Ski Bus Daze

One of the best things about winter is the return of my midweek ski bus.  In the months of January and February I play hooky from work every Thursday and join my friends for a day of fun and revelry on our local ski hill.

The gang's all  here!

Sadly, due to declining ridership, this year my bus only got scheduled for 6 weeks instead of 8.  Work and other commitments took up two of those remaining 6 days.  BUT....I had four great Thursdays to ski, and ski I did!

Men in red - almost!

For several years now I've skied with my "men in red" buddies from the Vancouver bus.  However, this year the tradition was broken when Brian showed up with a new jacket, and it wasn't red.  (Oh no!  How was I gonna locate my friends on the slopes now??)  I gave Brian a hard time for not clearing his outwear purchase with me first.

"There's the mountain!"

Ski bus day one we arrived to wonderful, snowy slopes.  Although skies began overcast, by afternoon Mt Hood decided to emerge from the clouds and show off her latest coat of white.

Hood looking quite lovely

I never tire of this mountain view.

Sunshine and fog

Although the afternoon was getting late, we all agreed to try one final run from the Vista chair.  We
hadn't skied there all day, and wanted to at least check it out once (our group's motto:  "How bad could it be?")

Clear skies on Vista

We arrived to crystal clear skies and phenomenal mountain views.  Wow!  No one wanted to quit.

Icy trees

But...our buses were waiting.  So my friends and I made one final long slow run to the lodge, savoring every minute.  A great way to end the first day!

Smiles on top of Stadium

Week two, another beautiful blue-sky day.  My buddies and I noticed that the Stadium run was nicely groomed.  Usually this trail is closed for ski racing, especially on weekends.  But today it was wide open.  Of course we had to take advantage of the perfect corduroy!

Wheeee!!

And, oh my was it ever nice!  My friends and I must've made at least a half dozen runs.

Soaking in the sun

Remembering the last week's fantastic views, it was agreed we had to return to the trails off  Vista chair.

Glen rates the day

Nothing had changed, and that was A-ok.

"Where to?"

Vista being one of the resort's higher chairlifts, boasted some of the best views.  I couldn't pass up the photo ops.

Glen skiing by Hood

Since I'm usually too busy skiing, most of my photos are of my friends standing around.  So today I resolved to grab a few images of my buddies in motion.  Gotta prove that, yes, we actually do ski!

There goes Brian!

My little pocket point-and-shoot camera isn't very fast on the shutter, but I did manage to get an action photo of Brian that I really liked.

Avalanche doggie

I even captured a ski patroller coming down the hill with one of the resort's avalanche dogs.

Not sure what the "Vista Experience" is supposed to be

Glen noticed all of the trail signs up here had a yellow "Vista Experience" tag on the bottom.  None of us had a clue what that was supposed to mean.  Made for some funny conversations, though!

Goofy good times!

Sadly, ski bus season goes way too fast, and it's already come and gone.  But I've got a bunch of photos and lots of good memories from sunny days on the snow with my friends. 

Hey, guys it was a lot of fun - let's do it again next year!  (And Brian, get yourself a new red coat!)