It was another beautiful blue sky day up at Crystal Mountain. I think one of the reasons why I love skiing up there is the view. You can almost see the whole Ring of Fire from the top. Views of Mt. Adams, St. Helens, Mt. Baker, and Mt. Rainier are right in your face. The only mountain you can't see is Mt. Hood. The image above is of Glacier and the thumbnails below are of Adams, Helens, and the ski buddies in front of Rainier (Glacier isn't in the Ring of Fire).

Saturday was the first day skiing with just my main ski buddy Adam. I don't know why, but I have the most fun skiing with just one or two other people. If the group gets bigger than that, for some reason the skiing isn't as fun for me.

I've been lucky in my unemployment to have gotten more days in than Adam, but the kid was a trooper. His quads were burning from the first run after lunch yet he stuck with it until until after 3:30. We managed to get 4 backcountry runs in: 2 in the South Backcountry and 2 in the North Backcountry. One of the first full days of skiing where we rode from first chair until after the upper lifts closed. Check out the view of Campbell Basin, with the relatively new lodge at the bottom of the basin, and Adam as he recovers from the hike to the top of the King. Total trooper.

Since Adam is my main ski buddy, he will most likely be the star athlete featured in the 'skiing' section of my routine. Since the Tuesday before Adam blew all of the photos he took of Nicole and I, he agreed to take the camera for all the action shots. He snapped off six shots and none of them turned out too well. Below is one of three shots he actually got me in the frame, decent action, and almost in focus. I know I have become high maintenance working with pro wintersports photographers, but come on. Hopefully he improves because there's only so many scenic shots I can take and post before it gets boring.

Meeting an old friend named Mark that I haven't seen since college up at Crystal on Tuesday. Should be fun.