J.Spin
New member
February 12th was our first day back at Lost Trail after the big annual ski trip, so sadly it was back to skiing without the 311 boys. There was nothing extraordinary about the snow conditions to draw us to the hill, but as always, we wanted to get out with Ty and continue his weekly progression on skis. I had been nice and healthy during our big ski week in Utah and Montana, but now I had a bit of a head cold. I didn?t want to push myself too hard on the slopes, and since Ty was still at the stage of requiring a lot of effort from the person guiding him around the hill, E planned to do the skiing with Ty.
I dropped E and the boys off at the lodge, and while I went to park the car, they headed inside and ran into Raymond and his parents. Ty got distracted with Raymond for a bit (something about him wanting to show Raymond his Hot Wheels cars, while Raymond wanted to give him a hug). For whatever reason, but the time I got to the lodge Ty wasn?t quite feeling like he was ready to head out and ski. Therefore, I took the opportunity to head out for a couple of mellow cruising runs so I could at least stretch out my legs. I hit the usual easy cruising combination of Meadow Run/Far Out/Southern Comfort on my first run, and North Bowl on my second. The snow was just your basic packed powder, but it was still quite soft despite a lack of fresh snow. To amuse myself, I worked on ski weighting. I found that my turn radius could change substantially as I tested the continuum of weighting options between 100% outside ski, and 100% inside ski. After my two quick runs, I returned to the lodge to find that Ty was ready to hit the slopes with Mom, so out they went.
They headed up Chair 1 and took the North Bowl/Speedway combination. E worked on giving Ty as much slack as possible with the leash, but still found she had to hold him back a lot on the steep areas. They then continued their run down to Easy Street. The Easy Street route is rather flat, but I had suggested it to E because there hadn?t really been new snowfall. Based on what I?d experienced on my runs, I though Ty would be able to keep up his speed on the snow surface, but E said it was still a long slow trip with plenty of walking. From E?s account of the day, she pointed out three new things that she?d noticed in Ty?s ski progression. The first one came when they rode up to the top of Chair 3, and took the little connection trail over to Chair 5. This trail is very flat, so E put away the leash and taught Ty how to ?tuck?. It probably didn?t mean a lot to Ty since he didn?t notice a huge speed improvement on the extremely flat slope, nor had he yet seen the skiers tucking in the Olympic skiing on TV, but it sounds like he got the idea.
On Chair 5, E noticed the second new thing about Ty: he wanted to sit on the edge of the chair by himself without being held. E actually did keep a slight hold of him by using the handle of his lifter, but he either didn?t notice or was OK with that. On their next run they took the Raven trail, and E started out by letting Ty go without the leash. Unfortunately, he just wanted to straight line it, so E had to catch up to him, grab his lifter harness, and slow him back down. Since Ty didn?t feel like turning too much at the time, E returned to using the leash. E then thought of looking for a new trail that Ty could try, something that wouldn?t be TOO flat or require a lot of walking. I?d tried to ski Gunsmoke with Ty several weeks earlier, and found it to be either too steep for him, or too flat with the snow conditions that we had, but E decided to give it a shot. She took Ty down the Boomer trail, and then onto Gunsmoke. Ty must have been ready for it, because both he and Mom had such a great time that they skied it twice. E said that she did have to slow Ty down with the leash on the two steeper pitches. While they had to do a little walking in the flat areas on the first run, by the second run Ty was able to carry his speed from the steep sections to get him through the flats. Ty?s advancement in technique on Gunsmoke was the third new thing that E commented on at the end of the day.
On the way back to the lodge, E and Ty took the rope tow below Femur Ridge. E was using two hands to hold onto the rope, and Ty really didn?t like the way she had to support him with her legs. I?m not actually sure how it differs from my technique, except that I use just one hand on the rope. At the end of the day, Ty helped himself to his typical Lost Trail snack, but as usual it seemed like he?d earned it.
Since I was in the lodge with Dylan most of the day, I just got a couple of quick shots from the lodge area. They can be viewed at:
http://www.JandEproductions.com/2006/12FEB06.html
J.Spin
I dropped E and the boys off at the lodge, and while I went to park the car, they headed inside and ran into Raymond and his parents. Ty got distracted with Raymond for a bit (something about him wanting to show Raymond his Hot Wheels cars, while Raymond wanted to give him a hug). For whatever reason, but the time I got to the lodge Ty wasn?t quite feeling like he was ready to head out and ski. Therefore, I took the opportunity to head out for a couple of mellow cruising runs so I could at least stretch out my legs. I hit the usual easy cruising combination of Meadow Run/Far Out/Southern Comfort on my first run, and North Bowl on my second. The snow was just your basic packed powder, but it was still quite soft despite a lack of fresh snow. To amuse myself, I worked on ski weighting. I found that my turn radius could change substantially as I tested the continuum of weighting options between 100% outside ski, and 100% inside ski. After my two quick runs, I returned to the lodge to find that Ty was ready to hit the slopes with Mom, so out they went.
They headed up Chair 1 and took the North Bowl/Speedway combination. E worked on giving Ty as much slack as possible with the leash, but still found she had to hold him back a lot on the steep areas. They then continued their run down to Easy Street. The Easy Street route is rather flat, but I had suggested it to E because there hadn?t really been new snowfall. Based on what I?d experienced on my runs, I though Ty would be able to keep up his speed on the snow surface, but E said it was still a long slow trip with plenty of walking. From E?s account of the day, she pointed out three new things that she?d noticed in Ty?s ski progression. The first one came when they rode up to the top of Chair 3, and took the little connection trail over to Chair 5. This trail is very flat, so E put away the leash and taught Ty how to ?tuck?. It probably didn?t mean a lot to Ty since he didn?t notice a huge speed improvement on the extremely flat slope, nor had he yet seen the skiers tucking in the Olympic skiing on TV, but it sounds like he got the idea.
On Chair 5, E noticed the second new thing about Ty: he wanted to sit on the edge of the chair by himself without being held. E actually did keep a slight hold of him by using the handle of his lifter, but he either didn?t notice or was OK with that. On their next run they took the Raven trail, and E started out by letting Ty go without the leash. Unfortunately, he just wanted to straight line it, so E had to catch up to him, grab his lifter harness, and slow him back down. Since Ty didn?t feel like turning too much at the time, E returned to using the leash. E then thought of looking for a new trail that Ty could try, something that wouldn?t be TOO flat or require a lot of walking. I?d tried to ski Gunsmoke with Ty several weeks earlier, and found it to be either too steep for him, or too flat with the snow conditions that we had, but E decided to give it a shot. She took Ty down the Boomer trail, and then onto Gunsmoke. Ty must have been ready for it, because both he and Mom had such a great time that they skied it twice. E said that she did have to slow Ty down with the leash on the two steeper pitches. While they had to do a little walking in the flat areas on the first run, by the second run Ty was able to carry his speed from the steep sections to get him through the flats. Ty?s advancement in technique on Gunsmoke was the third new thing that E commented on at the end of the day.
On the way back to the lodge, E and Ty took the rope tow below Femur Ridge. E was using two hands to hold onto the rope, and Ty really didn?t like the way she had to support him with her legs. I?m not actually sure how it differs from my technique, except that I use just one hand on the rope. At the end of the day, Ty helped himself to his typical Lost Trail snack, but as usual it seemed like he?d earned it.
Since I was in the lodge with Dylan most of the day, I just got a couple of quick shots from the lodge area. They can be viewed at:
http://www.JandEproductions.com/2006/12FEB06.html
J.Spin