Beating the rush

It's September, but it's already snowed in some of the taller mountain ranges of the intermountain West. Not wanting to be caught unprepared, I took care of some equipment issues today.

Photo, taken today, courtesy of Chago, who is in Whistler, BC this week, attending the International Snow Science Workshop

First, I took my boots in and had the liners baked and molded. I only had a chance to use these boots once last season, and they were not particularly comfortable with unbaked liners. I'm excited to get them out a lot more this year, especially since I didn't buy a season pass and expect to be doing a lot more touring and less lift-served skiing.

I also took my touring skis in for a stone grind. De burring some of the rough edges had left my bases high, making it really hard to get the edges to bite. The last time I was out, it was downright scary, in fact.

While I was getting the liners baked, the tech mentioned that it was smart of me to come in this early to get the work done, as once the season gets into full swing, it's really frustrating for both shop and customer to have someone wanting work done that nobody has time to do because they are so busy helping customers buy things.

Except that I wasn't really intending to beat the rush. The reason I took my stuff in is because there's still snow in the hills from last season, and I intend to ski on it in the next few days. It looks like the Castle is still holding a stash, with snow apparently still in the Baldy Chutes as well. I could also hit the Sawtooth Range and probably find something without too much difficulty. If you've got the itch and want to join me (dug), let me know.

By the way, for those keeping score, this is the 100th post to my blog. Is there something I'm supposed to do to celebrate this milestone? Since I don't think I even have 100 readers, does it matter?