Monday, February 25, 2008

Back to CH.....in full effect!

After being in Ireland and Madrid for business I was stoked to be HOME in CH. Saturday set up to be a very cool day with friends at G3. Jay, Tom, KK, Tammy, and FINALLY Jen met up at G3 for a sunny spring-like day of skiing and picnic. Overall the snow was not that bad after the past 18+ no-snow-drought we have had....with great...
Views:
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Friends:
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Skiing:
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Picnic:
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Apres Ski:
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...and then it was time to go home:
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The next day KK and I headed into FR for a little relaxing and chilling on the lake...which included some of the same great sun and food from the day before:
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Overall a great weekend and I am glad to be home in CH. More to come this weekend! Pray for snow!!

The Vibe of Madrid...........

So at times I am very long winded and outline every detail of my life...but when I got to Madrid I wanted to just feel the city and relax. No pictures of over-tourist-postcard shots, no titles to where I was, just the vibe.......of the people:
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and the food:
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...and the traffic!
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...and the beauty that is Madrid...
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-GG

Monday, February 11, 2008

.....where is the snow?????.....it didn't matter CH rocks!

Another weekend rolled around without snow but J and I weren't put off..instead we wnet off to St-Luc/Chandolin and Grimentz for a little skiski!

After a nice Friday dinner with Alan and KK it was off with J to the Annivier valley to see what we could scrap out of last weeks snow. After a short nights sleep I met J at Lavaux and then up the Valais. We arrived to find about 10 cars and a great sunny day.
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Once on the lift we looked around and noticed there was probably some soft spots and there were chutes/couliors!!!
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After a warm up lap it was on to get some of the softer snow. It was wind-blown and some pockets of pow.
J on the traverse...be careful!
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..and then he ripped it!
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...and then ripped the piste!
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Jay should the way on the scrapped pow so I thought I would jump in a few chutes....steep!
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...dropping #1:
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#2:
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The chutes were great and then we found some more!
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The day was perfect and so was the leftovers (thanks Jen!...the view wasn't bad either):
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After 6000+M we called it a day and had a beer:
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Considering the skiing wasn't bad in Chandolin we decided to saty in the valley and ski Grimentz in the AM. We posted up at the hotel Cristal. Grimentz is a cool little town that is right on the ski slope.
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After a nice steak and some beers we called it a night.

The next AM we woke to this:
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...and more of this!
J:
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...cool lift but J had a little issue with it!
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After about 3000M we decided there was some good snow up a little higher so we did a little bootpacking:
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Once on top it was a perfect view into the valley:
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..and then some good skiing:
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The day ended with our
legs burning and a smile...but time for a walk and crepe!
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Overall a sick weekend. Next weekend will be the first I have not skied since November (off to Madrid)....more to come from Spain!!