Trip Review

Jerry, Mike, Piet

Jerry, Mike, Piet, Brian, Dave, Marc

Denkers cabin was a defining moment in Add A Man history. Situated half way up Alta mountain, Steve Denkers hauled us up the mountain in a big ol' Sno Cat and dropped us off. He had stocked the cabin with food and drink beforehand, so we were on our own. We didn't interface with the rest of society for days.

From the cabin we could see the Supreme lift start in the morning, so we knew when it was time to ski down to get a lift ticket. That was our only contact with the outside world.  We even ate lunch at the cabin. It was great being able to disrobe in the middle of the day and make clothing adjustments. We skied where no one else was skiing. And at the end of the day, we'd have our cocktails outside the cabin. We'd reminisce about the day's activities and watch day turn to night. It would get real quite.

We had fresh snow every day, all day. And none of that sticky stuff either. Huge flakes that were lighter than air. By far the best snow conditions of any Add A Man trip. We watched ski videos for breakfast, lunch and dinner. In addition to the Warren Miller stuff, we were watching these mind, body as one, Zen type, transcendental meditation, you too can be a better skier videos. We were totally immersed in skiing.

The best video moment in Add A Man History occurred when Mo' Ron landed in a tree, after getting a little bit out of control. The video started with Mo' Ron up in the tree. As he turned around to say, 'turn that damn camera off!', the branch he was hanging on broke, and he came tumbling down. Several of us were laying on the side of the mountain (almost standing up, it was so steep). The scene closed with us laughing hysterically.

The funniest part of the trip not on tape was getting Brian down the mountain on the last day. His flight left early so we had to get him down the mountain without the benefit of the Sno Cat. Here's six of us coming done the mountain on skis, each carrying a piece of Brian's luggage. The funny part was watching him trying to get all of it up the last hill he needed to climb to get to the road.

The cabin has fallen into disrepair in recent years. It's got to be tough maintaining a place like that. Digging out of several feet of snow each year has got to get old. The plumbing was such that we did what we could outside. Probably not suited for females. And there certainly wasn't a hot tub in sight. Anyway, as you ride the Supreme lift at Alta, look to your left and you will see some small cabins in the trees. The a-frame with the blue, metal roof is Denkers cabin. It's a heck of a place.

Trip Coordinator: Piet

Jerry, Mike, Piet, Brian, Dave, Marc

Trip Coordinator: Mike

Jerry, Mike, Piet, Brian, Dave, Marc, Dale, Gary

The video for the trip didn't get edited until 2002. And that's a good thing. Ya see, there was this rock. Nice air, soft snow in the landing area. Flaps and Doc Air both had nice jumps. Brian went off to the side. Chicken? Yes, but perhaps wiser would be a better word. Then it was Mo'Ron's turn. After a bit of fidgeting Mo'Ron was in the chute and ready to jump. That's where this video clip picks up. It speaks for itself. In fact it speaks with profanity, so send the children out of the room.

Trip Coordinator: Jerry

Jerry, Mike, Piet, Brian, Dave, Marc, Dale, Gary, Tim

Trip Coordinator: Dale

Jerry, Mike, Piet, Brian, Marc, Dale, Gary, Smitty, Ted

Ted's Condo, Summit Co., Colorado, January 1994

Trip Coordinator: Marc

Jerry, Mike, Piet, Dave, Marc, Dale, Smitty, Ted, JR

Trip Coordinator: Piet

Mike, Piet, Brian, Dave, Marc, Dale, Gary, Smitty, Ted, Jim, Steve

We were standing in the Crystal Springs lift line when we overheard someone ask for a weather forecast. 'Clear and Still' was the response. We thought that was odd, since it was snowing better than an inch an hour with gusty winds. 'Clear up to my ass and still coming down!' was the follow up. That pretty well sums up this years trip to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. We skied in fresh powder every day, and each day was better than the previous.

