Ski Log
| Days | Mountains | Vertical Feet |
| 80 | 40 | 1.35M |
Road Trip
We made the decision this year to do the road trip that we had been wanting to do the previous 2 years. The goal was to ski as many places as we could on our two passes and make our way up to Canada for a couple weeks. The road trip didn’t have a set end date, but we had a rough plan of what we wanted to do.
- Grand Targhee & Jackson Hole
- Salt Lake City & Park City
- Steamboat
- Colorado I70
- Crested Butte & Telluride
- Fernie
- Banff
- Kicking Horse
- Revelstoke
- Whistler
- Alaska
- Seattle & Portland
- Bachelor
Week 1
We left San Jose Friday night and headed up to Tahoe for the weekend before continuing on to Boise.
First day of the season and my first time skiing at Heavenly in a long time. I showed some friends around the mountain and overall had a great experience warming up for the season.
It was a rainy day at Palisades, with my gloves soaking through around noon. There was some fresh snow in the morning, but the rain ruined it pretty quickly.
Week 2
We made it over to Driggs for our annual Grand Targhee trip.
Most of the day was spent lapping Blackfoot. It was pretty foggy on the top of the mountain and the trees off Blackfoot held the fog off.
This was the first time I was able to take my dad to Jackson Hole. We brought the whole crew and enjoyed day poking around the mountain. At the end, we ended up in the Mangy Moose to watch the Playoff game and enjoy some live music.
Week 3
We did one more day at Grand Targhee before parting ways with the group. We headed to Jackson to stay in town for the week and the rest of the group headed back to Boise. Jackson was just a pleasing as we remembered it and we even ended up going to a Moose game. The town is such a weird place, with finance bros wearing cowboy hats and coastal people flying into experience the “rugged west”.
Final day in Targhee with the group. I got my highest recorded speed on skis here at 58 MPH when lapping the groomers off of the Colter lift.
Half day doing laps off Sublette.
Town was covered in heavy clouds, but the mountain was a blue sky day. Total inversion in the valley. Had a good day lapping the Tram and Sublette with Mariah.
We decided to learn how to use our Avalanche probes in the probe training park at the bottom of the Rendezvous bowl. We then spent the rest of the day lapping Thunder.
Mariah and I split up because I wanted to do the tram and she didn't. She did 2 laps on the Gondola and then she was done skiing because her boots. I only got a single tram lap in. We then spent the afternoon getting her boots adjusted.
Last day at Jackson for the year and I finally convinced Mariah to do Hoback with me. There was fresh snow, but it was dust on crust.
Week 4
We made our way down to Utah for a week, starting out in Layton and then moving down to Sandy. Utah has yet to disappoint me for snow quality and lack of lines. I was able to ski Park City for the first time, but didn’t do much exploration of the huge mountain. Alta and Snowbird are always amazing and I love every chance I get to ski them.
A huge storm rolled through a dumped over a foot and more was coming down when I was there. Visibility was very low at the bottom of the mountain and I worked my way up to explore some of the expert terrain. I found a couple of good powder stashes off of Pioneer before making my way over to Jupiter. The terrain here was what I was looking for, steep with some good untouched powder. I definitely want to go back and explore the rest of Park City for the steeps and deeps.
Fresh powder at Snowbasin. Got 5 laps in Strawberry, keeping as close to the sisters area as possible. The new lift makes getting out of Strawberry significantly easier, although I hadn't done any other method than Lone Tree from the top of the gondola before.
The storm continued and dropped 20"+ of fresh snow. I got a late afternoon session in, dropping into Parachute with waist deep untouched powder.
Even more fresh power from the storm. Got a couple of good hours in lapping Collins.
Another day of fresh powder. Got a couple of good runs in Mineral Basin and off the Cirque. Officially my last day at Semiotic Labs.
Last day of the storm. Got a ton of fresh snow, bouncing around Collins, Wildcat, and Sugarloaf. We also did our first Keyhole lap ever, to get us back to our parking spot.
On our way out of Utah we did a big split day between Park City and Deer Valley. Mariah had never skied Deer Valley or Park City before, so I wanted to show her around. At Park City, we stayed exclusively on the Canyons side, lapping Super Condor and Sun Peak. In Deer Valley, we did a tour of the entire mountain, riding everything we could in as short a time period as possible. This was a great way to end the Utah section of the trip.
