Category Archives: ski bum life

So here I am at 60 years old and I’m still skiing. Of course, it wasn’t until I reached 60 that I had the experience of galloping a horse through snow…and let’s just say that I was going faster on Miss Mocha (her idea!) than I usually ski (well, except for going down the Magic Mile but the Mile is its own thing). I thought oldsters were supposed to slow down, but…maybe it’s time to scheme on a way to rig up a means to do skijoring with Mocha without a rider. PVC pipe and surcingle, I think…and lots of ground practice during the dry season.

Anyway.

Yesterday hubby and I finally took advantage of the sweet late-season skiing and went up to Timberline. Unlike last year, I could visualize my moves when watching ski movie clips. I felt stronger and had this suspicion that it was going to work out just fine….

….which it did.

It was a stormy day, with temperatures running right about freezing. The snow was a crisp mix of snow and ice, not that nasty can’t-get-a-grip ice but just enough to give the footing a crunch. It was wintry-mixing all the way through to our last run, where things changed from tolerable to full-scale misery with sharp icy drops cutting into the face and coating the glasses.

Glasses. Sigh. I cannot wear goggles with my current lenses. The lovely (NOT) opticians at Kaiser decided that despite my requests and the optometrist’s specific instructions to lower the bifocal line that we were both full of it and jammed the line into the usual spot (no, I do not wear progressives, progressives are NOT an option for me, they do not work so don’t waste your time advising me to try them out!!). As a result, I can’t wear any goggles because according to the opticians, I wear my glasses too low on my nose so that when I DO wear my goggles the lovely fucking bifocal line is halfway through my line of sight and I can’t see a damn thing clearly for my complete lower field of vision. Which is NOT acceptable for ski life and depth perception in an already-sketchy situation.

Oh well. Maybe I need yet another pair of glasses that are just single-vision distance glasses. Grrr.

On the other hand, my feet worked very nicely. I have spent the last year working a combination of massage/chiropractic/foot and back massagers/acupuncture to try to get my feet back in shape and minimize my lower back pain issues. Yesterday proved that I’m on the right path. My stiff Dalbellos went on my feet securely and while I had the usual “ouch ouch ouch” while starting up, I worked through them and was able to control what my feet were doing…which meant I could control my skis, and my hips, and yes. Lovely, lovely glides and turns. No fighting and struggling.

It also helped that I took the skis in for a professional tune. They desperately needed edging. My wax skills are pretty decent for the level of skiing we do, but edging…um…not ready to go there.

We made five runs on Stormin’ Norman. Between skiing out there and the runs, that was close to about five miles skied. Five runs that were gorgeous, wonderful, and…yeah.

A lovely late beginning to the ski year. Going back up tomorrow, and then maybe Friday on our way back to Enterprise, depending on how sore my back is after two days of clam digging and surf fishing. Yay.

For the first time I only skied a few times, over about three weeks, similar to what a lot of people do with their ski vacations. I’m–not thrilled with that amount of limitation. That said, I could have gotten more ski time in, including in NE Oregon, if I had been able to get my feet into my boots sooner in the season. But I couldn’t, so there’s no crying now over spilt milk.

We had five ski days in total in late April and early May. That more than brought the cost of our spring ski passes ($118) down to about half of what a regular pass would cost for me and less for the husband at age 65.

Besides being away from the slopes for two years, the big challenge was that the snow is just plain different in April and May than it is in November/December starting out skiing. Even when there were heavy snowfalls, they were different from the heavy snowfalls earlier in the season…not as dry and cold, for one. And even though we had plenty of cold exposure in NE Oregon over the winter, it wasn’t ski exposure.

I don’t know. There was only one session where I found my flow and rhythm, and skied well. The rest of the time? I struggled more than I like to do. It seemed harder to get back into it than it does at the beginning of the ski season. Maybe it was just the awareness that I only had these few short days or something like that…but whatever it was, it wasn’t working that well. I may have just not been trusting my cranky ankles.

Oh well. Maybe next year.

A couple of days late, but there was a Day Four on the ski slope!

Since it was the first day of the changeover from warm weather back to cool and wet, we were slow-moving in the morning and debating whether it was worth it. Then hubby looked at the web cams and pointed out that despite the temperatures, it wasn’t raining at Timberline–yet. So we saddled up and went skiing.

I’m glad we did. I hooked into the flow this time, despite a knee locking up on me in the parking lot. Once we started skiing, though, the knee was quiet. I glided from side to side, smoothly curving and transferring weight, just like I wanted to do. No problems with thigh burn or the aches that go along with overcontrolling the skis. Everything was balanced and in control.

One factor was a fresh wax job. The snow was wet and could have been sticky, but with fresh wax on the skis, it wasn’t. I did comment at one point that “I can just feel the wax stripping off of these skis!”

I was right. We got home and I saw that the skis needed another hot waxing.

In any case, we got in two runs on the Mile before it got socked in and we retreated to Norman. Four runs on Norman, two on the mile, for a total of five miles skied. Getting the legs back, getting the flow back…but I’m still not entirely feeling the passion that I did before. Maybe it’s because of the lateness and missing the big seasons. We’re looking at two more sessions at most, for a total of six ski days this season. Not bad, but…at the end of six I’m just getting tuned up.

Oh well. Maybe next year.

So Day Three of getting back on the skis was a more typical spring ski day at Timberline–foggy down below, and then breaking through above the clouds once we got to the lodge. The snow was typical Cascade concrete, not even corn snow. I had some problems getting my left binding to catch when first locking in (this will become important later) but finally got it going and we headed back out to Norman.

