Day 106 - Vail

Out 8:30 to 2:30 with a lunch break in the Mid-Vail Lodge; cloudy and a little windy up high with temps in the thirties; 22 runs; 29,552 vertical; skied the Nordica Enforcer 88's; groomers and a little natural snow; empty early, but a few people in the afternoon; China Bowl and Blue Sky Basin were closed; almost every groomer I did was excellent: Lodgepole, Avanti, Overeasy (2), Hunky Dory, Slifer Express, Swingsville, Northstar (2), Sourdough, Boomer, Ramshorn... even skier's right through the Golden Peak Terrain Park (2); 'only' skied a couple of nats: Blue Ox, Riva Ridge (non-stop from the top of the Mountaintop Express to Vail Village) and a section of Prima; rode 11 different front-side lifts today - the only one of note that I missed was Gondola One; anything front-side, low was very soft this afternoon.

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Day 98 - Vail

Out 8:30 to 1:30 with coffee at Two Elks; clear and sunny with temps in the thirties and a little wind that kicked up around noon; groomers mostly and a little day old; 19 runs; 27,939 vertical; skied the Blizzard Bonafides; plenty of people by noon - almost empty at opening bell; took the blue groomer tour of the Back Bowls - made it all the way back to Blue Sky Basin - it's just over 10 miles as the bird flies from the bottom of 19-Eagle Bahn to the top of 39-Pete's; Red Zinger was spectacular - perfect, sun backed softness - I did 2; beautiful view of the Gore Range today from the frontside, but's that not the picture.

      ↑ Looking towards Beaver Creek

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Day 96 - Keystone

Out 8:30 to 11:30 without a break; clear skies and a little bit of wind with temps rising through the twenties; 11 runs, 17,444 vertical; skied the 2019 Head i.Speed GS Cheater 17's; groomer; virtually empty today; Team Summit Masters - NASTAR type GS all the way down Richtor; last Team Summit training day of the year, so probably my last Keystone day as well; skied poorly again - turning in early at the top of the turn on every right footer on the steep.

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Day 93 - Breckenridge

Uncle Bob Day 5. Out 9:30 to 1:00 with a coffee break in the Adirondack chairs out on the deck at the base of Peak 7; 8 runs; 9,982 vertical; skied the Blizzard Bonafides; quickly softening groomers; not too many people - small to no liftlines; we made the effort and reached Peak 6; Bob's last day - he absolutely killed it this week.

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Day 92 - Vail

Uncle Bob Day 4. Out 8:30 to 12:15 with a coffee break in the lodge at Mid-Vail; sunny and warm with a little wind - after a below freezing start temps rebounded quickly into the low fifties; 11 runs; 11,703 vertical; skied the Blizzard Bonafides; the first frozen, truly crunchy groomers of the year to start, then steadily softening snow as the day wore on; to my utter surprise the crowd was very reasonable - believe it or not there were virtually no liftlines; finally got to ski a full day with Bob - we had a blast.

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Day 91 - Keystone

Uncle Bob Day 3. Out 8:30 to 12:00, no break; sunny, warm and little windy - temps rising into the low forties; 10 runs, 15,838 vertical; skied the 2015 Volkl RaceTiger SL World Cups; groomer; very few people - absolutely no liftlines other than opening bell; Team Summit Masters - 6 runs through a 40 gate SL course on Richtor; skied poorly; today's pic is of Matt Fox our coach.

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Day 90 - Keystone

Uncle Bob Day 2. Out 8:30 to noon, no break; sunny and warm with a little wind - temps rising through the twenties into the mid-thirties; 10 runs; 15,838 vertical; skied the 2015 Volkl RaceTiger SL World Cups; groomer; dropped Uncle Bob at Breck while I did Keystone - made him ride the bus home; Team Summit Masters - 15 gate GS course on Richtor; actually skied pretty well; didn't look at the schedule and got to the hill ready to train SL when we were actually doing GS.

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Day 89 - Keystone

Uncle Bob Day 1. Out 8:30 to 2:30 with lunch in the Mountain House Base Lodge; sunny and windy with temps rising through the teens and twenties toward freezing; 13 runs; 21,897 vertical; skied the Atomic Redster G9 RS's and Blizzard Bonafides; pretty good crowd, just no real liftlines; Team Summit Masters - 15 gate GS on Richtor set by David S. not Matt; skied my best run of the season the first time through the course, then just so-so.

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Day 85 - Keystone

Out 8:30 to 12:00 without a break; clear and cold with the tinyest bit of wind, 3° in the parking lot to start, but 29° when I left; 11 runs; 17,157 vertical; skied the 2015 Volkl RaceTiger SL World Cups; groomer; not too big of a crowd, never a real liftline other than at opening bell; Team Summit Masters - 5 runs through a 35 gate SL course on Richtor; skied horribly.

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Day 83 - Keystone

Out 8:30 to 12:00 without a break; warm with a growing overcast and temps right at freezing - no wind really; 10 runs, 15,623 vertical; Atomic D2 3.0 Race GS's; groomer; big crowd; Team Summit Masters - 5 runs through a 15 gate GS course on Richtor; very little snow kicked up in photo #2.

