skiing

I suppose there are reasons to live in places like Boston or San Francisco. Skiing is not one of them. I spent the morning skiing with my friend Bryce Roberts up at Deer Valley. (With over a foot of new snow, the road up Little Cottonwood Canyon to Alta and Snowbird was bound to be closed for a few hours and we both needed to be back to work by noon.)

The snow was unbelievably soft, as only Utah snow can be. I'm getting older now and a bit more cautious, but even I was willing to take a … Read more

Every Saturday my three oldest kids have ski lessons at Deer Valley. Every Saturday I spend a few hours on the slopes and a few hours in the lodge eating Deer Valley's amazing turkey chili and reading or working (as was the case today). It's a great way to cap off a week.

Especially today, when the powder was knee-deep and, as ever at Deer Valley, it took all of 30 seconds to get through the "line." I had my little Canon PowerShot 1000 camera (not camcorder) with me and decided to capture a brief frolic down Ontario Bowl here. Next week I'll need to use my helmet cam so that I can actually ski rather than fretting about dropping my camera:

Not very easy to ski with two poles in one hand and a camera in the right, but it was fun all the same....But better with friends. Which brings me to my next point.… Read more

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words. Today, a foot of new snow was worth many more. Here are three pictures showing a great half-day at Alta (no snowboarders, please :-). It's 22 miles, door to door. I can do it in ~20 minutes, perfect for getting in an hour or two of skiing during a busy day.

One more reason to move to Utah.

For Mike:

P.S. We're supposed to get a foot more by tomorrow. Why don't you fly out and join me?

Why do I have the flu (or something) this morning? I'd cancel every meeting to go hit this with Bryce this morning....A mountain full of snow, and at Deer Valley or Alta, no snowboarders ruining my moguls. What could be better?

It hasn't been a great snow year just yet, but over the past week we've had nearly three feet of snow, and it's dumping outside my window as I type. If it weren't for an Arsenal game next Wednesday, I'd be kicking myself that I'm heading to London tomorrow. Days like tomorrow were meant to ski....

I'm sure there are good reasons to live other places. After all, one can be in Tahoe after three hours of traffic, well rested to hit the slush. But I prefer my 25-minute commute to Snowbird's … Read more

Battlestar Galactica freaks, take heart. If you're suffering major withdrawl waiting for the series to return in March, you can still pretend you're a Cylon Centurion with an LED-outfitted ski suit, especially if you wear the jacket backwards.

As funky as they may look, these garments may actually serve a practical purpose; after all, if LEDs are being used to improve bicycle safety on the road, surely it doesn't hurt to have a little protection on slopes that can be equally dangerous (skiiers vs. boarders). And as Gizmodo points out, you can wear them in good conscience … Read more

If it's possible for skiers and boarders to actually agree on anything other than their shared love of snow, it might be something like this. The "Satski" is a GPS device developed specifically for the slopes to provide such invaluable information as the best runs, levels of difficulty and--most important--which lifts have the shortest lines.

Like Garmin's "Edge" line for bikes, the Satski can also store uploaded information that can be shared with others, as well as record such real-time performance stats as speed, distance and altitude. And for the apre-ski lodge, Gadgetizer says … Read more

Our faith in human nature has been restored (for now). Every time we get depressed thinking about technology gone bad, along comes an item that actually does some good.

The "Jet Ski Video Game" is a classic example of a good idea made better. It takes the same general approach as the "Smart Cycle" bike simulator--encouraging kids to get some exercise while playing games--but does it one better, at least where the fun factor is concerned, by creating a virtual water sport.

We're not sure how the aerobic activity compares (bouncing through simulated waves), but … Read more

The whole all-in-one concept seen so often in computer and electronics equipment is hardly confined to high-tech hardware. In fact, here's an example where "convergence" has touched transportation as well--aquatically, no less.

The "Dockitjet" combines a jet ski and speedboat into a one seagoing vehicle that looks like something right out of a 007 movie. An infltable watercraft serves as a dock that its manufacturer says can fit practically any jet-powered ski in just minutes and comfortably seat up to six people, according to Gizmag.

This sounds fine, if you're the more adventurous type. … Read more