Week 5
Colorado skiing is great when you’re not doing the I70 commute to and from Denver. Steamboat was a lot of fun to show Mariah and spending more time in Aspen was fun as well. There is a reason why it is cheaper to go to Europe than Colorado for a ski vacation though. Spending time in these flagship properties makes me appreciate the more laid-back California resorts.
First Official day of unemployment and the start of the Colorado part of our trip. This was a recovery day from our big day yesterday and we were only on the mountain for 2 hours.
Packed as much skiing into a single day as possible. Hit Chute 2 and lapped Mahogany ridge a couple times. Also got some fast laps down Valley View.
Storm rolled in and we got some fresh powered at Copper. Spent the entire day on Super Bee and Resolution.
Blue sky day at Breckenridge. Hit every peak. Had a fun little surprise and the end of the day with the gondola being broken. Had to take a bus back to the village.
Storm rolled in and was dumping fresh snow. We rendezvoused with a friend for the holiday weekend, with the goal of getting her to into skiing. Mariah had a blast teaching her how to ski on the bunny hill, stopping in at the cookie cabin. I spent the morning lapping Grouse. In the afternoon we putzed around McCoy park.
I hiked the Highlands bowl with 18"+ of fresh snow. It was murder to get up there, but the conditions were absolutely perfect. Blue skies and fresh snow. The extent of my day was the hike, and then getting back down the mountain.
Second day for our friend skiing was at beautiful Buttermilk. The mountain is known for it's beginner friendly terrain, and it didn't disappoint.
Week 6
Another Week in Colorado, but this time taking the southern route, exploring in Crested Butte and Telluride for first time. Both of these places are beautiful and made getting the Epic pass worth it.
Bonus day skiing at Breckenridge! It was an absolutely beautiful day. Got a nice run in on Peak Seven Bowl with some fresh turns in fresh snow.
First day ever at Crested Butte. Really fun mountain with a lot of interesting terrain. Only did a single T-bar lap this day, but got super excited with what I did in the North Face area.
Second day at Crested Butte. I got a cold overnight and ended up sleeping the first part of the day away. I had a streak to continue though. Got a run in on Headwall and ended up venturing out into Forest for 1 run and then commited to doing Banana for another run. Absolutely beautiful snow and views.
Brought Mariah back out for a quick morning of hitting the highlights from the day before; Headwall, The North Face, and Banana.
Big big day for my first time at Telluride. Did the entire mountain, including a quick hike up to Westlake and a run down Little Rose.
Quick day showing Mariah the best of the things I did the day before. She was flying back to California for a week for some work events, so we needed to get a quick morning in.
Last day in Telluride and I spent most of it lapping some fast groomers and taking in the beauty of the box canyon. Chair 7 is probably my favorite chair of any resort for fast groomer laps.
Week 7
The last week in Colorado, and tons of stuff went sidewise, from storms shutting down resorts, to avalanches shutting down highways. I even broke my skis.
I wanted to try a different, smaller resort, and since I was already in south western Colorado, Purgatory made sense to visit. The mountain was okay. I spent my day looking for steep things to ski that weren't super icy. Found myself over on Legends Express for most of the morning, and then lapping Purgatory Express for the rest of the day. There were some fun runs here, but nothing that makes me want to go back. The terrain was pretty boring in comparison to the amazing stuff I had been skiing all week.
I drove to Taos, New Mexico after skiing Purgatory, with the expectation of being able to ski it in the morning. I woke up to 40+mph winds and the entire mountain being shut down. Called an audible and jumped in the truck and zoomed up to Keystone to keep my streak alive. Got in with 2 hours left in the day and 10"+ of fresh snow.
Explored the woods over on Wayback and then got some good laps in off Santiago. I'm glad I was able to explore some parts of this mountain and at some point I'll head back to Keystone to explore some of the other expert terrain that I wasn't able to get to.
An avalanche closed I70 as I was heading up to go ski. Called another audible and headed to the closest thing to where I was that wasn't affected by Avalanche closures.
This was my first time at Eldora. The mountain has some fun terrain, but it looked like the good steep stuff was closed when I was there. Spent some time lapping the express from the base and got a couple laps in off of Corona and Indian Peaks. The long, slow chairs coupled with the lack of vertical left me wanting more. Might go back at some point for some reason, but it isn't high on the priority list.
