Skiing Cooper

Cooper Mountain has nice groomed trails to go cross country skiing on. Nancy and I enjoyed the trails over the weekend after about 3 inches of new snow fell on the ground. We had a wonderful time. The temperature was about 16 degrees, the snow perfect, and the sun came out once in a while. There was a brisk breeze, but when we were in the trees, we hardly noticed it.

As we were going down Willa"s Trail, we stopped to take in the view of Mt. Massive in the distance. It was great to see so much snow in the mountains this year. Maybe we'll have plenty of water without rationing.

Of course, I had to show off and demonstrate that I could stand on one ski and scratch my nose. Nancy said I was on a "boast to boast" tour! I suppose I should listen to her more often.

It was pretty cold out. I saw this one guy snowshoeing up the hill and he had his toupee on upside down! Anyway, we had a great time over the weekend. We met Mark and Teena in Leadville for dinner. They were skiing "Copper," while we were skiing "Cooper."

Dogs

Nancy and I were in Leadville over the weekend. Below is a sign we saw in front of a public building on the way to breakfast. We had a good laugh because of our neighbors who call their dog "Day Worker." He does odd jobs around he house. I imagine that public officials feel the same way about dogs. The sign doesn't really work though. In the winter, dogs are like arctic explorers, they go from pole to pole!

North Ten Mile

Yesterday, we met Mark and Teena at the Butterhorn for breakfast and then snow shoed up the North Ten Mile trail. The trail was well used but it was terrific for shoeing, on and off the path.

As you can see the weather was spectacular. When we started hiking up the mountain it was 12 degrees. When we returned it was 48!

The creek was beautiful, the air quiet, and snow was perfect. Why wait for summer to come along when you've got this! How could it be so beautiful up here?

I will extol You, my God, O King,

And I will bless your name forever and ever.

Every day I will bless You,

And I will praise Your name forever and ever.

Great is the Lord, and highly to be praised,

And His greatness is unsearchable.

One generation shall praise Your works to another,

And shall declare Your mighty acts.

On the glorious splendor of your majesty

And on Your wonderful works, I will meditate.

Men shall speak of the power of Your awesome acts,

And I will tell of Your greatness.

They shall eagerly utter the memory of Your abundant goodness

And will shout joyfully of Your righteousness.

Psalm 145:1-7

Verse of the week

I went to my men's group this morning and the speaker was one of the guys in our group. His house burned down (to the ground) and everything in it last week. He shared this verse which has been on his heart.

Banff Mountain Film Festival

I went to the Banff Mountain Film Festival with some of my friends last night. It's held at the Paramount Theatre in downtown Denver. The films were really good and mostly about skiing, mountain biking, climbing,  surfing, etc. All the stuff I like. You know I made my first movie when I was a baby. They paddled my part. That was a good thing for the leading lady who was holding me at the time!  We saw three movies before the intermission, then seven afterwards. They had a raffle which I almost won (only seven numbers off). There were booths in the lobby from North Face, National Geographic, Cliff Bar, etc. etc. it was lots of fun.

One of the pictures was a short five minute film on nude skiing, in powder no less!! In the old days performers used to play parts. Now they reveal them! I think my favorite film was about these two guys that went surfing above the arctic circle, in winter! They built a house out of trash they found on the beach and trudged through the snow everyday to go surfing.