fun til death on snow

  Today, January 11th..it is 50 degrees out. All of the snow that we had, is gone.  The small storm that we had over Christmas/ New Years was enough in the Ann Arbor area to get some skiing in and it has finally stayed cold enough to get some curling in.

 These Home Made Curling stones are two stainless steel salad bowls, with a pop rivet to bind the two bowls together and then filled with concrete with a handle as you can see here.

Fun til Death on Ski lift  chair # 69!

open letter to Off Piste Magazine

  Off Piste is a really great ski mag.  While I could never ski much of the stuff discussed in here, and generally speaking the gear reviewed is more than I need...its spirit is great. These guys love to putz around on snow and every one writing or reading this magazine has a love affair with the woods, the mountains and the hillocks in snow.  While they certainly have a Pacfic North West bent, I think that the midwestern off piste skier would enjoy this magazine.  I heartily encourage you to subscribe to this magazine.

I am not sure exactly why i feel possessed to write letters to ski magazines obviously focused elsewhere, but there you have it. Call it a vice if you like.

http://offpistemag.com/

see them for more great ski stuff.

back yard balance

-  The back yard slack line set up is pretty primo. When I poured the concrete for the garden gate I looped galvanized chain down around the beam... the other end is around a tree, and the whole operation works pretty good.

As ski season approaches and you think new sticks are in order see the following link:
all you need to know and more about backcountry ski options.
This guy has an exhaustive listing of ski options for all types of skiing.

The type of skiing that I do is like these tomatoes, not too pretty but each run is unique.

I didn't walk the line any where near enough this summer. I kinda lost my touch, when I got on this i flailed around.

Here is a video someone shot of a really nice cruising hill near my house. This neighborhood to poach runs along peoples front yards during snow storms. The person riding does this run in flip flops - not advised.