Six Word SUNDAY

 (Couldn't post yesterday - Internet too slow...)

"Practicing Telemark on my Christmas skis!"

An explanation for those who are unfamiliar: the Telemark turn is a technique for skiing down steep stuff when your heel is free, as it is on Cross Country skis.  In snowy places, like Utah, Telemark now has its own adherents and gear - special boots and bindings on wide, Alpine-like skis.

We call it Backcountry skiing here; because if you have the technique, know-how and equipment, including avalanche transceivers, you can ski in the back country, outside of the resorts.  You can hike up drainages in the mountains and ski down.  For those of us who can't afford the resorts, this is a way to have fun on skis without shelling out $90 for a lift-ticket.

 Here's Chuck, demonstrating the turn.  We are skiing at Alta, just up the road from our house.  They used to have a great deal called "Ski Free After Three".  You could go up there and ski a limited selection of easier runs for the last hour and a half of the day.  If you are a local family with a bunch of little kids, this is a win-win.  The family can afford to take the kids out for just a little while (before they get pooped out, cold, whiny, etc...) and the resort is building a market of new little local skiers.  It means that we adults need to share the slopes with tiny meteors, shooting past while their parents call out, "Benny, slow down!"  That's OK, I used to ski with a couple of 2-foot-tall hotshots, myself.

At any rate, we got here and found that it is now" Ski For Ten Bucks After Three".  Good thing we took some money with us.  It's easier to practice the turn on nice, easy groomed terrain, so it was worth a little money.

Here I am, looking pretty graceful.  And dignified, if you can overlook my hat, which has ears.

In other news, Jack has decided that he likes me enough that he wants to hang out on my keyboard. He is famous for only liking men.  Chuck was gone for a few hours this morning, so Jack decided my shoulder would have to do.