A Little Back Country Spring Adventure

Last weekend was Megan Ganong and Jesse Shirley's Wedding Weekend, so all sorts of fun people came to town...A couple of my personal favorites being Chelsea and Trevor Robinson! I was lucky enough to get to go on a little Back Country Skiing Adventure with Trevor on Friday. We headed up Jake's Peak again, and it was awesome! Top 20 turns or so were fresh winter powder, and then the rest of the way was a bit more variable. The day was gorgeous, the temps were perfect, and the company was amazing. Thanks for a great ski Trev!

Trevor on the skin up, smiling and chatting the whole way!

Kat setting the pace...and it was a pretty mean one ;)

Trevor enjoying the view of Tahoe from the top of Jake's.

What a wonderful world!!

It was a little chilly up top, so we bundled up for our picnic lunch.

Trev loving his old stomping grounds...we miss him back here in Tahoe!

The views of Desolation.

The day was all smiles with my adventure buddy...wish he was around more often.

Easter Sunday

We had a lovely Easter lunch down in Fairfield this year, and it doubled as my grandmother's birthday celebration. Check out this good-looking family!!

Meg's Bachelorette Weekend

We headed down to Napa on Easter Weekend for Megan's Bachelorette Party. We had a great turnout of old friends, and the trip was really fun. Cool hike, champagne and wine tasting, picnic, dinners, dancing, spa, and of course, everyone's favorite, crazy bachelorette bar dares! It was the perfect sendoff party. Good luck in married life Meg!

Ali navigating across the rushing river on our hike.

Luckily we had quite the athletic bunch on this trip... there was no slacking on this 2 hour hike!

Then a quick change in the park bathrooms, and these hot ladies were ready for some Mumm's Champagne! Caroline, Ali, Cara, and Megan.

Cara, Ali, and Caroline enjoying the nice scenery at Mumm's.

Megan and Antja...got enough champagne there girls?

Kat and Cara with a quick "cheers" to the bride.

The gang gathered for a gourmet picnic in the park.

The power of the engagement ring!

Kat and Meg enjoying a delicious Italian dinner with the requisite penis themed props.

Antja and Sabrina were lovin' their frosting dipped penis whistles.

One of the big dares of the evening...a Megan dancing sandwich with 2 strange men, in the middle of the street no less!

Antja and Kat having fun with cameras and rings.

Why does everyone always want to buy shots for a bride?!

Megan was a good sport with all the dares... this was her fabulous air guitar performance.

And, the morning after, in front of the cute Victorian house we got to stay at.

Nice yoga moves Megan!

My Charlie Chaplin Face

Well, I successfully survived another year of Big Mountain Comps at Kirkwood relatively unscathed (despite two big somersaulting crashes), only to have another huge crash back home at Squaw the next weekend. Got caught up in some rocks on the Adrenaline Chute and again somersaulted down the hill. This time I was not so lucky... I ended up with a huge fat lip, which then turned into a huge bruise that made me look like I had a Charlie Chaplin moustache!! Not too cute. These pictures are about 5 days later, so the bruise had actually faded a lot, but you get the idea...

It was quite embarrassing at work all week...everyone thought I had food or dirt all over my face, but most of them just looked at me funny and didn't say anything!

Luckily Josh still said I looked pretty... He's a good liar!

Gettin' Some Back Country Powder

Heather and I headed to the West Shore last Friday for a little back country skiing up Jake's Peak. Weather was great, conditions were great and safe, and we found some really fun powder turns just a few days after a relatively small storm. It was a blast! I did tire myself out a bit though, seeing as it was my first hike of the season and I broke trail the whole way, all 2 hours and 40 minutes of it! Can't wait to get out there again...

Heather stripping down on the hot hike up.

Me skinning up with the lake coming into view.

Looking back on the skin track and lake view from the top.

Random dude who liked the skin track that I set!

Beautiful view of South Shore from the top of Jake's Peak.

Yay, I made it!

Heather preparting for the final push to the summit...

...by boot pack.

Katharine and Heather enjoying a great lunch from the top of the world.

Looking south.

Katharine getting psyched for the coming powder run!

Some surrounding peaks to the southwest.

More peaks and pretty views...Heather knows all the names, but I forget.

Heather celebrating her awesome powder turns!

Powder turns right down to the lake...what a great run!

A Last Hurrah!

Well, the last night of the great Rygg-Cooper Wedding Bash Reunion finally arrived...boo hoo! But we sure did go out with a bang. Started out with a great day of skiing (although, it did end a little wet), then a record session of Apres-Skiing at the Chammy, then Kent's dinner special of Pudgy Pies, back to the Chammy for the annual Birthday Ugly Sweater Party, and then what would be a big night out without some late night at the Cantina. And yes, it only took 10 days, but we finally broke Ben Kraines!!!

Ryan, Marina, and Prado partaking in a little Chammy Apres.

Ryan dancing around and looking very Euro in his tight ugly sweater.


Big Papi and Brittany, relaxing and trying to get out of a big night out...no way you two!!

Zis is Hans...

Rygger, Kat Dog, and A-Train modeling our ugly sweaters.

Add in Ben and Stacia and we sure are one hideous bunch!

Big man in a little sweater vest!

Yes Hans, show us your stuff! So handsome in your sweater!!

Work it, own it...yeah Train, yeah Papi!

My Ben, that sure is a nice furry sweater you have...