Big day at Vail. Spent a ton of time getting into all the different back bowl. I found some really fun steeps off of Skyline and off of Orient. A lot of the other bowl runs were mellow and not a lot of fun. There was fresh snow to be had all day which was nice.
I did end up breaking my Mantras while I was here. Catastrophic delamination of the Titanal topsheet had me scrambling to find new skis.
Rented some Bent 100s for a couple days while my new skis were getting mounted. Spent a couple good days hitting up A-basin.
Got a couple great runs in Zuma and a bunch of amazing runs off of Pallavicini.
Last day of my streak. 30 days in a row. A ton of wind, so Zuma was closed. I also planned on hiking North Pole, but it was closed due to wind.
Got a bunch of fast laps off Pallavicini before calling it and heading down to Denver International to pick up Mariah and continue on our trip.
Week 8
First week in Canada and exploring some new mountains and some old favorites. Lucked out with some amazing snow as well.
Pow day at Fernie. Had to call it early, so not a bunch of vert. Definitely want to go back.
Chill day exploring the mountain. A lot of older lifts, and some fun terrain. Unfortunately the storm that hit Fernie didn't hit Kimberly as much and it was dust on crust for a lot of it.
Such a fun, interesting hill. A ton of FAST groomers in the morning with serious speed. Other parts weren't fully filled in. Got into some stuff off the top after the snow softened mid day.
The little mountain that everybody always sleeps on. This has some surprisingly good terrain with nobody on it. I've always enjoyed the fun short days at Norquay.
Got to play around with a lot more of what Sunshine Village has to offer for expert skiers than the last time I was there. Spent a lot of time exploring the Goats Eyes. Got a lap in on Delirium Dive. Was pretty epic to do the quick hike and then ski the entire mountain. Wasn't fun hiking out though.
Epic day at Lake Louise. Got to hit a bunch of expert stuff that I was too chicken to hit the first time I was there. Did most of the letter chutes.
Another day great day at Lake Louise. Snow wasn't as good, but still had a lot of fun.
Week 9
The week I was waiting for all trip. I found a new favorite mountain and explored even more of one of my other favorites.
Kicking Horse is everything I want in a mountain and more. Top to bottom, great skiing. Amazing Chutes. Amazing Snow on top. No lines. Also, met the Slopes developer on the gondola.
Another day in Paradise. Got to show Mariah around the mountain and did a little hike with her.
Fresh snow at Revelstoke. First time having the courage to do the lemming line. Got some great turns in the backside.
Hiked Subpeak for the first time. Absolutely amazing.
First time on the lemming line with Mariah. Still amazing snow from the storm.
Big day hitting some fast groomers with Mariah.
Hiked Subpeak with Mariah. Beautiful sunshine, we packed a light snack for up on top, and we also got some amazing snow off the top.
Week 10
Third week in Canada and a couple new mountains. Saying goodbye to Revelstoke was hard, but saying hello to Whistler was amazing. I grew up going to Whistler in the summer, but never had the chance to go skiing there. The mountain is amazing and I lucked out with multiple powder days during our stay there.
It was pretty hot the day before and the snow had definitely solidified. Only groomers on this day. A lot of fast skiing, and even some ice burn from a fast, long fall.
This is a weird mountain. Maybe it was just the season it was having, but the snow was really bad. There was some stuff that looked like it could be fun with more snow, and more steep to be had, but I never found anything that was truly interesting to me. Maybe I'll give it a chance the next time I'm road tripping across Canada. I don't think I'll go out of my way to go though
First day ever on Whistler in the winter. I've been a lot in the summer, going every summer growing up, but never skied it. It is big. There are huge, steep lines everywhere. It was amazing! I spent 100% of the day on the Whistler side, just getting accustomed to the mountain and finding where would be interesting to ski.
After the big day the day before, and the previous week of big days, I took a rest day and just worked some drills in the training area on the Whistler side. Did some one ski drills and learned how to carve backwards.
Made my way to Blackcomb for the first time. Got a Spanky's lap and dropped into Ruby bowl as my first ever big line at Blackcomb. Also got Saudan with pretty decent conditions.
