Cat skiing

I have a love hate relationship with cat skiing.  I've only done it twice, and I was excited to go both times, but maybe too excited.  Both times ended up being anti-climatic, hoping for the best skiing experience of my life, and being let down both times.  Probably due to the terrain, pitch, or whatever else that I haven't identified yet.  Maybe its due to not paying for it.  Or maybe is that I didn't have any say in the location, or date.  Whatever it is, it must be wrong, especially since I have more fun skiing Snowbird, even on a couple days after a storm.
Or maybe I'm just crazy.

Bootfitting theory

Spent yesterday with the Soze group (Conformable insoles and such) at a bootfitting seminar at PCMR, to learn how terrible my skiing was, and how its the fault of my boots.  So, now I'm just waiting on some tweaks on my boots to make me a pro skier.  Really, they had some cool and interesting ideas, and some really successful skiers are using these techniques to improve their skiing.  I scored some new footbeds with super high arches, but are flexible, so they allow foot and ankle movement, which is key to their theory.  I'll give them a try this week maybe.
While on the hill, I had a chance to take a few runs on the Coreupt Slasher, 112mm underfoot, tip rocker with twin tip at the tail.  It was great for the snow, which was packed powder (Utah style, not east coast style), with a few inches of dust on crust everywhere else.  Because of the standard camber underfoot, or even hyper-camber, the Slasher carved really well, about the same as a 90mm all mountain ski.  Still not an "all mountain" ski, but good enough for Snowbird all mountain during a good year, as this season has proved.  They skied well enough to want a pair, so I'll see what kind of deal I can strike up with Coreupt.  Oh, just one issue, that may or may not be an issue (if that makes sense): Off trail, I hit an ice chunk which stopped my left ski instantly.  Fortunately I was going slower, maybe 25-35mph, so my tumble back onto the groomed run wasn't too painful or scary.  Now, I don't know if a ski with more rise to the tip would have prevented this, but I gotta put it out there to be fair- for a rocker tip ski, its a little on the shallow side.  Other than that, I had a great time on the Coreupt Slasher, and didn't mind or care that it was made in China.

Parles vouz frances? Mmmm... No.

Yesterday I met the guys from Coreupt Skis again- Pierre, Grulain, a team manager, and Steve.  I had met Pierre and Grulain before, but this time it was after I realized what or who Grulain Chicerit was.  I met him in Munich at the ISPO show, and talked with him for 10 seconds.  Since then, he placed 3rd at Kirkwood FWT, after taking 4 years off skiing to drive rally cars.  So, he's pretty much a rad guy and I just thought he was some frenchie with enough cash to start his own ski company.  Well, its quite different than that.
Anyway, I got to see a couple new models, the Slasher and the Banger.  The Slasher could fill a spot in my quiver for next season, so maybe I'll get a pair if it skis well.  Monday or tuesday I'll get that chance.  It is basically the Born to Drop, but narrower.  It could be an everyday ski for snowbird on years like this one, where there is soft snow everyday.
I'll put up some info when I get a chance to make some turns with them.
Chao

Relatively Injury Free

Only a couple injuries this season, one of which is shown here, the other wasn't really visible.  Early season I went full speed with air into a scree field, with 1cm of snow on top of it.  Skis stopped instantly, and the ragdolling began.  I did about 3 or so, and ended up with either some intercostal bruising, or a cracked rib maybe.  The bloody finger was from trying to wiggle through a narrow chute with some saplings at the mouth that ended up being narrower than I was.  I sort of punched one with my hand, broke it in half, but got this weird blood blister.  I think I popped a bursa maybe.  My glove was full of blood, so I decided to end the ski day early.  What a wuss, eh?  Fortunately, the swelling is down by about 50% so that's good... three months later.
Looking forward to finishing out the season without any real injuries, since the two above don't really count.

Greg Stump

Growing up there was one ski movie that I watched over and over again, and left an impression on me, both in skiing style and lifestyle.  Didn't matter if it was the middle of a hot California summer, the VHS was slipped out of the cover autographed by Glen Plake, and fast forwarded to the real start of the movie (there was a 10 minute intro with some snowboarders getting gnarly over a mound of snow).  For the next 45 minutes or so, I'd be glued to each scene, trying to figure out how I could turn that way, catch air that way, and wear neon that way.  At the end of the flick, I would be anxious to ski, and usually with no snow for thousands of miles, my brain would just boil.  When ski season rolled around, it was finally time to apply the knowledge I learned from watching Licence to Thrill, by Greg Stump.

A couple years passed, and while attending the SIA (snowsports industries of america) show, I saw and ad for a new movie, Legend of Ahhs, and Greg Stump was going to be there.  I had to go, and I convinced my two reluctant travel companions that they had to go with me.  Soon after arriving, I saw the man that made these amazing movies, so I had to meet him.  He was an interesting guy, down to earth, and more of a LA/surfer type.  Then had a chance to see Legend of Ahhs, which was a behind the scenes look at Blizzard of Ahhs, and that era of skiing.  Pretty legendary night, and he was nice enough to pose for a little shot with me here: