On the way to Bishop with the patient for an appointment to be fitted for his new back brace. His first road trip since early October. Such a pretty day!

Mt. Tom



Round Valley







Returning home. Aspen Springs.



Glass Mountains

SL, who is this patient you keep referring to? Are you helping out with the hospital across the street? Have you become a nurse?

PZ - went to Kiroro. Found some great deep snow in places, mainly because certain lifts had been closed day before during big storm. But there is not a lot of tree skiing like Rusutsu. I would not go back.

Glad we didn't go to Kiroro then. Hey RBS you will have been to 10 resorts this season after your next trip in two weeks...not to shabby!

I'll definitely make it a point to hit Rutsusu next time; positive stories every time I hear about it.

Apparently Kiroro has been going downhill ever since they fixed this sign...


I've found great stuff there under the gondi in the past, but according to the megaphone voice I heard a couple weeks ago (maybe it was just for us?) they've stepped up their "don't duck the rope" enforcement. Awesome stuff in the backcountry though right from the parking lot!

Yep, 10 for the season not bad. Heading back to Rusutsu tomorrow. Day 9 and last day of skiing . Hopefully, the snow gods will be kind to us again. Snowing nice light big flakes alot again tonight.

PZ - looks like you figure out where to score. Good for you!

Traveling's great...but it's nice to be home

Got back yesterday -- Just a sample of JAPOW ...

Kiroro ...

Me --


Loved skiing through here --


#1 my favorite -


Rusutsu -- best day EVER! (not counting Alaska) ...

Niseko ...

Me and Mt. Yotei (our one real sunny day) -




And, of course, the FOOD ...

Crab/rice dish and miso soup from restaurant on the hill -- U.S. not even $15! ...



Sukiyaki ...



Appetizers ...
Fish - salad - avocado/banana salad - sashimi ...

My favorite, that looks FUN...

^ That particular run was at "Powder Park" area. Whole trip was fantastic. Much better than last year - in all aspects.

Happy Fat Tuesday!

Look who I met for lunch today...pkerr, friend Mike (both from MO.), TonyC and his nice g/f Liz. I joined them at The Mill and used the remainder of my Cha-Ching resort credit. Very warm on the sundeck as you can see since I was in a t-shirt. Such a fun escape for lunch hour!!

Some nice high clouds moved in over Mammoth this afternoon so I figured the sunset might be really good. I headed over to Hot Creek and found a nice vantage point of both the gorge and the sky and waited. Nothing. Clouds just went gray. Looked like it was over so I packed up and headed back to the car. As I started to drive away I saw some pink starting to show to the east so I went back to my vantage point and got there just in time to get a few shots. This a blend of two exposures with adjustments in Lightroom.

And just for the fun of it here's the new moon over Mammoth about an hour after sunset.