Saturday, November 16, 2013

2013-2014 Ski Season Plans

2012-2013 Recap

Some folks have already been up to the hills this year, not me, not yet.  Early in the season we spend most weekends with gymnastic meets and prepping for the holiday season.  I'll always try to get out for a few days before the new year; however, I've always thought that the ski season in Colorado is best thought of as lasting from Jan. 1st through June 1st.  2012/2013 was a good year, with an epic trip to Jackson Hole and a 18" powder day there, a spring skiing trip with the family thwarted by Grady getting pneumonia but still having fun up in Breck, and an epic day on North Maroon capping it all off.

2013-2014 Plans

With that being said it's time for the annual laying out of the plans for 2013/2014, these days talking about skiing must be fun because it's about a 10-1 ratio to actual skiing.

  • Getting season passes and season rentals for Bella and Grady to Loveland, with a great deal at Sports Authority.
  • Becky and I will get a few 4 packs and we'll do most if not all of our family skiing at Loveland.
  • Phoebe will continue her quest to learn how to ski.  Still not going to plan any large family ski trips until she gets to the point where she can ski green\blues top to bottom with no problems, still too much work with her.  She'll get there, hopefully this year.  We are hoping to get about 6-8 days in at Loveland this year.
  • In the backcountry hoping to get out for a few days at Berthoud Pass with Mike, always a good time, but less and less opportunities as the years roll by.
  • A winter camping\ski trip could be fun, either in the backcountry or something like we did at Jackson last year, a weekend away with the boys just skiing at a resort.
  • For the spring ski season, continuing on the 14er theme some trips on the short list are the Blanca group, the Eolus group, and Mount Sneffles.  Also, Mount Cameron is on the list now, as a nice trip close by to attempt one of the unofficial peaks.
  • For some of the non-14ers, I'd like to try Mount Flora, Apache, or Navajo in the Indian Peaks. Around summit\clear creek county, Peak 1, snikatau, or citadel are some noble peaks that I've yet to explore.  

Here's to a great and safe 2013/2014 ski season!


Thursday, September 26, 2013

Football penalties and Zeno's paradox

Zeno's paradox was framed in the context of Achille's racing a tortoise, giving the tortoise a small head start, Achille's will never catch the tortoise because he has to travel 1/2 the way to where the tortoise is currently, and then 1/4 to get halfway to the halfway point, 1/8, 1/16, 1/32, 1/64, etc.  So there's an infinite set of steps that Achille's must accomplish in order to just reach the halfway point so he'll never get there.

Similarly, in football, a team holding a lead would be wise to continually commit penalties against the offense, allowing the offense to move 1/2 the distance to the goal ad infinitum, and thus never allowing the offensive team to score, preserving the lead and eventually winning the game.

Monday, May 20, 2013

Kit Carson Ski

The interminably long pursuit of skiing the 14ers continues with a ski of Kit Carson peak, of special note for this climb and ski was the company of Bill Middlebrook of 14ers.com fame, and another board member Otina.  It was cool to get out and ski with some new people so I wrote a little TR about it.
http://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=13495