A Son!

After many months of speculation and anticipation Tracey gave birth to a 10 lbs son. Healthy and happy we are blown away by our new arrival. I understand that most people who read this will mainly want ski photos and journals of a skier but my family is also a huge part of who I am.
Here he is, still nameless.
As my family grows I understand more and more the pride of parents. But lately I have been proud of my parents. A week ago I shredded the ski hill with my Dad, who rips. I wish I had brought my camera because we tore it up for 10 000 feet on the hill. I promise good shots of him on his next visit. And now my Mom is out for her yearly two weeks of ski touring, It’s so great to be able to ski with my parents. Go mom go!

I went out a few hours earlier than my parents so i could get some vertical before they joined me. I then skied a great run with my mom and step dad. Decent snow that is starting to get a bit old. It is still untracked awesome powder, just not fresh powder. But I am spoiled. Anyhow then they skied off and I stayed to do 3600 more feet. I decided to ski a line that I thought existed down beside some ominous cliffs. I found the entrance no problem but then found myself clinging to trees, side slipping down rocks, jumping from snow pillow to snow pillow. Finally I made it through the choke and I enjoyed some great turns down the rest of the line. Always exciting to ski into the unknown.

Skied my 16th 10000 foot day and am excited about tomorrow so I can get my 17th done.

pregnant turns

I toured out solo this morning to pound off a few laps at the fingers, ideally being called midway through and told that Tracey is in labour. Never happened. I enjoyed two great runs in the fingers and then followed some friends up to the womb. I pulled one more lap in the higher trees, which was cold deep powder that had a way of sneaking its way up my jacket with every turn.

But I joined Ryan and Anne-Marie at the top of the womb. Anne Marie is 7 months pregnant and when they mentioned that they were heading towards the womb I felt compelled to join them. Here they are getting ready to drop in.

Revelstoke has an amazing amount of strong women who get out and do this sorta thing while pregnant, imagine what her kid will get up to in his life!

My fifteenth 10 000 footer came and went with some fabulous skiing. I am loving this goal, each and every day is a challenge with some huge rewards.

p.s I am experiencing some photo issues. hoepfully I will fix these tommorrow.

balance

Balance,

Today was all about balance. Wind had played havoc with the snow, creating large drifts, random windslab and some great snow to ski. So I had to be balanced on my skis to not get caught too far forward. I realized this as I was tumbling head over skis into the deep cold snow. But all in all the skiing was great once I figured out how to find the cold deep powder stashes hidden along the tree edges.

No pictures today because I had a solo day up on the fingers. I had to balance my obsessive desire to get my goal accomplished with some daughter time. I questioned taking my daughter Charley out ski touring today but when I saw the -6’c temperatures I decided against it. Instead I hung out with her in the morning, and headed out at noon.

I hadn’t accomplished a ten thousand foot day in under 5 hours this season. But today was the day; I headed out with temerity and didn’t let up. The skin track was already in so all I had to do was blast upwards. One 15 minute break in the middle made me think I might not make it but at 4hr 52 min I was back at my car.
The fourteenth 10 000 foot day came easy.