Trip Coordinator: Dave

Jerry, Mike, Piet, Brian, Dave, Marc, Dale, Smitty, Ted, Jim, Steve

The best thing about Steamboat was the place we stayed at. And the fact that Steve made all the arrangements, couldn't make the trip at the last minute and paid for everything. I'm still trying to figure that one out.

Trip Coordinator: Steve

Jerry, Mike, Piet, Brian, Dave, Marc, Smitty, Ted, JR

Telluride marked the emergence of Jimo as leader, team Zulu. It went straight to his head. He caught the big air when he shouldn't have and paid for it. Video tape of the the results. Classic.

Didn't get any snow while we were there and there wasn't all that much when we got there. Telluride is good for a day, day and a half of skiing, not four.

Trip Coordinator: Brian

Jerry, Mike, Piet, Brian, Dave, Marc, Dale, Smitty, Ted, JR, Jim, Steve, Sid

11 feet of snow the week before we got there helped to make this year's trips one of the best. Look here for the complete story.

Trip Coordinator: Piet

Mike, Piet, Brian, Dave, Marc, Dale, Gary, Smitty, Ted, Jim, Steve, Jeff

Jackson Hole is great! What an awesome place to ski. Much needed snow came just before we got there, but no new snow while we were there. Skied better than 20,000 feet of vertical every day (this year's new toy). No video this year, but here's some pics.

Trip Coordinator: Mike

Mike, Piet, Brian, Dave, Marc, Smitty, Ted, JR, Steve, Jeff, Chad

Nothing like free rent to bring out the largest group yet. Ted's condo in Eden provided top notch accommodations. In anticipation of the Olympics in 2002, we came out to see how they've fixed up the place. The lifts were great, but they sure had a long way to go to finish up the lodging.

Powder Mountain and Snowbasin were previously unknown and both were pleasant surprises. Powder Mountain had a very local feel to it and a lot of untracked tree skiing. Snowbasin was getting ready to host the men's downhill and we took the new tram to the top of the downhill course. Hopefully the Olympic athletes won't have the same 60 mph winds pelting ice crystals at their bodies like a sand blaster.

We were all set to make the condo a regular stop on the tour until we were implicated in some damage that occurred at the condo. We are saddened by the damage and certainly don't want to make light of the situation, but as Brian might say, "We had nuttin' to do with it."

Trip Coordinator: Ted

Mike, Piet, Brian, Dave, Marc, Dale, Smitty, Ted, JR, Jim, Steve, Sid, Chad, Brad, Frank

JR got in trouble before we left by renting two small units instead of one large unit. Two small A-frames units at the Douglas Fir resort in Bamphfff. Turns out we could comfortably serve dinner for nine, as long as someone didn't mind sitting on the staircase. Facilities were great. Two hot tubs, sauna, steam room, gym, and a water slide! What a hoot!

Sid corrected last years violation of Add A Man Bylaws (Article 8,Section 1, Sub Paragraph 2) by dying his yellow jacket black in the off season. A good old fashion box of Rit Dye and Sid was looking good on the slopes once again.

The scenic grandeur is reminiscent of the Grand Tetons only more extreme. Tree line was several hundred feet lower than we are use to. Rocky, saw tooth peaks were common. The skiing was extreme, but there wasn't much snow. We skied the Ptarmigan and Larch lifts all day at Lake Louise because it was too cold to go elsewhere. Sunshine Village was much better after receiving 8 cm of snow our last day. The gem of the trip was a new resort called Kicking Horse. Small and still under development, it was a one lift resort the day we skied it. A gondola all the way to the top makes for an comfortable ride on a cold day. Top to bottom skiing over 4000 feet of vertical makes for a real trip coming down. Snow conditions changed three times on the way down. The tram at Jackson Hole covers a similar vertical height.

Group consensus was that it would be better to ski here in April, when it is warmer and there's more snow. In fact it would be an awesome place to ski if it was warmer and there was more snow.

