2009 Mothers Day Weekend Trip Report!!!!

Meet 9 AM in the cafeteria (right side, bar area). 

FYI - There's already a 9:30 at the Exhibition lift meet up planned on the Mother's Day weekend thread.  Holds for both Saturday and Sunday. 

Looks like some will meet at the bar and then get their butts out to the exhibition lift, eh?

Hope you have your sunscreen and sunglasses.  Its spring skiing at its finest at Abasin! 

Quote:

Originally Posted by mike_m 

Meet 9 AM in the cafeteria (right side, bar area). 

Quote:

Originally Posted by COSkiGirl 

FYI - There's already a 9:30 at the Exhibition lift meet up planned on the Mother's Day weekend thread.  Holds for both Saturday and Sunday. 

Yeah, it was killer out there.  Giant group of folks.  Sorry I bailed after a few runs.  Jeff Bergeron had Atomic double-deck skis that he was willing to share and he was also giving free ski lessons.  Couldn't pass that up and it was well worth it.  He provided the final piece of the puzzle for great skiing, I think.  Anyway, I just improved my skiing by about a million percent thanks to him.

Intriguing.

What was the final piece of the puzzle for you?  (may be best to reply in the technique forum)

Quote:

Originally Posted by sharpedges 

Intriguing.

 

What was the final piece of the puzzle for you?  (may be best to reply in the technique forum)

http://www.epicski.com/forum/thread/84043/i-finally-got-divergence-today#post_1099121
 

See you there at 9, Geib will be there. Today was Epic.  

Philplug I'll be there at 9am tomorrow morning. Sorry I missed you today. I ended up with Jeff Bergeron's group along with Geoffda, Mefree30, and John. I really enjoyed Jeffs instruction and am really impressed with the new Atomic Double Deck Race Skis. Jeff had both the new SL and GS models available to demo this morning. I own both the current model Atomic SL12PB/165 and GS12PB/175. I find the newer 09/10 Atomic Double Deck SLs/GSs a nice improvement. See you guys in the morning, James.

Nice to meet you guys (Matt, James, Jeff - I can't remember the others) today. I wish I had met you earlier in the season. I mainly ski during the week. Let me know when you can ski next week.

John (aka scutenski)

Scutenski, Welcome to EpicSki!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Philpug 

See you there at 9, Geib will be there. Today was Epic.  

Phil, rumour has it, you lined up some Kastle demos.  Do tell...

On the web cam, it looks like there is some action...lots of ez-ups!

We have a few pics, unfortunately with scattered wi-fi, we cannot post till we hit Denver on Sunday night, so will post them all at once. But we  had groups of 15-18 or so, it was a blast. Weems was skiing rings around the group, the 130 year old man kicked everyones asses and made us all wonder why we ever took up this silly sport. Weems is THE man. 

Colour me Green with envy... 

Another great day of skiing with a great group of Bears.  Today it was Weem's turn to make a much appreciated contribution to my skiing (with some assist from Chris Geib) which can be summed up by the following pithy quote: "Stand up and ski like a man!"  Thanks Weems!  I'll try to do just that!

Don't know if I'll be able to sneak out again tomorrow, so if not it was great skiing with you all.  Hope to do it again soon!

As geoffda stated another great day skiing with the Bears at A-basin. It was great to meet and ski with Weems, Philpug, Cgeib, Don Denver, COSkiGirl, and the rest of the very large, very fun Bear Gathering. Sorry my legs were toast around 2pm and I had to bail out. Thanks again, James.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JMD 

As geoffda stated another great day skiing with the Bears at A-basin. It was great to meet and ski with Weems, Philpug, Cgeib, Don Denver, COSkiGirl, and the rest of the very large, very fun Bear Gathering.

^^ Spot on James…a great Friday/Saturday ski with the Bears. 

I did manage to capture some fun turn sequences for Saturday that demonstrates the Weems verve coming down the hill as well as some other shots I’ll post up in a short.  I think you’ll agree his energy was very contagious…

Unfortunately we’ll miss Sunday, but certainly Betsy and I enjoyed meeting some new bears, the Philpug clan and turning with the regulars. 

Looks like you all needed to rest up, eh?

Again, I'm extremely bummed that I couldn't make this trip this year, but soooooo very happy that you are all out there enjoying some amazing spring skiing and great Bear vibes.

 *photo cred Jilly(SkiDiva) 

Quote:

Originally Posted by weems 

I don't know about rings and things.  I know that I got my own ass kicked by Griffen from Kastle yesterday.  So I remain unimpressed with my own skiing.

