Quick n Crappy

But some semi-interesting reportage. This was the line at Hot Doug's at 10:30 AM, 30 minutes before opening, at approximately 30 degrees Fahrenheit. Man this guy's got it made. He has the weirdest hours, takes off random weeks of the year, makes creative food with love, and has a rapid, constant demand that shows no sign of drying up. Hats off to ya, Doug.

I took this rolling by in my car, obvs, as you can see by the streaky windshield and window sticker. So many activities today. Should get a few better pictures along the way. Might do a montage for (late) tomorrow.

Done Chillin

This was the Tuesday crew at Chill, on the final night. I'm in the back right. I originally wasn't going to go, with my flight back from CO late the night before. But the way things worked out with one canceled week due to weather, it was to be the last session and I didn't want to miss that. So I just went with my big camera rig to shoot a bunch, leaving my snow gear at home since I was boarded out from the trip. I actually ended up strapping neighbor Chad's board on just with hiking boots to ride with the kids a bit. Pretty weird, but able to get down the hill. Anyway, a great season and I will do it again next year if I can.

The House on Red Mountain

A last one from Aspen. The snowboarding was epic, and so were the digs. We didn't go out on the town at all. Aside from a little apres ski at the base of Highlands on Saturday, most of our non-shredding time was spent here. I went out with a little tripod and cable release to capture the above one night. And below is the main common area, where much food and booze was consumed with a bunch of awesome people. Cheers, guys!

How's Your Aspen?

As all the Irish folks along on this trip would say: deadly. Or perhaps brilliant.

Yesterday morning was some of the best fresh powder yet, especially getting out to Highlands for the first lift, and then to the bowl just after it opened. It was also mostly sunny for the first time in the trip.

A long travel day followed, and now hitting the ground running back home. Well well well well well well well worth it.

Below is a shot from the hike up to the bowl. We dropped in just below the tree line.

Shrines

I have been to Aspen three or so times in the past, but about 15 years ago, and not with such knowledgeable people. One of the fun new discoveries, besides the fact that I can pretty much ride anything on the mountain, is the "shrines" that they have here and there in the trees. These are basically just trees with stuff on them, related to some famous person or concept. They're not that big a deal, except that you have to do a little bit of hairy tree navigation to get to them. But it's an unexpected little bit of weirdness peppered throughout the ski areas. This one is for Marilyn Monroe, of course.

Heading out now for one last gasp in Highlands Bowl this morning, and then on to Denver and home. What a friggin trip.

My Bowl Runneth Over

Highlands Bowl. With multiple feet of fresh powder from the past few days. Was one of the most amazing experiences I've yet racked up in this life. Above is my buddy Wyllys (the sticker on his helmet reads in full: Aspen - Higher than You), without whose experience and encouragement I never would have done it. Turns out I can hack it, and well enough to love it. Here's one of the great shots he got of me:

Go Big

Here you see the wackos who have yet to throw me a challenge I couldn't handle on the mountain, especially in the amazing powder we have here. This was the hardest of it yesterday, my first double diamond experience. Leader Wyllys took a bit of a bad line and had to reset to get out of there. You can barely see the orange line of the ski area boundary here.

Today we are going to attempt the Highlands Bowl, which requires a Snow Cat ride, and then a hike to the top. I'm a little bit nervous, but the snow we keep getting is ideal for me on a snowboard. Getting psyched.

Thinking Snow

A shot from Humboldt Park from last Saturday. Tomorrow evening I head to Aspen, where it is pretty much supposed to snow every day that I'm there. Words cannot describe my excitement.

Grafiti Devolution

Another alley snap from yesterday. I have showed you this pole before, a few years back. The additions look like gang tags, unfortch.

HOT

Weather-wise, it wasn't exactly hot, but pleasantly warm for the season with much welcome sunshine. I was pretty much knocked out for the day with what seemed like food poisoning. Feeling a little better in the afternoon I forced myself out for a short walk and this vent caught my eye in an alley.

Middle Ground

Out for a little photo stroll today in Humboldt Park to get some sun and shots.

Big Flake

A table in my backyard makes a kind of snowflake pattern, covered in snow.

Flakes

I really like how the fine, diffuse, slowly falling snow got captured here. It was the most snow we've gotten so far this winter. No comparison to the craziness out east, which apparently is getting compounded now. I can only hope to see some of this out in Colorado next week. The consistency of today's snow would have been perfect. Somewhat ironically, it canceled my snowboard volunteer program due to traffic concerns. But I went out in the late evening to get some groceries. It was really nice, quiet, and peaceful out there.

Whoosh

A chunk less impressive than what I showed yesterday, but I like the spray of snow behind me here. Nice and sore today. Gonna do some stairmaster and squats at the gym in the next week and a half, and hopefully be up for almost four solid days out in Colorado. Can't. Wait.

Alpine Air

Yesterday I checked out the Alpine Valley ski area for the first time. It's a little further from Chicago than Wilmot, but maybe worth the extra drive. It was a beautiful day at the start, but unfortunately the clouds rolled in as soon as I went and got my camera. I wanted to put my 50D through its paces with some action motor drive shots. They came out pretty good still, at least converted to B/W to better deal with the flat light. This is my buddy Adam getting some pretty serious air. Check out the composite (it may not fully display on the blog, click here to see it on flickr):

Frosted

Even in color, the blue of that car was really the only hue that stood out in the flat morning overcast light. I was heading out first thing to vote before work. Yay democracy. Yay Photoshop.

Brett Favre Still . . .

Another winner from last Friday's Critical Mass. I'm not sure of the exact significance of the guy on the left's shirt. The guy on the right was also in this shot. He's riding what's known as a "tall bike" which is basically two bike frames welded together. The little sign dangling off the back says (upside down) "think snow". Which was appropriate on that night. He was also wearing some sort of religious biker jacket. Quite a character. To the right you can just barely see one of the cops that accompanied the ride. The police seem to tacitly sanction Critical Mass, and a detail of bike cops always come along, although I've never seen them interacting at all.

Late or Early?

Either way, a Santa suit (with ski goggles) makes for very weather appropriate January biking gear. I'm pretty stoked with how well this shot in particular came out, since I was in motion, twisted around.