But something wasn’t right. I kept muttering about having control issues going on. I was having problems with turning and had a couple of bobbles that didn’t go all the way to falls. Still. Something wasn’t right. I couldn’t catch the flow, couldn’t find my rhythm, and meanwhile the snow was warming up and turning to slush. After the third run on Norman I suggested we go up to the Mile.

As we got off of the lift to the top of Norman and headed for the cat track that goes to the Mile, I skied out of my left ski. Didn’t fall because we were on the flat, but it just popped off. So I popped it back on, started up again…and off it came. Hubby noticed I had ice on the bottom of my boots, so he helped me scrape it off. I took off and this time everything worked.

Still, coming off the top of the Mile, hips didn’t want to cooperate. It took a few turns, but I was starting to get the feel again–a good long run with no complications. We did a second run and I started feeling the flow again. At that point we called it a day–three runs on Norman, two on the Mile for about 4 and a quarter miles, maybe closer to 5 when you figure the ski out to Norman and then back to the Mile.

The Dalbello boots are much easier to work with than the equally stiff Lange boots were. I start out stiff in the Dalbellos but they start loosening up and getting comfortable after a couple of runs. I’m getting to really like them.

That said, I’m glad I didn’t ski last year. The right ankle I injured in the fall with Mocha in 2015 was aching when we got back to the house, and I can just imagine what it would have been like then. I am feeling better, and stronger, though. It’s easier to get up off the chair than it was the last year I skied. I’ve noticed it’s easier for me to swing a leg over an impatient Mocha when we get ready to ride off as well. Not sure what is bringing that about, unless it’s the hours I’m spending in the saddle…or something. And then tonight, I waxed and scraped the skis without feeling as achy and tired after as I was in the past. Yay?

But something still is missing. I haven’t gotten the joy of skiing back. I don’t know why. It’s improving, but…something’s still missing.

Our second ski day was more like the depths of winter than the end of April…unless you’re on Mt. Hood. The weather system that Cliff Mass calls “Darth Vapor” is dumping snow on the Mountain, fine, wet powdery stuff…and I got a reminder that Timberline Road in some ways is a tougher drive than crossing the Blue Mountains via Tollgate.

The official snow count this morning was 199 inches at the lodge. I’m willing to bet it had gone over 200 by the time we got our skis on and got out there. It continued to snow, a wet powder that formed rime ice on our ski pants and parkas along with a mild wind. We went back up to Stormin Norman simply because given our level of conditioning, it’s the easiest run to do with blowing and drifting snow. My knees were fussing at me first thing this morning so I didn’t want to push it.

Not sleeping well last night didn’t help, either. I started with fatigue and it didn’t help things. My first run down, I bobbled a couple of times but didn’t tweak anything and stayed upright. The second run was better, and the third run was when I started to feel the flow coming. But then the fourth run was just not quite right, so I didn’t find the flow. The wind was also such that above the trees it was occasionally hard to see where the snow ended and the air began. When we headed back to the lodge, I encountered a few surprise drops, and had to stop in one place to figure out where to go.

On the other hand, my feet didn’t cramp up in the boots today. That’s a big plus. I’m getting them back into shape.

There was a big living quarters horse trailer in the parking lot. Obviously there weren’t any horses in it–I had to wonder if it was hauling equipment while the owners were staying overnight in the living quarters, or maybe that was the only trailer they had.

We saw some very happy snow doggies in the parking lot, romping in the snow. On Tuesday we saw one dog who was ecstatically rolling in the snow–nothing like that today, but nonetheless there were happy snow doggies around.

No spectral whooshes from the ravens today, though they were scouting the parking lot for any food scraps.

By the time we left, a little six-inch drift was forming by the rear driver’s side wheel. Driving down Timberline Road had some interesting moments with slush and ice.

But we’ve survived another ski day, and I’m beginning to trust my legs and feet again. One thing I am noticing is that my hips are stronger than they were before. It’s easier for me to stand up and get out of the chair. I can thank those long rides on Mocha for that, I think.

Now I just have to be in better shape….

This Mother’s Day, I got up at 5:30 am, had some yogurt and almonds and an energy bar, hopped into the car with DH, and went skiing.

Yeah. Lifts opened at 8. But the temps had dipped into the high 20s and stuff had iced up weirdly. By the time we went through our usual prep (plus me getting a coffee and! bacon!), the snow was just right. A little soft with hardpack underneath.

The catch was that the Magic Mile wasn’t open yet. Still in storm recovery mode (and one does not diss the gifts of Ullr and Skadi  at this point in the season; yea, even though it may cause Perfect Run Issues). So we went for Stormin’ Norman. Whereupon we discovered this:

at the top of Norman. Essentially, there’d been a freestyle ski movie conference at Timberline, and that is what they made for it.  Then, when I saw where the takeoff hill for that set of jumps was, um, yeah. Pretty intense. It’s about halfway up the Kruser line on the Magic Mile, which means that it’s built for speed. Given the airs I saw on Facebook links from that conference…yeah. Fast and high. That’s what you need to get those big multi-revolution tricks. It’s as much of a science as a ballet pirouette. Trickers spot their turns just like dancers do. Eyes-shoulders-hips-feet. It’s a graceful sequence to watch on video, but in slow-mo you don’t always get a sense for how fast the freestyler is going in real life.

Anyway. Enough ski geekery.

I got up to my old pre-packed out boots, pre-fall speed. One of the beauties of Norman when it is relatively quiet is that you can have a nice side-by-side run, and for once this season I dang near passed the hubby. Mmm. I think I like my boots, at last. It’s taken a year to break them in, but now I’ve found their potential.

Back in the groove again. Feeling the flow of the fall line. Finally, damn it, after struggling with boots and injuries and stubborn aging body.

About time.