Post trip update: A huge dump of snow the next week corrected any and all problems related to snow. Frank summed it up best: 'It appears we all went prematurely, eh?'

Trip Coordinator: JR

Mike, Piet, Dave, Marc, Smitty, Ted, JR, Sid, Frank

With probably the finest accommodations to date, Smitty took good care of us this year.  And boy did we pay for it! $71 for a lift ticket! The condo was in Arrowhead Village at Beaver Creek, right next to the Arrow Baun express lift. The on-site hot tub was an unexpected surprise. Onyx bed posts, separate bathrooms for each bedroom, and a lot of stuff we didn't fully appreciate. We did fully appreciate the totally equipped home entertainment center, with in the wall speakers all over the great room. The video and tunes were extra nice. But enough about the amenities, On to the skiing.

Colorado got dumped on in November, but hasn't had much snow since. Fortunately it had stayed cold, so the snow stayed soft. We skied Arapahoe Basin on our way in from Denver. The Lenawee lift had just been updated, but flat light conditions prevented us from skiing the top of the mountain. The lack of snow made it tough to have fun under the Palivacinni lift. Not a great afternoon of skiing, but it was nice to ski A-basin again.

Friday we skied Vail. Since the last time we were there, Blue Sky Basin has opened. It offers tree skiing that even team Zulu could enjoy. It was a warm, sunny day. We ate lunch outside, which is always a good thing.  We found soft packed snow in the morning and by afternoon the sun had turned most everything mushy and moist. Thanks to Ted, we have a detailed account of Fridays skiing activity.

All in all, it was a very good day of skiing. In addition to all the vertical, there was a lot of horizontal. Catwalks and traversing are required to get around Vail. At the end of the day we ended up skiing a total of 26,895 feet of vertical. Marc's altitude measuring device showed 27,000 feet at the end of the day, so the estimates are fairly accurate. That would be like skiing Boyne Mountain, Michigan, top to bottom, 54 times in a day.

Saturday, we paid for the warm sun the day before. Beaver Creek was icy in the morning. Being able to ski down to the lift from the condo sure was nice. Easy way to start the day. From the condo we took the Arrow Baun Express to get to Bachelor Gulch, where there is the very impressive Ritz-Carlton hotel surrounding the Bachelor Gulch Express lift. From the top of the Bachelor Gulch Express lift it was a traverse to get to Beaver Creek Village.  Finally, Centennial Express lift got us up to where we skied all day. The Birds of Prey Express lift takes you to the highest point of Beaver Creek, or you can ski down a bit to the Grouse Mountain Express lift. This is where we found the steepest skiing of the trip. The skiing didn't get good until just before lunch. The sun of the new day softened the snow once more. Something we wouldn't see again.

Sunday we were back at Vail under completely different circumstances. It started out icy and stayed that way. Sun in the morning led to clouds in the afternoon. By mid afternoon it started to snow. Too late to help conditions, so we quit a little early to shop. The snow was coming down in Vail Village just like it shows in the brochure. Far different than the 50 degrees and sunny we had two days before. We ended our stay in Vail with a delicious malt beverage at Los Amigos.

Monday we woke to fresh snow. 8 inches of some fairly decent pow pow. We couldn't wait for the lift to open so Bubba drove us up the road as high as he could get us. We all had our first runs down in untracked, boot top powder. From there we proceeded to ski our asses off. We spent the entire time on the Arrow Baun Express lift. A bunch of blue runs underneath. Nothing we cared to ski on Saturday. Absolutely perfect on a powder day. By 11:30 Marc measured 17,000 in vertical, the snow was used up, and it was time to go home. What a way to end the trip!

Trip Coordinator: Smitty

Mike, Piet, Brian, Dave, Marc, Smitty, Ted, JR, Bubba

Add A Man 2004 started where any trip to Tahoe should start, at beautiful Mt. Rose. Conveniently located close to the airport and on the way, it's a great stop for a half a day of skiing. We stayed in South Lake Tahoe this year, that's where everybody stays.

