Counting the Days... And a Weasel.

Last ski season, I think I got in about 25 days. Mostly at Copper and Aspen area, with a few days at Winter Park and Crested Butte.

After next Monday, I will have 14 days. I'm trying to do the math. Am I on track for another 25 days? I think that 25 days is respectable, what with a full time job, graduate courses, a flock of chickens to which to tend, and an otherwise booming (maybe a step below booming) social life. Right?

These are my ski days so far this year. I'm very excited about visiting Scott in Alta, UT this weekend for a 3-day powderfest.

1. Copper 12/6/08
2. Winter Park 12/14/08
3. Snowmass 12/25/08
4. Copper 12/27/08
5. Copper 1/3/09
6. Copper 1/4/09
7. Copper 1/11/09
8. Snowmass 1/17/09
9. Copper 1/25/09
10. Snowmass 2/7/09
11. Highlands 2/8/09
12. 13. 14. Alta woohoo

Why Copper so much, you ask? Because it's an all around good time, you can ski the entire mountain for days on end and be constantly entertained, there are challenging big mountain runs, powder stashes and endless bump runs, and you know there's more to discover, you just need to hike a little longer. And it seems to weed out some of the Front Range crows.

We skied Aspen last weekend, no new snow (the reported snow was delayed every day for 4 days, and it finally started snowing at 2 p.m. on Sunday), but we were able to find some pretty fun runs up high, and hidden powder in the trees. We hiked the Highlands Bowl on Sunday. A 45 minute hike and the best run of the day. We hiked up the top of that ridge in the picture above (from much further below), and skied down on skier's right, to the left. These pictures come up dark, which is frustrating.

But the BEST PART OF THE WEEKEND was our encounter with a very special mountain species I'd like to call the long-tailed weasel, or ermine. Wildlife biologists also call it that. Steve and I were skiing down the the Hanging Valley headwall on Snowmass (sidenote - I measured the slope angle of the run with my trusty iPhone, which was about 48 degrees) and got down to a wooded area. Suddenly, Waldo the long-tailed weasel, or ermine, comes flying out of a tree bank and across the slope headed for a another tree. But wait! He has a prisoner! Waldo the long-tailed weasel, or ermine, was carrying a dead bird in its mouth to stash away! But who are those fools lurking in the background? Waldo the long-tailed weasel, or ermine, is scared. He freezes. Intruders! How dare they enter my dead-bird lair! He races back to the tree bank, but No! Waldo the long-tailed weasel, or ermine, drops his bird! He must retrieve it! And before those dirty scoundrels have restored by peace with their departure! Ah ha, not too fast, Waldo the long-tailed weasel, or ermine, we thought. We knew he was hiding in the bank, and needed to get his bird back. But we wanted some free wildlife entertainment. So we skied slowly to the tree, and just waited quietly. After 30 seconds, Waldo the long-tailed weasel, or ermine, pokes his head out on each side of the tree, frenetically, as if resigning to the fact that we are there, and mustering up his speed to reclaim his fowl and be on his way. He creeps toward us, then jets away, creeps toward us, then jets away again. I'm loving this. Not to demean Waldo the long-tailed weasel, or ermine, but he's very cute. And spry. So finally he shoots back toward his bird, and picks it up, and drops it in his hole, wherever that may be. And he emerges from the tree bank again, birdless, and ran back up the hill. It was very exciting.

The picture is what he (or she, I guess) looked like. At first, we thought it was a ferret, but at lunch, we couldn't find anything about a ferret of that coloring on the internet (courtesy of iPhones). Then Steve thought it was perhaps a mink, so he googled Aspen mink. And of course, the first 100 google entries were advertisements for mink coats in Aspen. Then, we visited the Wapiti Wildlife Center at the top of Elk Camp (which I would highly recommend, next time you're skiing snowmass - awesome wildlife info), and discovered that it was a long-tailed weasel, or ermine. My next post is going to be about the long-tailed weasel, or ermine. And I'd like to give a big shout out to Waldo, long-tailed weasel, or ermine.