Sam a Coyote and me

Off work on Sunday. Went on Aaron's level 2 training clinic in the morning and I forget what I did in the PM. Aaron says I should extend more on my turns.

Sam having a smoke on Sunday.


On Monday Kelly and I skied a foot of new heavy wet powder at Northstar. Here is a view of me squinting into the sun just short of the top of Hornets Nest. We had first tracks.


I spotted this coyote yesterday AM in the Northstar Parking lot.


Volunteered to work yesterday. Put me on high level kids who wanted to play in the terrain park so I spent some time sliding boxes which was a new experience for both the kids and me. Both survived.

Andy Bavetta

Ryan home spring break

Ryan is home from MIT on spring break with his friend Salome. Nice to see him and to meet Salome. Ryan is still talking about biking across the country this summer with some friends and has invited me to join him. I would love to do that! Ryan flys back to Boston on Friday.

Ryan and Salome


Andy Bavetta

Carving up a Storm

Photos taken by Gene Rosewater on Monday.

Kelly


Wallace


Andy


Bodie Miller


Herman Maier


Andy Bavetta

Signs of summer?

Sighted in the Northstar parking lot today



Andy Bavetta

29 inches of Powder

Today ski buddies on Lookout LTR me, Kenny, Kelly and Gene with Wallace behind the camera lens.



Me on Fox Chute



Kelly on Boca



Kenny on Fox Chute



Gene on Boca



Andy Bavetta

Sam on St Patricks Day

Complete with green eye and neckerchief.


Andy Bavetta

Free Lessons Rock

I had a 1 hour private lesson this morning and taught "Free Lessons" in the afternoon. The free lessons were tons of fun. I had 8 people in the morning class and 9 in the afternoon session. I taught "carving" in both lessons and it went extremely well. Got tons of complements AND tips. Interestingly I had one kid in my afternoon class (Matt) about 16 years old who turned out to be the brother of Kevin Mitchell the ski school manager. I heard later at the ski school that he told Kevin that the lesson was fun. Free Lessons


Andy Bavetta

Bikes, Cows, Scenic Roads and Mt Rose.

Kelly and I went for a bike ride in Reno today. We left Truckee around 11 AM and started our ride near Lakeside and Moana. This is the view looking south down Lakeside a few miles from the start of our ride. Kelly in foreground.



It is surprisingly rural along Lakeside considering its only a few miles from downtown Reno. This is a view looking southwest towards Mt Rose with a couple of Bovine in the foreground.



View looking up at the Mount Rose Ski area taken from a spot near the end of our ride.



Rode 23 miles with approximately 1600 feet of climbing. That leaves 3947 miles to go this season.

Andy Bavetta

More cute StarTykes

Sunday afternoons class of 4 year olds.



Close up view of same kids on gondola ride up.





Andy Bavetta

Friday March 11, 2005

It was hot at Northstar.

"Grandma Pat" infull regard on Skidtrail. Used to teach skiing at June Mountain



My afternoon student, Maya (a psychiatrist from Palo Alto) fallen in a tree well on Powder Bowl.



Lenny and Denny on skid trail.



It was hot at Northstar

Andy Bavetta

Oh humm another gold medal

Drove down to Heavenly today to race in the Mountain Dew Vertical challenge again and see if I could find some competition in my age group (65 to 70). Well the same thing happened as last Sunday at Northstar. I was first in an age group of consisting of one competitor (me). Once again my time was fast enough to place me in second position (out of 3) in the next lower age group (56 to 65 year olds) and this time in 6th place (out of 13) in the 46 to 55 year old age group.



Took some time to ski around the area while waiting for the results to be posted.



Warning signs at the top of Gunbarrel



Now if I'm going to have any chance at the Nationals in Breckenridge on April 2nd I'm going to have to learn how to run gates. I have about two weeks to do it. MountainDewVC


Andy Bavetta

Bike Ride

It was 67 degrees in Reno on Tuesday so I broke the bike out of the ice for the first ride of the season. Rode 30 miles along the Truckee river from the Patagonia outlet store in West Reno to the eastern edge of Sparks Nevada and return. Since my goal is 4000 miles for the season that leaves a balance of 3970 miles to go.



Andy Bavetta

Michelin Man and Mountain Dew

Had a party at my house last night for Kelly on his return from Mammoth where he tried out for his Level 3 skiing certification. Good news is that he returned intact. Bad news was he missed the cut by a skosh. Here is a picture of Wallace and Kelly taken last night after the party doing their best Michelin Man imitations.




Arrived at Northstar this morning to find the Mountain Dew Vertical Challange in progress. MountainDewVC

On a whim I registered for the GS race they had setup on Upper Mainstreet figuring there probably would not be much competition in my age group.



Well I was right as I won my age group easily. From the race times it looks like I would have been competative in the younger age groups. So maybe I have racing talent? Well according to the way I read the rules I'm now entitled to compete in the western finals to be held at Breckenridge CO on April 2nd. Should I go?





Andy Bavetta

Had StarTykes again

This mornings StarTyke class in the Magic Forest, LTR Erika, Keith, Sasha, Jamie and Sierra.



Andy Bavetta

Quiet day at Northstar

Very slow day. Had the feeling that winter is over. Had only two students in both my morning level 1 class and my afternoon level 5 class. Here are a couple of pictures of me trying to teach two Asian ladies how to wedge down the bunny hill.





Andy Bavetta

First tracks

Monday morning a non work day arrived with 6 inches of new snow on the mountain. I was on the first chair up the Arrow lift at 8:30AM.



Skiing was awesome as there were so few on the hill at that time. Here is a view of Flying Squirrel from the Comstock lift on my second ride up. My tracks are on the left of the picture.



Andy Bavetta

Smile

Sunday morning was ski school group photo day. Below is a picture of the group milling around just after the official photo was taken.



Skied with Robert, Jennifer, Scott, Lindsey and Jill after the group photo was taken since I was not scheduled to work. Here is a photo of the gang taken on Sunday at the top of East Ridge.



Photo of the kids smilling faces after succesfully negociating upper Powder Bowl a black diamond run.




Andy Bavetta