Halloween Brewfest 2007

What's better than a bunch of your best friends getting together to drink each other's beer and dress like jackasses? Pretty much nothing.
We had seven great beers:
Josh - Abbey and Stout
Mom - Imperial Ale
Chris - IPA
Scot - Amber
Me - Pumpkin
Alex - American Pale Ale

Two kegs, a shit-ton of good food, lots of white trash, and even a couple of six-foot tall teletubbies.



Entire album: http://www.zoto.com/joshp/albums/12002/

Saturday morning - Glenwild

I got a call from Re on Friday afternoon about a girl's ride on Saturday morning up at Glenwild. I was psyched to get on my bike again, and I was really looking forward to riding with Re and Connie since we didn't ride together much this year. I met up with Re, Lianna, and Connie at the Glenwild trailhead and we fired off two laps in Bob's Basin (Ant Farm and Dropout) before calling it a day. Lianna (and her awesome dog Chili) are animals! It was fun chasing them and Connie all morning.



I can't believe the difference a year has made with my bike riding skills. I hit everything on both courses with so much more confidence. I still have lots of work to do (corners, jumps) but I'm feeling pretty good!

Josh was right (almost)! Dumbledore is gay??

What in the name of Merlin's buttwhisker was JK Rowling thinking? What purpose does bringing Dumbledore out of the closet have now that the books have been written? I'm extremely confused and disappointed. There's no need to clarify something that doesn't need clarifying. First she totally rips his whole character apart in book 7 and now she drives the final nail in the coffin. Why can't he just be the nice, friendly, helpful old man that mentors a hero on his quest to save the world? Too stereotypical for ya, Jo? I'm baffled.

Leaky article

Time article

Day 2 - 10/21/07 Snowbird Cirque

No way it's October.

I kept saying that to myself all morning because I couldn't believe how good the skiing was. Definitely better than 75% of last year. Every lap was perfect Utah powder. It's one of those days that I know I'm going to remember for quite a while. And it's only October.



After meeting Scott K, Chris C, Jake, and Jason at 7:30AM and dealing with a "rumor" Scott heard about the tram running for free (as we found out later, they were filming all of us skiers from the tram that day), we decided to hit the Cirque. 12-14" of new, perfect density snow that had stayed sheltered from the wind all night awaited us.

We joined two other dudes that got there before us and cranked out 2 quick laps in the lower bowl. Scott led the way up to the upper bowl and we did a few more. We called it quits around noon with smiles on our faces and our powder hunger fully satiated.



Link to full album: http://www.zoto.com/joshp/albums/11756/

Snowbird video (thanks Jason!): http://www.snowbird.com/video/october21_2007.html

Day 1 - 10/19/07 Wolverine Bowl

I can't believe what I did for my first day out! I hooked up with Derek, Seth, Mark, and Tyler at 6:30AM this morning and we decided to try a tour rather than hang out with the crowds at Alta. Our route was Grizzly Gulch to TLP, up to Patsy Marley, and on to Wolverine. The morning was beautiful.

Derek of course went way down to the bottom of Wolverine Bowl so we had to skin our asses back up to the ridge. On the way back, the boys decided to hit Granny Chute in Wolverine Cirque. I chickened out for the sake of my skis (rocks were abundant) - Mark and I skied the punchy north face of Patsy Marley. The temperature rose ridiculously fast and we hacked our way down Griz in slush.

Derek's take on the day (and more pics)

The Quest for 70

After a long hiatus from blogging, and a handful of months with school, sparse workouts, and very little motivation, I've decided to set myself a goal. I think a physical goal that I can mark on the calendar will help keep me not only gain back the fitness I so desperately need, but finally work off that pesky ten pounds.

My masochistic husband always seems to come up with the best ways to kick his own ass, so I asked him last night, "What would be a good ass-kicker goal for me to set this ski season?" I mentioned the Wasatach Powderkeg in March, but I still needed something to keep me going through Nov, Dec, Jan, and Feb. Inspiration struck this morning and Josh called me at my desk.

"How about 100 days?" Great! I thought. What better way to get my ass out of bed than tick marks on the calendar? However, I started thinking about it and 100 days just isn't physically possible with my schedule. So, I started counting. Including all of my Fridays off, and not counting holidays as extra days, I counted 83 available days from Nov 1 through the end of May. Knowing that skiing every single available day may not be realistic, I'm shooting for 70 days. Earlier days (this weekend), later days (June), and mid-week dawn patrols will just be icing on the cake.

So welcome to my "Quest for 70" Blog for the 2007-2008 ski season, including the Powderkeg. I'll try to post TR's and pictures as much as possible for each of my days, giving me a kick-ass reminder of a kick-ass ski season. All weather conditions, all snow conditions, and a host of random partners....it's gonna be a good winter.

Here's to a long season, a stable snowpack, and lake effect!

(On the subject of blogging, Josh wrote up a great report on Matt and Elisabeth's wedding. Check it out at http://joshpetersen.blogspot.com)