Scottish Lakes

We had three bluebird days with friends at Scottish Lakes High Camp near Leavenworth. The skiing wasn't awesome, but we had a fun time turning in the sun anyway. And of course, we enjoyed eating, drinking, and hanging out with great friends in a quiet, beautiful spot.

B coming up the rise

Brandon & Ed, the explorers

Crossing Lake Julius with a polar bear (okay, just a huge dog)

Melissa & Winders

Julie, Ed, & Chinook the polar bear

Under much pressure from the hagglers in the crowd,

Ed pulled a back-flip...

even if he landed on his head (ouch!).

Upper High Meadows area

...going up Mt. Baldy

Ed near the top

An unnamed peak Ed & Brandon enjoyed

some nice tracks...

a few more...

an unnamed peak...to be skiied next year?

this hill, our last run of the trip, turned out to be the best...

Ed & Julie, Brandon & Heather, Melissa & Jeremy
and the pups Winders and Chinook

Ski 1000!

I wish I had several pictures documenting Brandon's efforts to achieve the goal of skinning & skiing 1000 feet vertical every day in the month of January, but my words will have to suffice...so, picture this:

Brandon skinned and skiied in the worst conditions I have ever seen, including rain, dense fog, crunchy ice, freezing rain chunks, and ice-rink ice. You might notice the absence of 'snow' in that list of conditions. Sometimes, he would complete one up-&-down lap at 11:30pm and then complete another lap just after midnight, fulfilling the 'daily' part of the goal.

When January 31 rolled around, Brandon turned to me and said "Maybe I'll continue this goal into February." (Sigh). Let's just say that I was quite glad when he didn't go up the next day...but I am proud of him for persevering with the Ski 1000 goal!