Friday we started at Heavenly, but high winds left key features of Heavenly closed, so we headed out to Kirkwood. The Cornice chair is a high speed quad that gets you up quickly to a variety of choices, all black runs. In fact, Kirkwood is mostly all black runs. Second to that would be the double black diamonds. Anyway, from the Cornice lift you can ski both sides of the peak and can traverse in either direction to bowls with numerous options to get down. All trails lead back to the Cornice lift. Winds were high and visibility was low, so we really didn't get to see much more of the mountain than this.

Kirkwood
Bottom of Sunrise Lift

Because of a brilliant marketing strategy to offer $20 off a second day ticket, we returned to Kirkwood on Saturday. Good weather allowed us to ski more of the mountain. In fact, good weather allowed us to actually see the mountain. The #10 chair, The Wall takes you to the most difficult skiing Kirkwood has to offer. What was a slow ride in the wind yesterday, was no problem today. Some of the best snow we found was way over on the Sunrise lift. A long cornice, aptly named The Wave, provided a variety of sphincter settings for entry. Below that was blue run skiing in the trees. We had lunch at the base of Sunrise.

All in all, Kirkwood was tough, but not extreme. In fairness, we didn't have the best snow conditions; plentiful, but old. On a powder day, you could probably make fresh tracks most of the day.

On Superbowl Sunday we got back to Heavenly. Our first destination was Mott Canyon, for some of the most extreme skiing of the trip. Steep and and in the trees. Next to Mott Canyon is Killebrew Canyon. Similar terrain, but it is an extra traverse to get to and a treacherous catwalk coming back. We also found some good snow in the trees off the Comet Express lift.

After lunch, we headed back to Mott Canyon for what will become a memorable moment in Add A Man history. Ted Ray, Blowout and Bubba were coming down Widowmaker, probably the easiest way down Mott Canyon. Steep, but a fairly wide chute, plenty of room to make some turns. Ted Ray and Blowout were part way down. Bubba had run into a little trouble and was still at the top of the chute. On his first turn, he had a premature binding release and lost a ski. As he began to fall, he firmly planted his remaining ski below himself, in an effort to regain control. That binding also released, probably not prematurely. His last, final, desperate attempt to stop was with his poles. The straps were ripped from his wrists. Bubba was now in free fall. By the time he got down to Ted Ray and Blowout, Bubba had quit tumbling and was mostly sitting up, with his feet below him. He was stable, but still falling fast. Breathing was difficult with all the snow being kicked up, but it's best to just ride it out. The only thing keeping Bubba from accelerating at 9.8 m/sec/sec was the energy consumed taking the top off every mogul on the way down. Towards the bottom it gets less steep and Bubba started sliding more than bouncing.  Finally, Bubba came to a stop.

From this point forward, any fall that begins on the first turn of a run, and doesn't end until some time later, will be known as a Rode.

Monday was our final day. So we packed up and headed to Reno by way of Squaw Valley. It was starting to snow on our trip up the west side of Lake Tahoe. While getting lift tickets we could see that much of the mountain was closed because of the worsening conditions. The first few runs weren't much fun. Cold, windy chair lift rides going up. Poor visibility and tough conditions coming down. And by afternoon, we had ourselves a powder day!

It wasn't the champagne powder of Utah, but any time you feel snow bouncing off your knees, it's a good thing. The Red Dog lift had some great skiing in the trees. The top of KT-22 was out in the open. And it was all good. It was snowing so hard at the top of the Exhibition lift that our tracks were covered each time up the lift. We didn't ski much of Squaw this day, but we had great snow everywhere we did ski. Powder days are a rare treat and we appreciate them more than ever. We'll register this one in the 12-16 inch range.