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Day 75 - Keystone

Out 8:30 to 2:00 with lunch in the car; increasing overcast with a few flurries up high, 27° in the parking lot this morning, 37° when I left; 15 runs; 23,299 vertical; skied the Atomic Redster GS RS's and the 2019 Head i.Speed GS Cheater 17's; groomers mostly, some bumps; big crowd; Team Summit Masters - GS on Richtor; skied horribly.

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Day 74 - Keystone

Out 8:30 to 3:00 with a long lunch in the car; warm and sunny with little to no wind, temps started right at freezing and ended in the forties; 19 runs; 29,798 vertical; skied the 2015 Volkl RaceTiger SL World Cups and the Blizzard Brahma #2's; groomers, many very firm; not much of a crowd; Team Summit Masters - SL on Richtor; first fall of the season today - lost a ski when hooked a gate - went down hard, face first.

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Day 73 - Keystone

Out 8:30 to 3:00 with a long lunch in the car; warm and sunny with little to no wind, temps started in the teens and ended in the forties; 20 runs; 31,520 vertical; skied the Atomic Redster G9 RS's and the Blizzard Bonafides; groomers, many very firm; not much of a crowd; Team Summit Masters - GS on Richtor;

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Day 65 - Breckenridge

Out 8:30 to 10:30 without a break; clear, cool and a little bit of wind, 5° in the parking lot this am, around 20° when I left; 13 runs 14,166 vertical; skied the Blizzrd Bonafides; groomers, old snow and steeps; not too many people - never a lift line anywhere; wanted to ski Peak 6, but I circled the Freedom Superchair 4 times waiting for Zendo to open to no avail; so I got mad, did both sides of Imperial Ridge on Peak 8 and went home.

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Day 62 - Keystone

Out 8:30 to 2:00 with warmup and lunch breaks in the car; clear and very cold with no wind, -17° in the parking lot this morning and 9° when I left; skied the 2015 Volkl RaceTiger SL World Cups and the Volkl M5 Mantras; 17 runs, 27,964 vertical; nobody else was out; groomers, bumps and trees; finally made it to The Outback and did The Grizz, Pika Glades and Timberwolf; did Geronimo, Bullet and a couple down Starfire on North Peak too; the flatter stuff on The Outback had much better snow - Timberwolf was fantastic; Life Flight helicopter landing.

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Day 61 - Keystone

Out 8:30 to 2:15 with lunch in the car to change skis; 3" new snow overnight - cold, still and foggy this morning - temps in the low single digits all day - on and off fine snow throughout the day; 22 runs; 20,718 vertical; skied the Atomic Redster G9 RS's and the Nordica Enforcer 88's; groomers mostly; very few people; Team Summit Masters - short GS course on I-70; Jackwacker was sublime.

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Day 58 - Keystone

Out 8:30 to 12:00 no break; clear and relatively calm with temps rising through the teens; 13 runs; 7,505 vertical; skied the Atomic Redster G9 RS's; groomers; big weekend crowd; Team Summit Masters - short GS on I-70; stay low thru transition - do not pop up at all; didn't ski particularly well today; the list: low centered transition - rollup to forward pressure on outside ski with an active inside leg - diciplined upper body (forward and straight - don't twist) - clean entry (don't twist the lower body or start the turn too early or drift the tips into the fall line or ...) - feet out from under the body as soon as possible at the top - square with head, shoulders and hips in front of the feet out beyond the rise line at the apex - then attack the gate from outside the rise line.

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Day 57 - Keystone

Out 8:30 to a little after 2:00 with lunch in the car; very clear and very cold with a little wind; -7° in the parking lot this morning and -9° when I left; 26 runs; 22,759 vertical; skied the Atomic Redster G9 RS's and the Nordica Enforcer 88's; some good groomers and some very firm ones too; Team Summit Masters - short GS course on I-70; 3 runs through doing the Schlopy Drill and then 10 more full speed; skiing okay; finally got back to North Peak - a few down Starfire and finished with Starfire-Black Hawk; the bottom pitch on Wild Irishman on the way home was treacherous - people walking out the bottom.



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Day 55 - Keystone

Out 8:30 to noon with no break; clear, cold and calm; -7° in the lot this morning, 0° at noon; 13 runs; 11,889 vertical; skied the 2015 Volkl RaceTiger SL World Cups; packed powder; very few people today; Team Summit Masters - 10 runs through a 30 gate SL course on I-70; much better hand and body discipline today - it made the combinations much easier, that's huge; after a review of the video, not much change time wise - still around 10 or 11% slower than Matt.



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Day 54 - Keystone

Out 8:30 to 11:45 with no break; overnight snow ended by 10 o'clock giving us an inch or so - windy and cold too - temps only in the low teens; 12 runs, 7,067 vertical; skied the 2015 Volkl RaceTiger SL World Cups; super soft packed powder; a few people at Peru at the opening bell, but otherwise empty; Team Summit Masters - SL drills on I-70 lapping the A-51 double; completely revamping my SL skiing... hands up, level and square keeping the upper body directly down the corridor never reaching to cross-block - do not let one hand get in front of the other - and as always, forward.

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