Spent an uneventful weekend at my favorite Michigan ski area, Crystal Mountain. Saturday was warm & slushy, turning to rain overnight. Sunday saw six inches of snow which was instantly swept off the slopes due to the 40-mph winds which made a balmy 20 degrees feel like 0 degrees. I put in a few hours of riding both nights, although not nearly as much as I’d have liked. Sunday was cut short by a freak accident which had me rolling backwards off a ledge and breaking/jamming my left thumb in the process. Last year’s adventure took us to Lake Tahoe. This year for a number of reasons, we’ll be driving somewhere east instead of flying somewhere west. The front-runner right now is Mont Tremblant, Quebec; … Read entire article »

What is a gnargasm, you ask? It’s the decided appellation of our annual winter skiing & snoboarding extravaganza, which has in years past, taken me to locales like Whistler, B.C., Park City, UT, and Winter Park, CO. Alright, why gnargasm? Well, gnar is defined thusly: A shortened version of the word gnarly, meaning high on the scale of dangerousness and coolness…A term skiers often us to describe the snow type. And I hope the suffix -gasm is self-explanatory. So, now I can resume my regularly scheduled blogging, and planning other trips. Six of us will be venturing out to California/Nevada border, in two groups: I and two others will leave Wednesday, January 10, and we will meet the rest on Thursday afternoon when their plane lands. We will … Read entire article »