Winter Park, Colorado 9 January 2009

Heavy overnight snow. Perfect powder conditions for making first tracks on the higher slopes.

Skied all around the resort, sticking mainly to blues as the weather alternated between brilliant blue skies and white-out blizzards as wave after wave of snow-laden clouds came over.

Total descent for the day: 6185m.

Winter Park, Colorado 8 January 2009

Bright, sunny morning with more overnight snow. Took the opportunity to try out the off-piste area over the back of the Parsenn Bowl that has previously been closed. Followed in the tracks of a single previous skier (and hoped I wouldn't find them disappearing over a cliff!)

Spent the afternoon on blues through the trees and in the Parsenn Bowl.

Even managed to ski from the highest point accessible in the resort back down to the village in a single run (approx. 1000m vertical drop) in 15 minutes. Total vertical descent for the day: 6610m.

Winter Park, Colorado 7 January 2009

Weather continues to get warmer - it's now warmer than Bristol was yesterday! There has also been an overnight fall of snow. Pistes have a 6 inch covering of powder. Moguls have about a foot. So another day mogul bashing on narrow runs between the trees. Can't help but notice the number of dead or dying trees. Apparently it is caused by the larvae of beetles which are spreading through the forest at a tremendous rate as the climate gets warmer. Another victim of global warming.

Winter Park, Colorado 6 January 2009

Weather overcast (unlike in pic taken earlier) but warmer. Only -10 centigrade.

Higher lifts closed so took advantage of overnight snow to bash more moguls on the slopes around Mary Jane. So much easier, and more fun, to take faster through the foot or so of fresh powder snow.

The wind got up again after lunch creating blizzard conditions at the top but lower down, sheltered by the trees, the additional snow made conditions near perfect.

Total descent for day: 4665m.

Winter Park, Colorado 5 January 2009

Caught shuttle bus to slopes. Distance about 150m as the crow flies but nobody walks in the USA, particularly across Interstate 40 which separates the hotel from the lifts.

Spent the morning mogul bashing. Very satisying but tiring on the legs.

Had lunch at the top of Mary Jane then spent the afternoon doing the blues of the Parsenn Bowl - the highest point open in the resort (3795 m). As the wind got up later in the afternoon, the temperature dropped to below -30 centigrade with wind chill.

Having completed vertical descent of 6570 m, Mark called it a day and retired to the hotel pool with fabulous views out over the slopes.

Winter Park, Colorado 3/4 January 2009

Another rogue entry as Mark jetted off to Winter Park, Colorado without Jennifer Susan. Clearly something will have to be done as there are definite signs of a trend starting...

Mark booked through Crystal http://www.skicrystal.com/to stay at the Winter Park Mountain Lodge. http://www.winterparkhotel.com/ He flew with BA to Denver, a flight of 9 1/2 hours and two lunches, five hours apart. http://www.britishairways.com/travel/home/public/en_gb?source=TOP_home

After manfully staying awake till 9:30pm local time (4:30am UK time), Mark turned in. He woke at 7:30am local time and organised a ski pass through Crystal ($370 compared with the internet price of $468 and the ticket office price $550).

The temperature was a bitterly cold -27 centigrade (though it did peak mid-afternoon at -16 centigrade) so the face mask and thermals were essential.



Mark stayed in the Vasquez Ridge area for the morning, sticking mainly to blues and blue-blacks (reds), though there were a couple of interesting black diamond mogul trails. Snow conditions were excellent with a 6 inch covering of powder over a firm snowbase. Mark was second down most of the runs so enjoyed near perfect conditions.

After lunch at the Sunspot mountain restaurant, Mark moved to the Lewis Carroll inspired area around the Olympia and Looking Glass lifts then moved to the lower slopes, closer to the village as the sun set and temperatures dropped again.

Total descent for the day: 5855m.

50 laps of the hotel pool and a jacuzzi eased aching limbs.

Flavanol packed dark chocolate snacks to sustain Mark through the day (2 squares a day recommended to reduce anti-oxidants, so Mark opted for 4 squares on the grounds that this would do twice as much good).

National Seal Sanctuary 3-7 December 2008

Strictly speaking, not travelling with Jennifer Susan at all - she stayed at home while Mark went to look after seals at the National Seal Centre at Gweek in Cornwall. http://www.sealsanctuary.co.uk/corn1.html

Mark stayed in Penzance at the Carnson House Hotel.
http://www.penzance.co.uk/carnson-house/

This entailed an early start each morning for the 35 minute drive to the Seal Sanctuary to feed the pups at 7.45am. Fortunately the landlord, Rob, offered to produce tea, toast and cereals at 7am even though breakfast wasn't officially till 7.30am. Mind you, it helps if you're the only guest!

The morning routine started with preparing the food for the 11am feed. This involved thawing out sinkfuls of herring and mackerel and dividing them into buckets in accordance with wallcharts to ensure every adult received the correct amount.

Then the paddocks had to be cleaned - a job reserved for volunteers on the grounds that the ponies, goats and sheep don't bite - unlike the seals. Health and safety - the perfect excuse for the (literally) shitty jobs to be allocated.

Morning feed for the pups in the convalescence pool involves throwing the fish into the pool while crouching low to hide from their line of sight. The theory is that this will avoid the pups associating people with being fed after they are released. Instead they believe that fish fall out of the sky. I'm not convinced and neither were they. We kept score of who throw the most fish into the fence around the enclosure instead of into the pool. Mark was a clear winner most days.

The daily routine also included a lot of cleaning. If not washing the blood out of the buckets after the feeding, it was hosing down and scrubbing the pools, which were emptied twice weekly in rotation for the purpose. The trick with this is not to let the seals creep up behind you to give you a playful bite. Or to roll on top of the hose and cut off the water supply.

You also spend a lot of time getting in and out of umpteen different pairs of wellies as you go from one seal to another in the hospital - even more in the isolation unit. And then you have to wriggle in and out of waterproofs before entering each pen, scrubbing them down before taking them off and going to the next one. Not discounting the pulling on and off of surgeon's gloves. All of which aims to avoid passing infections from seal to seal or from seal to human or vice versa. It also amused the girls who staff the hospital as Mark struggled into and out of kit designed to fit them - i.e. petite - rather than him.

Mark's task after all this performance was normally to take temperatures. Not pleasant if the seal gets too scared. But the other end bites.

Evenings off in Penzance out of season were not inspiring. Twice Mark was the only person in a restaurant (Gino's Italian - very nice scallops in brandy sauce, and a Chinese restaurant - Mark's first since returning from China proper). The Little India restaurant got round the lack of an alcohol licence by allowing diners to bring their own - Mark brought his from the Co-op opposite.

At least it didn't rain - well not too much, too often anyway.