Showed Mariah around and took it easy. She got hurt in Revelstoke so she's been taking it easy.
Week 11
More Whistler, heading home to the USA, and a trip to Alaska! We had never been to Alaska and we were really excited to get up and check out Alyeska.
Very wet pow day fully on the Blackcomb side. A couple of Spanky's laps and a lot of groomers.
Pow day! A couple of Spanky's runs and a Cougar chute lap.
Another huge day. Fresh snow, and a lot of laps. Everything on the Whistler side, with a bunch of laps on both Peak chair and Symphony chair.
First day in Alaska. Absolutely amazing conditions. Got two amazing tram laps before calling it for the day.
Nonstop pow. Every run was down the tramline. Every line had fresh snow.
Week 12
Final days of Alaska and some skiing in the PNW.
More amazing snow. A lot less visibility. Mainly lapped Glacier bowl for the faster lap times than the Tram.
Huge day. A lot of laps. Christmas Chute opened and got a couple laps. Most of the other chutes off the top opened up and, and with a bunch of fresh snow. Absolutely killer day.
First time in Washington. Crystal was a fun mountain with zero visibility. Did a short day before heading south. These were also the first time I was on my Deacon 84s. Fun ski, but probably the wrong skis for the conditions.
Explored the mountain by myself. Got into some hairy situations when I accidently went out of bounds and ended up in a creek. Fresh snow, but not a lot of steep to use it.
Week 13
Finals week of the road trip and a stop in Bend for a few days at Bachelor on the way home.
First time skiing at Bachelor as an adult. Very fun mountain with a ton to offer. Mainly ripped groomers on my fast skis.
They opened up the top and I was finally able to get up there and ski down some of the steeper stuff. Very fast snow, but a lot of fun. Hiked the peak at the end of the day. Snow wasn't amazing, but was still a great view.
Fast groomers with some backside exploration. Blue skies and warm temps. True spring skiing.
Long Weekend in Tahoe
The goal was to get all the skiing in at each resort before they shut down for the season. I missed going to Northstar by one day, by flipping which mountain I went to that Sunday. Ended up having a blast though.
First time at Kirkwood in over a decade. Absolutely awesome mountain. Will go back a bunch when I'm in California. Did a few hike-to lines and got some pretty nice runs.
Back where the trip started. Watched the pond skim for a few minutes. Was just rocking the Deacons and going for fast, fun groomers. Prefect thing for Heavenly.
Had a fun day just ripping around Palisades. Nothing special, just hitting some groomers that I had never bothered to go to before.
Short day hitting some late season turns.
Trip to Utah
Mariah had a conference in Utah she needed to go to, so I tagged along to get a few more days in Utah. We ended up catching a huge late season storm on our way back to California which was great.
End of the season for Alpine celebration. Just some groomers before heading out to Utah.
Huge, bluebird day at the bird! Got a little bit of everything in.
Spent the morning ripping on the topside at Snowbird. Decided to do a Cirque run, and the tram shuts down. Instead of giving up, I headed over to Solitude to finish up the day and ripped around doing a lot of really fun, fast laps.
They got the tram back up again, just in time for a fresh storm. Got a bunch of amazing runs off the cirque and in Mineral Basin with fresh snow!
The snow solidified and it was an ice fest for anything no groomed. Did my 10k and headed back to home...
...until the pass shut down! We got stuck in Truckee and decided to hit the storm. 1hr lift lines, but amazing snow with waist deep powder in some spots. It was awesome!
Mammoth
End of the season with a spring day in Mammoth.
My best day at Mammoth yet, and so late into the season. Everything was open, got some great runs on lines that I would have been too scared to hit in a previous years.
Wrap up
This was a life-changing year of skiing for me. I was able to live out a dream I’d been having for a while; quitting my job, packing up the truck, and just going skiing for the season. I couldn’t have done this trip without my wife, both for her support as my sugar-momma, but also as my companion on the trip. I hope 80 days and 1.3M vert in a season isn’t my high-water maker. 40 mountains in a year might be the most I’ll do in a year again though. A lot of amazing places that I’m so glad to have been able to go to, and all in 1 year!
Top of T1 - Kicking Horse
Stairway to Heaven - Kicking Horse
Ice burn - Revelstoke
Top of Subpeak - Revelstoke
Truck in front of Revelstoke
