Joining Tom Murphy in Yellowstone

Going to Yellowstone Park never gets old. In winter, it is a special treat as the animals retreat to the river valleys and the landscape transforms to white. Yesterday, we were fortunate to be able to join Tom Murphy and some of his friends for a tour of the Lamar Valley side of the park. It required waking up at 4:15 AM unfortunately. I was elected (!) to drive while others snoozed on the 1.5 h trip to Livingston, where Tom lives. Winds gusting to 50 or 60 mph closed part of I-90, but fortunately we were able to get to the Livingstone exit. We drove south thru Paradise Valley to Gardiner, and then on into the park. Within a few minutes of leaving Mammoth Hot Springs, Tom began narrating, and was interrupted by Laurie exclaiming "Wolf! Wolf to the right! Tom, wolf to the right!" Many thought it was the old story of Laurie crying wolf because no one else saw it. But we were in the back of the car line, pulled a u-turn and went back to where she saw it. Sure enough, trotting over the second hill back from the road was a beautiful light-colored wolf, making haste for points west. We watched it for only a few seconds before it disappeared, so unfortunately we have no photo-documentation. But that was a great first wildlife sighting!

We wanted to make haste for the Lamar Valley because wolves are most frequently seen out there that way. We did see lots of wildlife but no more wolves. Here are a few pictures of the menagerie we captured.

Santa Came!

Check out the Christmas present Dave and Jody sent for Kev & Jim & Laurie & Ann!

We're going to try it out this afternoon. It's snowing now. Off to Big Sky!

Joyeux Noel

Christmas Eve

Woke to a cold morning and believe it or not, the sun made an appearance!

The sun created some nice moments this morning. Lone Peak was lit up in alpenglow splendor with dark gray clouds behind. I dashed about looking for my camera and failed to find it before it faded. Sorry not to be able to share that scene.

But a few moments later, the trees nearby began to light up and I snapped this image, then converted it to a Christmas eve card for your viewing pleasure.

To you and yours, have a marvelous Christmas eve!

Skiing, skiing, and more skiing...

Sorry the blog has been on a slight vacation, but when the snow is calling, there are important turns to be made!

To back up a little bit, yesterday was our big snow day. Somewhere between 8 and 12" fell the night before and yesterday, and the snow was great! Kevin, having been delayed in Denver and arriving a day late, nevertheless booked up to the mountain yesterday and joined us for a couple of hours of powder in the bowl and on Challenger. That whole day went undocumented - we were too much in the moment to think of taking pictures.

But today, thankfully, Kevin slipped his camera into his coat and we pulled it out on a run called Moonlight off the Challenger lift. Despite the invitation for all to join us in this expert terrain, only the boys made the trip, so we have pictures of only the 4 boys, I mean, MEN!

Because that's what you have to be to descend Moonlight and Bad Dog through thigh-burning steeps and powder! (Just kidding....there are some amazing women skiers, especially the locals, on these pistes!) I'm including three photos to show that we did it in style. Check Kevin's blog for more pics. It was snowing and gray, so the photos could have been clearer and more spectacular, but I think we captured the moment. It was a great day, though the snow was actually better yesterday. It kept snowing lightly all day.

After three days of skiing, I, and most or all of the crew, will take the day off. It's Christmas eve!

Here is Trevor, enjoying Moonlight...

And Jim...

and Kevin...

Is there anything more fun than this????

New record cold for Jim

We hear tales of low low temperatures in this part of Montana, but heretofore, zero or thereabouts has been our lowest. Yesterday, they were predicting highs of around -6 F, so we opted not to downhill ski. Instead, we skate skied on the local trail nearby, staying within sight of the warm condo for the most part. Worked up a sweat despite the cold.

We ran a few errands in Bozeman yesterday and found colder temps there. -12 when we arrived, and it kept dropping. As we drove back toward Big Sky, the temperature fell some more, as indicated by the vehicle temperature monitor. Just past Gallatin Gateway, the thermometer hit -27 F, a record for this cold weather denizen! I had to roll down the window! Woohoo!

Here's a picture of one of our Christmas decorations hanging in the east-facing window. It looks cold out today too, but Ann and I are slowly heading toward the slopes to re-gain our ski legs. Tomorrow looks like the great snow day. 2 - 4" tonight. 4 - 6" tomorrow.

Cheers to all!

Trevor's Birthday

Yesterday was Dec. 19. A few years ago in 1985, this date was a particularly memorable day. Out popped a big bouncing baby boy, with a shock of blond hair, and within minutes he was playing chess, kicking a soccer ball, serving aces and dealing Texas hold 'em.

OK, I exaggerate the speed of time, but it doesn't seem THAT long ago. What a way to celebrate a birthday...first ski day of the season. Temps in the teens, 3" of new fluff covering packed powder on a mountain that was still awakening to the swoosh of skiers on its flanks.

We managed to ski Swifty, Challenger, Lone Peak Triple, Ramcharger, and Thunderwolf (the colorful names of the Chairs here at Big Sky) on our first day, sampling a good section of the mountain. The cover is a bit thin in the glades, as might be expected in early season, but on the upper mountain, the cover is pretty good! And the snow quality is excellent. They're making snow like gangbusters in certain spots. The forecast has mother nature contributing her fair share daily over the next 2 wks of our stay.

Today, predicted highs on the mountain were somewhere around zero, so we opted to spend the day in Big Sky and make an expedition to Bozeman this afternoon.

A balmy 4 deg. C at the condo, I decided to venture out for a skate-skiing adventure. Here I am, taking off in style (I fell after posing for this shot).


Here I am really taking off, with our beloved Gallatin Mtn range behind. I lasted all of 5 minutes until I decided I definitely needed a facemask. The wind chill made it feel more like 10 to 20 below zero. Not wanting to risk frostbite, I dashed back to the condo to toss my still-moist facemask from yesterday into the dryer. I write this as I wait for it to dry, and then I'm back out there. Cheerio for now!

Christmas in Big Sky

This is a first for us. Christmas in Big Sky, MT. As one of our favorite wintertime destinations, we were bound to one day relocate Christmas to this Christmasy place. Here, we can count on a white Christmas, and perhaps finally live the motto "Spend Christmas Skiing" from the front of Jethro Tull's famous Aqualung album.

Thus it was that Dec. 17, Trevor, Caitlin, Ann and I set out late in the day from Pittsburgh on our Yuletide adventure. Ming and Ian are planning to join us Saturday, while Kevin and family will converge on Sunday.

Weather required us to de-ice the plane after an interminable runway taxi (Trevor said "What is this? Are we driving to Montana?) We took off 35 minutes late and knew we had a 25 minute connection between scheduled landing and boarding of the flight to Bozeman (argh). To make a long story short, Trevor and I ran (sprinted) a mile in about 4 minutes to the other side of the airport and laid down under the wheels (Trevor in front, me behind), telling the authorities we wouldn't move until our family arrived. Finally, 20 or 30 minutes later, Caitlin and Ann caught up to us, and we all boarded the plane, knowing full well our luggage would not be so fast and we would arrive to subzero temperatures with short sleeved shirts and sandals.

Amazingly, we arrived near midnight with our baggage, go the vehicle with no problem and drove without incident to Big Sky Dream our home away from home.

Today, somewhat tired from the previous night's adventure, we hung around the ranch, bought a Christmas tree, rented skate skis, took naps, and kept our finger on the pulse of happenings in Tennessee.

Here's a picture of our beautiful, wonderful-smelling fir tree.



We are all assigned to bring ornaments for the tree. Here is Trevor's!