April Snow May bring Smiles

[bushwacka]

12-24 inches of snow in 24 hours at stowe. Needlessly to say I had to ski it.

Dumping at the top of the mountain yesterday afternoon.



Alex was stoked to be on top an hour after we started. I am happy the lifts are not running since its limiting how fast the mountain gets skied out.



Hayride was the first choice of today and was really sweet surfy bottomless heavy powder



unofficial snow measuring stick



Alex on the waterfall pitch of hayride.



Impossible to hit anything when your only skiing the top 5 inches



Next up Starr, which was bare to the grass and rocks 3 days ago.



Lots of snow up here



My turn to ski for the camera dropping into the upper starr headwall with a nice McConkey turn



Deep stuff



Stowked!



snow was starting to become sun affected and heavy and will not be melting but the best skiing was prior to 10 am this morning. Corn skiing should be great this weekend.

[Gary]

Hey BW....yahooo man...soooo nice to see your getting some late stuff and from the looks of it....it held up well.

Rock on brother....have at it....so glad to see someone getting the goods locally!

Suppose to snow here tomorrow but it won't hold or accumulate....gotta hit the road one more time....a must!

G

[bushwacka]

22 inch storm total



second biggest storm of the year, and its just goes to prove that EVERYONE is fracking lazy. 20-30 people out there to ski that stuff yesterday. Part of me is glad they are lazy but I can not help to think just how many of them choose website like this one  or facebook over actually DOING something.

time to heead back up and see what fell overnight.

[LivingProof]

Some of us lazy internet peps only live 400 miles from Stowe!

Of all that Josh has contributed to skiing websites, I most admire his passion for climbing for turns, coupled with taking some great photo's to share the experience. I remember the climbing he did in the Snowbird area, just outstanding. Always made me feel like a couch potato.

The dangling question is: If I lived in the Stowe area, would I be willing to climb after a season of 100 plus days on snow. It would have to be something I do with friends. I would treasure each turn on the way down, then, have a good nap.

Golf today....and I do walk the course.

[jim-ratliff]

Part of me is glad they are lazy but I can not help to think just how many of them choose website like this one  or facebook over actually DOING something.

Josh:
I agree with Living Proof in a sense.

However, I decided to include the following letter from my son from yesterday.  He's been in Afghanistan for the past year (different government agency, not military), and his letter made me wonder why some people are so lazy that all they do is ski and bike rather than really DOING something.   

Hi Dad,
My wife was bugging me today that I needed to write you back.  Thank god we have women to give us reminders and remember birthdays and such!
 
I think you're right about the whole lack of communication in a combat zone.  There's just something about this place that shuts people off to one another.  People also tend to lose their personal interaction skills the longer they are here.  Some of the guys that have been here three years can barely have a conversation with another person.  The pace and danger here have changed how people talk to each other and it really puts off those newcomers.  I had a little breakdown when I was in CT over Christmas myself.
 
Carly and I had a great trip to Tanzania in Feb/March.  We ran a marathon, climbed Kilimanjaro, and then went on safari.  It was great and Carly has a million photos if you're interested.  Last September we went to Ireland and spent about nine days exploring.  In May we're heading to Turkey, and in June to Denmark and Sweden. 

I'll try and get a picture of what I live in.  It's basically a 20 foot shipping container.  I haven't taken any pictures yet, but I probably should before I leave.  Like my three years in the army I don't think I'll ever forget this place.  And even though it can suck here quite often, I'll probably be a better person for it.

Seriously, everyone has their own life path, and there is nothing wrong with the fact that mine differs from yours.  Doesn't mean I am lazy or less of a person.

[Gary]

Well....never having been a fan of hiking for turns, I can see if you lived there....it might be fun to wring out those last few turns

IF it weren't for the change in sporting seasons! Time here now for golf and biking....change of seasons makes the transition to a different sport much easier and with less pain. Although my passion is skiing, golf and biking fill the gap till the new ski season arrives.

Jim...thanks for sharring your sons letter....wow...he is REALLY seeing the world and living it for sure.

May I ask what he does....? Living out of containers...I'm guessing he's in the medical field?

[jim-ratliff]

He works for US Agency for International Development.  USAID is the conduit for most US foreign aid, no matter whether its coming from a State Dept. budget or a DOD budget. In fact, when he was in Paraguay his project was funded by the DEA.
USAID housing is provided by the State Department.  In Afghanistan 2 individuals share a 40 foot shipping container. But, in context, that is probably better than the militray living in quarters with much less privacy.

[bushwacka]

Some of us lazy internet peps only live 400 miles from Stowe!

Of all that Josh has contributed to skiing websites, I most admire his passion for climbing for turns, coupled with taking some great photo's to share the experience. I remember the climbing he did in the Snowbird area, just outstanding. Always made me feel like a couch potato.

The dangling question is: If I lived in the Stowe area, would I be willing to climb after a season of 100 plus days on snow. It would have to be something I do with friends. I would treasure each turn on the way down, then, have a good nap.

Golf today....and I do walk the course.

yeah more directed towards people actually here who did sit and home and do nothing.  The thing is the recent banning on epicski.com has given me much more time to do things and its preps me for days like yesterday where I was able to gain 10000 vertical feet in 5 hours with skiing and taking pictures. you have to suffer at anything till you really can enjoy it and its is a nice lead into bike season. I actually do the majority of my adventures alone. You only get to see pictures when others come with me. I have stopped letting other people's choices affect me. Before if I was going to go hike, ride, or ski and someone wouldnt come it would bum me out and then I wouldnt go. Now I basically say I am going do what I set out to no matter what.  I have also stopped trying to convince people to come with me, because those that need convincing will probably whine alot. To be the best you have to march to the beat of your own drummer.

and sorry Jim your friend has ALOT more money than me and is willing to go down to nothing. It takes so much time and dedication to become good at soemthing than his lifestyle would allow and would make skiing at my level impossible.

BTW in case someone is reading on in the area, Stowe snow has turned into sticky glue to near the top. going to wait till it corn cycles this weekend to go skiing again.

[bushwacka]

http://unofficialnetworks.com/april-dump-vt-17-89874/ also click here

we are tag teaming post now. I get to go out and have fun and my gimpy co worker(broke his ankle skiing)  get to do the writing

[jim-ratliff]

The thing is the recent banning on epicski.com ......

Josh:
Caught my attention!  Any more information you would care to share?
In case you aren't aware, we have a few other members here that have been banned from various sites.

[Liam]

Yeah, what's up with that 'Bush...I thought you were becoming one of the Epic insiders? 

[bushwacka]

Yeah, what's up with that 'Bush...I thought you were becoming one of the Epic insiders?

alot of people have been PMing asking me why I left after making DCL. I just posted up a thread with the whole story on here.

[bushwacka]

what i was able to pull off from the footage we got. IT was wet and foggy not really good for our cameras.

[Gary]

Looked like a fun fun day and high caloric burn!!  Nice!