Lookout!

<-- One of only four lousy pictures I was able to take before my frozen batteries croaked. I have buy a camera that actually works in the cold. One of these days, I'm going to lose my senses and a Canon 20D is going to come home with me...

Skied to the fire lookout across from Mt. Spookaloo yesterday, which is somewhere in the neighborhood of 5400' elevation. This picture is looking down the bowl to the south where people who have learned to tele tear up some turns. I think I skied right about 2000' vertical by the time it was al said and done yesterday. It was tough to tell from the altimeter because a high pressure front was moving in. My altimeter indicated I was descending while I was going uphill. Talk about bruising my fragile ego...

Tried some tele turns on the way back to the lodge. Holy crap Batman! The Atomics turn so damned fast it's scary. They turn faster than my Atomic downhills - which have more sidecut and are the same length (190). I wasn't even making bunny hill speeds and the turn rate was amazing. The super-sidecut skis are almost too much of a good thing.
The really good news is that the Black Diamond kicker skins I bought worked very well. You can't ski straight up steep inclines, but they're not supposed to let you do that anyway. Aside from the gay, post-modern leopard skin print on the bottom, I'm very happy with them. Now I can have skins with me on short day outings without the bulk and weight of full-length skins. The kickers are about 1/3 the weight and bulk of full-length skins.