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ALTA, UT — This winter has been strange. A few storms have passed through that dumped the same amount of snow (or more) in the valleys as they did in the mountains. That phenomenon is not typical. This latest storm followed that trend. The valley got about six inches overnight, and Alta got about the same.

After a very long bus ride up the canyon, Dan and I finally got skiing at around 10:45 AM. The new snow was very light, but not plentiful enough to hide the crusty snow beneath.

After a few warm-up runs off Sunnyside, Dan and I ventured to Catherine's Area via the Supreme Lift. Unfortunately, there were few fresh spots, despite my investigation of several different gullies. We then decided to traverse around to the west face of Patsy Marley.

We started our traverse fairly low, and I really hadn't picked out any landmarks to guide my decisionmaking once we were there, so I wasn't sure when to drop in. The spot we ended up skiing was a bit flatter than I had hoped, but there was plenty of untracked snow. The snow wasn't very deep, but it was a great run.

After lunch, we headed up Sugarloaf to ski Greeley. I didn't ski the Yellow Trail area very well, but after traversing around the bend into East Greeley, I skied a great run down to the bench. The soft crud conditions were great.

That was the last great skiing of the day for me. It took me forever to ski the rest of the run. I'm just not in good enough shape. I get to the point where my legs are so tired that I'm not confident I can stay in control for long stretches of skiing, so I scrub speed and stop frequently, which is, ironically, probably more tiring than just skiing normally.

In any case, after that run, I skied about a half dozen Sunnyside cruiser laps while Dan took another run off Supreme. I then met back up with him for a run down from Sugarloaf. Dan then took one last run while I headed back down to the lodge.

My lack of fitness is frustrating because I just want to ski like I did when I was in better shape, but I just physically cannot ski that way for long periods of time. Everyday I go skiing though, I get closer to be being "back". On this day, at least, I had a great time anyway.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

ALTA, UT — After a few hellish months of work (lots of overtime and weekend work), I finally got out to the mountains for some skiing.

Dan and I headed up to Alta on a perfect day (sunny and warm). It had been several days since the last storm, so he and I mainly skied groomers. He was a little more adventurous than I. I have a long way to go before I'm in true skiing shape. Regardless, it was a good ski day.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

SNOWBIRD, UT — Despite my reservations about going skiing for a second day in a row, I just couldn't resist, and I didn't want to leave my friend, Mark, to have to ski by himself. So, after the 311 concert the previous night, I told Mark I would go skiing with him.

I don't want to say that it was a mistake to go skiing, but my lack of fitness rendered me totally incompetent. I simply could not ski much at all. My legs became dead tired after only a couple turns. It took me a very long time just to get down the mountain. Worse of all, I was really holding Mark back.

After a couple runs, I retreated to the ski patrol shack on Hidden Peak to rest. Meanwhile, Mark was part of the first group to ski the Bookends after the big storm earlier in the week. After about 45 minutes, we met up again, I was glad to hear that he had a blast skiing some fresh powder.

We decided to have lunch, so I headed down Regulator Johnson while Mark skied a couple runs elsewhere. On Regulator, I skied some really good turns, and the groomed conditions made it easier on my legs. I realized, again, that I still do love skiing. I just need to get back into shape so I can get back to enjoying skiing like I used to.

After lunch, my situation didn't improve. Just skiing down to the tram took forever because my legs were so tired. I told Mark that I was just going to ski some Regulator runs while he skied whatever he wanted. But when we got to the top, he asked about skiing something off the Cirque. I couldn't resist.

First, we stopped atop Great Scott, which has so little snow in it (compared to normal seasons), that there are exposed rock outcroppings everywhere. It looked treacherous, and neither Mark nor I had any intention of skiing the run.

We arrived at my usual Upper Cirque chute next. It is steep. It is challenging. I was totally up for skiing it, but I thought a lower cirque run would be more appropriate for me on this day. Mark was ready to ski it, though, and I relented. I had conquered this chute many times before. I was sure I could muster up the strength to slay this chute one more time before calling it a day.

Mark skied the chute very well. Then I started down. The snow felt really good. My legs were like wet noodles though, and I immediately knew I was doomed. I avoided the fall line and mostly just side-slipped down. I took a couple out-of-control turns, but one of the turns only projected me into a bunch of exposed rocks on the left side of chute before I could initiate a right turn. I was done. I backed up, side-slipped down some more, crossed over the ridge into an adjacent chute, watched a woman above me drop a cliff like a pro, and then made my way down to Mark, who seemed to be getting very impatient with me. I don't blame him. I told him I was absolutely done, and that he should go ahead without me.