This year's added men were Mitch and Yancy. Mitch help get us around and was a gambling companion for Ron-Mike on those 4:30am runs to the casino. JR's son Yancy is the first snow boarder we've allowed on an Add A Man trip. Outside of that, he was a fine young man and is welcome back any time. I think Ted said it best in his post kabizzel e-mail fastivel.

From: tedkosik
Date: Fri Feb 6, 2004  11:27:26  AM America/Detroit
To: Add A Man
Subject: Re: Roy
Attachments: There are 2 attachments


Hello Robin !

I am down with Yancy. That Negga never blasted no caps in my ass. Shi, MaFaaka, Yancy is money.
i just wish that negga could snowboard faster so we could have hungout on the mountain more.  word.

o yea. he has excellent spittle too !   mmmm , cherry....

peace ya'all
-Biggie T

Trip Coordinator: Dave

Mike, Piet, Dave, Marc, Smitty, Ted, JR, Frank, Bubba, Mitch, Yancy

Alta has put in a high speed lift that replaces the old Collins and Germania lifts. The new Collins Lift has mid-mountain loading and unloading, then takes a left turn and end up right where the old Germaina lift ended. Snowbird was not crowded the Sunday we skied there, a pleasant surprize for us. Bad business for them. Since our last time there, Mineral Basin has opened. Accessible from the Tram or the Little Cloud lift, Mineral Basin is a bowl serviced by two lifts, with runs ranging from green to double black.

We weren't in need of snow but we were certainly in need of fresh snow. JR and Yancy got to ski in about 6 inches of fresh snow on Thursday, but there wasn't much left for the afternoon skiers. That was it, no freshies this year.

As a new piece of information, I'm adding the cost of lift tickets. Alta $47, Solitude $47, Snowbird $47 + $10 for the tram.

Trip Coordinator: Mike and Piet

Mike, Piet, Dave, Marc, Smitty, Ted, JR, Steve, Bubba, Mitch, Yancy, Jon

I remember seeing Ted's new place and that we had an awesome morning of powder one day. And Odie, the new guy, set up the trip and broke his arm and couldn't make it. But that's about it. I'm not too sure of the attendees either. Any help?

Trip Coordinator: Jon

Mike, Piet, Dave, Marc, Smitty, Ted, JR, Steve, Bubba, Mitch

It didn't suck. This year marked an all-time low in snow cover, replacing Telluride in 1998. We were ready for it. No snow was being reported and nothing new in the forecast. And there weren't any surprises. But, it didn't suck.

Our first day was at Northstar-at-Tahoe, our first time at this resort. It sure looks cool from Google Earth. We started up the Big Springs Gondola, which only gets you to mid-mountain. You can also take the Village Express and get to the same place. So if the Gondola has a line take Village Express. All of the skiing is above this point. Our first run down was under the Comstock Express lift. It was fast, it was icy, it was groomed. And when we got to the bottom, we all looked at each other and said, 'that didn't suck'. Between Comstock and the Backside Express we skied a lot of vertical in a short amount of time. Skiing was pretty much limited to groomed runs, black and blue cruisers.

From the top of the Tahoe Zephyr Express, we took a poma lift across to the top of Lookout Mountain, a new addition to the resort. This would be great after a fresh dump of snow, but it was literally laughable when we saw all the rocks and small tree seedlings scattered on the run. When we saw it, we all laughed. Then we skied it anyway. It kinda sucked.

I don't do video very often so when I do I spend a lot of time researching the best way to get the video compressed and ready for the Internet. The MPEG-4 standard is new since the last time I worked with video. The result is a high quality image and a relatively small file size.

I thought I'd be doing the right thing by moving from the proprietary QuickTime format (.mov) to the ISO standard MPEG-4 (.mp4) format, but Microsoft has yet to incorporate it into Windows Media Player. So the umbilical chord to QuickTime Player remains. In my Internet travels I came upon VLC media player from videolan.org that seems to play just about anything (.wmv .mpg .mov .mp4 .flv). Windows, Mac and Linux versions available.