 

Weems- your skiing gave me a lot of encouragement coming off my own (less drastic) knee surgery...I hope I never need my entire knee to be replaced, but seeing you ski lets me know that it is still possible to ski at a very high level if I do.'
 

Liked JMD & Geoffda, sorry I bailed on the group, but Jeff Bergeron fitted me for boots and footbeds this season, so I thought it made sense for him to see me ski in them...

Looks like some low visibility conditions today, but I might make it out with my 5 year old for some slow speed turns if she chooses skiing over the pool.  If not, for those who will be around this week, I will likely make it out at least one day.

Matt

Just got to the base, snow last night. 3" here and much more up top. 

Saturday at mid mountain found some bears lounging in the sun sporting some “life is better skiing” smiles …L2r;  cgeib, weems, Betsy and Tsavo:

So here I point out the lunch secret that keeps cgeib skiing so superbly :

…more smiles that reflected the skiing, conditions and great company:

But Weems…wait a second…all I said was can anyone really expect any great breakthroughs in their skiing down the line…

...so just how many more lashes from that pole do I get???

[some fun skiing sequence posted in a short..]

Quote:

Originally Posted by weems 

 

The snow was spring snow:  everything.  We skied some really fun "ugly" snow, some super corny groomers, some nasty Pallivacini bumps, and some sweet ones as well.

 

Arapahoe in the spring is just magic...

 

 

The pictures don't convey some of the "nasty" Weem’s referenced that the Pali bumps presented underfoot Saturday…hard and scratchy uptop; but wow…did he ever dance right over them with a real verve in his step. 

Betsy and cgeib wait their turn above as they watch weems launch and demonstrate his fun.  He seems to always find ways to kick it fresh all the way down and I think you’ll see that in this sequence.  And that’s the contagious stuff…you want to follow his lead:

…and he kept going and going faster down the run...still finding ways to kick off now and then :

Betsy heads down to the weems perch below:

cgeib rips down :

Chris can really smooth anything out…fun stuff to watch  as both weems and Betsy gaze back up:

After a Weems exclamation of “keep turning!”…they finish out the long run:

Oh, so much fun here on Mothers Day....5" at the base and 8" up top an no one is here, we are making fresh tracks on the East  Wall. I have over 300 pics on the camera and will upload them tonight from the Country Inn & Suites in Denver. 

[...How to end the day?????]

Weems:  Okay Don…perhaps I was a bit hard on you today.  Let’s try this.  I want you to put your arms around me like this...

Don:  Say…this sounds like fun!

Weems:  Okay...so…hold on now…what I like to do is have you experience what I do while going down the slope…you know…kinda like jumping out of a plane sharing a parachute.

Don:   WHHATTT!!!  Are you kidding me??

Weems:  Nope!

Don:  Say Weems…why aren’t your skis on?

Weems:  We don’t need them.  Now quiet…focus with me here please…I’m going to take off really, really quickly…

Don:  ahhh...I don’t know about this.  This sure is a bit awkward…and I think it may look a bit odd from the lift don’t you think?

Weems:  No.  I do this all the time.  Okay, I’m going to commence my launch sequence…5..4..3..2..1…Blastoff! 

Don:  Holy CRAP you move Faaaassst…! 

James, when do you plan to ski next week? JOHN

Matt, The email address you gave me doesn't work. i plan to be at A-Basin at least 3 days this week....John

Glad you guys had a great day at at A-basin Sunday. Sorry I didn't make it. You guys wore me out Friday and Saturday. Really great to meet and ski with so many really fun Bears. scutenski I plan to be at A-Basin 9am each morning this week as the weather forcast calls for 6 days of Sunny days to follow. Geoffda usually joins me there. Matts Epic handle is MEfree30. He monitors this site regularly,or you can PM him. Hope to see you there this week.My Orange and Blue Helmet makes it very easy to spot me.(unlike Philpugs Banana outfit)

What a kick ass day today...until it got real sticky by 2:30. Besides that it was great, the East Wall was the best. Pics to come...honest.  

Welcome to EpicSki!!

with 5 posts you can use the PM feature to private message those you'd like to connect with.

If you're interested in getting some EpicSki Bears together at Abasin, feel free to start a thread in the Get Together forum.  Its a great way to connect with some great folks!! 

Quote:

Originally Posted by scutenski 

Matt, The email address you gave me doesn't work. i plan to be at A-Basin at least 3 days this week....John

please, please, PLEASE- let there be no cases in the OR tonight so I can get up there tomorrow.

(planning on getting to the A Frame around 9:30, but have to leave by 2 for an appointment in town at 3:30) Who will still be there? I spoke with Alta6 already. Weems? Jeff? Chris?