I was relieved that my ski day was over, but I still had to get down two-thirds of Snowbird. I decided to take my time. The day was beautiful, and surroundings spectacular. I sat down atop Naco's Knoll and just enjoyed the weather and the scenery. Before our tram ride, we had learned that the canyon road was closed, so there was no hurry. Helicopters were buzzing around overhead as they scoped out the surrounding peaks for avalanches. As I gazed across the canyon at Mount Superior, I just kept hoping that it would avalanche because I had such a great view to witness such an event! It never did.

Eventually, I made it down to the Creekside Lodge, where I just relaxed and wondered what is next for me in skiing. Can I get back in shape? Do I care? I decided that I still very much love skiing. Despite my struggles, just being outside and exercising both days this weekend made me feel awesome for the whole next week.

Mark met up with me at the Creekside Lodge after about 45 minutes, or so. The road was still closed, but we decided to head to the car to be ready once it opened because Mark had to get back down to the valley to meet up with someone for dinner. The road closure was making it questionable that he would make it to his dinner reservation. The road finally opened at around 4:30, and thanks to the driver of a Snowbird bus, we were allowed to back out of our parking spot and get in the line to leave. We made it down the canyon without much trouble, and Mark made it to dinner on time.

Rating: ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

ALTA, UT — My friend Mark Deaver arrived earlier in the week, just after a large storm dumped tons of snow on the Wasatch Mountains. He and I met up at the park and ride and then got in line to head up Little Cottonwood Canyon to Alta. The prospects for this ski day were very good--if only we could find some fresh powder.

Due to the traffic, we arrived at Alta fairly late. We headed to Catherine's Area for our first run. We traversed pretty high and pretty far. Once I realized that I didn't really have any idea where we were, I suggested that we start down. Unfortunately, the snow was not great. Some of it had been affected by the wind and some of it had been skied out. There weren't too much fresh powder to find. No matter though. I'm so out of shape that I can't really take advantage of the conditions anyway.

I skied one drainage and Mark skied another. When I got down to the flats, Mark was nowhere to be found. I stopped to wait for him a couple times, but he never showed up. I figured he was way ahead of me anyway, but I had to stop to catch my breath anyway.

Despite the storm earlier in the week, the snow coverage was still pretty weak and the skiing wasn't all that great.

We also skied some Collins runs. But, again, I was in such terrible shape that I was just holding Mark back. I decided to call it a day early while Mark took some more runs.

It wasn't a bad ski day for me, and I definitely enjoyed skiing with Mark, but my lack of fitness makes skiing a chore for me at this point.

After dropping Mark off at his hotel, it was time to head to Wendover, NV for a 311 concert! The concert was awesome, and it was very cool to combine two of my favorite things in one day: skiing and 311.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

SNOWBIRD, UT — A solid storm skiing day with Dan and Wiebke. As per custom when it's snowing, we stayed in the forested Gad 2 area. Unfortunately, the skimpy snow cover was a bit of an issue, and there was little untracked snow to be found, but it was a fun ski day nonetheless.

We started off skiing some stuff at the edges of Bassackwards. There was some good snow to be found, but not really enough to cover the rock-hard bumps underneath.

We had some luck in STH, although I was not ready for those difficult conditions. Gadzooks was a bumpy mess. And everytime we went exploring, we didn't seem to find anything special, aside from some quick powder shots on Organ Grinder.

Later in the day, we decided to try our luck on the upper mountain because it seemed as though the storm was lifting. We quickly discovered, however, that the storm hadn't lifted. It was surreal riding the Little Cloud lift when I couldn't even see the chair in front of me. It was like floating up the mountain. The zero visibility run down Regulator was exhausting, and we decided to call it a day thereafter.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

SNOWBIRD, UT — After not skiing for two months for various reasons, I finally made it out to the mountain this weekend. Although I'm horribly out of shape, it was at least fun to show my cousin around Snowbird for the first time. The conditions were not great, but it was just good to be outside in the sun.

My boots behaved, too. The latest adjustments seemed to make no difference--it was just one of those days when my boots and my feet cooperated. The new Booster strap is an improvement, but it didn't seem to reduce "shin bang" so much as it advertises.

Finally, I just have to report that it was very odd to see snowmaking at Snowbird in February.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

SNOWBIRD, UT — I woke up late and missed meeting Dan and Weibke at the park & ride, unfortunately. I headed up there still. I did, however, forget my socks, which, for me, is a potentially damning circumstance.