QuickTime has added the H.264 codec, superior to its H.263 and H.261 predecessors. If the MPEG-4 is good, H.264 is great. The quality of image is the best I've seen. Both MPEG-4 and H.264 offer significant advantages over prior versions. In addition, faster computers allow me to step up to the 640x480 window.

The original footage was 640x480 using the Photo JPEG codec. It looked good but consumed over 20MB. The 640x480 versions are around 2.5MB and still looks pretty good. The 320x240 versions are about 1.2MB and, well, they don't suck.

Available for your viewing pleasure is the view up Lookup Mountain from the chairlift. Your best chance on an older, slower computer would be the 320x240.mp4. If you have a faster computer, try the 640x480.mp4. If you have a newer version of QuickTime the 320x240.mov and 640x480.mov both use the H.264 codec. You may need to right-click and Save As with these links, particularly with the mp4. Most people haven't trained their browsers as to what to do with a .mp4 file.

At some point I need to trim back to one or two versions so let me know what works for you. And more importantly, what doesn't work. If you can't see it, it sucks, regardless of how good it looks to me.

Squaw Valley USA provided the mountain for us on the second day. And provide Chris, the new guy, with a little more than he bargined for. Chris was riding a ridge with a nifty chute on either side when he ran into a bit of trouble and stuck himself in the ribs with his ski pole. Spearing is a 5 minute major penalty in the Brighton hockey league, and even worse in Lake Tahoe. Seems that Chris was just getting started with trouble. As he fell above the two chutes, Mitch and Flaps were trying guess at which chute Chris and his bruised ribs was going to rocket down. Much to our surprise, he rode the top of that ridge, balanced between the two chutes. Now, we all need to visualize the topography that forms chutes... steep rock cliffs on both sides should come to view here... and Chris was heading for the cliff part of that topography.  Seems that this was auctually Chris's lucky day, as the ski patrol had left a bampoo pole with the words "Caution Cliff" at the top of the cliff. His body impacted the pole, you guessed it, right in the ribs. Chris hung on and used the pole as a braking device and managed to stop forward progress a couple feet short of the cliff. Yep, this was Chris's lucky day all right. The brown stains on the snow above the cliff were most impressive, and Mitch considers this one of his fondest memories as Chris is pushing him around at the gym.

The third day was supposed to be a Snowcat Ski Adventure in honor of our 20th year. The lack of snow put the kibosh on the idea. With substantial funds paid upfront, there was a tense period of negotiations to secure a refund. We decided worst case, we'd stock up on beer and make them drive us around town. Fortunately, for all parties concerned, it didn't come to that.

Alpine Meadows is not as large as the other resorts, but it was a good place to end the trip. By the slimmest of margins Alpine had the most snow. The Summit Six express gets a lot of people all the way to the top, but there are a fair number of older style chairs. The Scott Chair provided a higher than hell experience that I don't think anybody did twice. We were way too far above the ground. Dramatic view, but scary.

Another unique part of this day was an afternoon trip back to Sherwood, on the south side. There had been a fair amount of sun and that softened up Sherwood Run. These corn snow conditions are the easiest to ski, everybody looks good. And feels good too. Any attempt to venture off Sherwood Run however, resulted in rocks, lots and lots of rocks. But Sherwood Run was great.

So picture this, a warm sunny day, everybody skiing on soft corn snow. The last skier down carves the last grooves in the soft snow. And tonight it will freeze solid. By tomorrow morning, California Concrete. It looks so inviting, but you'd be better off with a pair of ice skates. Solid as a rock until the next warm sunny day, or the next dump of snow. 

Tickets: $69 at Northstar and Squaw, $46 at Alpine. And we never once waited in line for a lift.

Piet, Dave, Marc, Smitty, Ted, JR, Steve, Bubba, Mitch, Christian, Tim, Chris