no wind, and not one cloud in sight. I’ve skied the Basin enought in storms, blizzards, and left after one run in years past, and fully appreciate a rare blue bird day at the Basin - especially this early in fall!

We waited through some lift lines, not because of the huge crowds (as early as Tuesday, they were still traveling), but because of the limited terrain open for skiing. We rode the Exhibition lift up to the Lenawee lift, and then had a choice of going down halfway or to the bottom.

Palavacchini and the Montezuma bowl wait for more snow to open - but once they do, I’ll be out skiing there!