I ended up wearing those new Smartwool PhD ski socks, which are newer and slightly thicker. Of course, they had to cause me pain. None of that mattered really because as soon as I got to the mountain, I heard from Dan that the toe pieces on the Volkl Gotamas had both fallen off. I was to meet him at the base of GadZoom, which was the lift on which he was riding down.

I gave Dan my car keys so he could get my old skis from my car, have the bindings adjusted, and then we could continue our ski day.

In the meantime, I took one painful, tiring run down from GadZoom. After that run, I just sat in a chair on the Creekside Lodge's deck until I met up with Dan again.

We took one-half of a run together. It turned out that Weibke was feeling sick, so he skied over to where she was on the other side of the mountain. I finished my run on Big Emma, barely able to stand the pain and the fatigue. I kept thinking the whole time that I should just give up skiing. We'll see.

Rating: ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

ALTA, UT — I drove up to Alta instead of Snowbird today to take advantage of the easier parking, smaller crowds, and more forgiving terrain. I had planned on trying out my new Lange RX 110's from Surefoot (long story), but I immediately removed them from my feet because I knew that all they were going to do was cause pain. So, I skied with my old Salomons again.

I had the liners from my Tecnica Agents in the Salomons. As I had said previously, the Agent's liners are thinner, longer, and more flexible than the stock Salomon liner. This combination seems to be an improvement. The left boot felt nearly perfect. The right one is definitely not perfect, but I'm 99% sure I know the exact area of the shell that is causing the problem, so I will probably try to get that spot fixed. The pain/numbness caused by that one spot is manageable, however.

Aside from the boot shit, I just ripped the shit out of some Sunnyside Home Run runs. My legs are definitely not in skiing shape, but today will definitely help. I called it quits at around 2:15.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

SNOWBIRD, UT — So, another ski season in Utah begins. This one begins, however, with my ski boot issues still unresolved, and my physical fitness level at the worst it has ever been. My skiing hopes have never been lower. I am, however, very excited to introduce my cousin, Dan, a new Utah local, to the mix for this season.

To start things off, I skied two runs on my new Tecnica Agent boots that were custom fitted for me by a boot fitter who actually has a credit in Teton Gravity Research's latest ski movie. His credentials notwithstanding, the boots don't fit. All they did was cause excruciating pain.

So, I took a break, switched to my old boots and met up with Dan again. I had put the thinner, longer, more flexible liners from the Tecnicas in my old boots' shells. This combination seems to have improved the fit of my old Salomon boots. We shall see.

My legs, however, were shot. They were so tired after only about one-third of a run down from GadZoom. It's going to be a long season.

Rating: ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

ALTA, UT — With this ski day, I have now skied in every calendar month! Unfortunately, the skiing was not very good. Regardless, Dan and I had a great time.

Dan and I met at the 6200 South park and ride and then drove up to Alta's Albion Basin. The hike to the base of Gunsight wasn't too difficult.

There wasn't too much snow in Gunsight. It went up about half of the chute, but it was barely wide enough to make a turn. There was some additional snow on the right side, but it was mostly ice (at this point in the morning), very rocky, and mostly too thin to risk skiing on.

We took a minute to decide our best course of action. It was fairly early in the morning, so the snow was quite hard. We decided it would be best to hike up in our hiking boots along the edge where the snow and the dirt meet. That way we could choose between the dirt or the snow to find the best traction as we made our way up the chute.

The snow was absolutely terrible. I decided that a rock about halfway up the snow was a good spot to put on our ski boots and ski down. I figured there wouldn't be much use in going up any higher. The rock was perfect. It gave us a flat perch upon which to put on our ski boots. There were no such spots above us.

After putting on my skis, it became obvious that this patch of snow was nearly unskiable. Near the rock, the sun hadn't yet been able to warm the snow at all, so it was as hard as ice and not smooth. While Dan put on his skis, I stepped down with my skis until I got to a spot where the snow would allow me to sideslip. Even then, the snow was more like sandpaper. Eventually, the snow got a little softer and smoother.

I basically just sideslipped down the snow and skied some right turns. There wasn't enough room to make a full turn; however, Dan did end up skiing a few mini-jump turns that counted as full turns.

Before long, we were at the end of the snow. I regretted that we didn't go all the way to the top of the snow. We should have just sidestepped up from where we put on our skis. The snow higher up the chute would've been better because it was already in the sun (although it was even narrower than what we had skied).

That regret became mostly a moot point when Dan and I were atop Hidden Peak at Snowbird later in the day. There was a ton of snow left in Pipeline Bowl at Snowbird! I wish we would've known about all that snow because we could've skied some real turns on much more vertical. Maybe next weekend...

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