2023/2024 Skiing

Type	Days	Ski Vertical (ft)	Runs	Ski Miles	Total Miles	Top Speed (MPH)
Backcountry	4	4,258	7	6.25	13.45	-
Resort	6	53,824	48	56.9	95.7	43.7
Resort (Uphill)	1	1,572	1	1.3	2.6	-
Total	10	59,654	55	64.45	111.75	43.7

Summary

This year is marked by coming back after a big knee surgery. I spent the entire off season (and even a little bit of last ski season) rehabing the knee. This year will be my comeback year. My goal is to ski 50 days, and at least one day/month year round. I also want to ski Quandary (or another 14er) before the season is over.

Day 1 - 2023-11-28 - Winter Park - Resort

Ski Vertical (ft)	Runs	Ski Miles	Total Miles
2,694	5	4.4	6.6

First day back on skis since the surgery! I felt pretty hesitant, but it was so nice to be back on snow.

Day 2 - 2023-12-03 - Berthoud Pass - Backcountry

Ski Vertical (ft)	Runs	Ski Miles	Total Miles
1,060	2	2.2	4.4

First backcountry day since the surgery! My cardio was gone since it had been 9 months of nothing but strength training, but felt really nice to climb. The wind chill was brutal today, close to -20F, with 46mph gusts and a temp in the single digits. Steve and I made a new friend on the trail.

Day 3 - 2023-12-08 - Berthoud Pass - Backcountry

Ski Vertical (ft)	Runs	Ski Miles	Total Miles
712	1	1.2	2.3

A quick solo tour on a day off to get some exercise before. A beautiful sunny day. I saw an avalanche across the pass on No Name Bench (CAIC report).

Day 4 - 2023-12-09 - Berthoud Pass - Backcountry

Ski Vertical (ft)	Runs	Ski Miles	Total Miles
558	1	0.6	1.3

Got up way too early to watch the sunrise from the skin track. I wanted to push my knee today and see how I could do on back to back days. Needless to say, I had planned to spend way more time out but after the first run, my knee didn’t want to move anymore. The sunrise made all the effort worth it though!

Day 5 - 2023-12-21 - Winter Park - Resort

Ski Vertical (ft)	Runs	Ski Miles	Total Miles
8,698	8	8.5	14.6

More post-surgery practice runs. Felt a lot better than the last (first) resort day!

Day 6 - 2023-12-23 - Winter Park - Resort

Ski Vertical (ft)	Runs	Ski Miles	Total Miles
21,255	18	22.2	37.2

This was the first day I really felt back to myself on skis! I mostly stuck to blue groomers, but I could carve like my old self again and really felt like I could move. I tried some easy moguls and found that turning so fast was a major stress on the knee, but it didn’t hurt which was the important thing! It was a weekend, but it was as empty as a weekday. This was an amazing day!

Day 7 - 2024-01-07 - Winter Park - Resort (Uphill)

Ski Vertical (ft)	Runs	Ski Miles	Total Miles
1,572	1	1.3	2.6

A jaunt up the Sleeper skin track before the lifts started spinning. This day took me 1.5 hours when pre-surgery (and when in better shape) this particular stretch normally only took 45-55 minutes! To be fair, I was also getting over something, but still a crazy comparison to pre/post-surgery fitness levels.

Day 7 - 2024-01-07 - Winter Park - Resort

Ski Vertical (ft)	Runs	Ski Miles	Total Miles
7,628	5	9.6	15.3

A fun half day out with some friends lapping the Pano lift! This was my first (non-backcountry) day off-piste and it felt great. It wasn’t crazy steep and deep but still a new sensation on my knee. I felt uncertain of myself but also had a blast charging down Parsenn Bowl!

Day 8 - 2024-01-15 - Eldora - Resort

Ski Vertical (ft)	Runs	Ski Miles	Total Miles
6,050	5	5.3	9.3

Knee/thigh deep on the backside of Eldora today! The resort report 20in 24hr snowfall, but the snowstake doesn’t actually go that high and the snowstake camera showed snow that piled past the top of the camera’s view. I think it was closer to 30in, and some parts were certainly that deep based on how far I sank on skis.

It was extremely cold - I think this was my coldest ski day ever - my backpack thermometer read -15F at one point.

Unfortunately, they closed the backside lift due to a technical issue (it was making a popping noise I’d never heard before). By the time I was back on the front side, everything was tracked out and my knee was sore from riding the deep powder. So I called it a day instead of trying to force myself down more freezing, non-powdery runs.

Day 9 - 2024-01-18 - Copper - Resort

Ski Vertical (ft)	Runs	Ski Miles	Total Miles
7,499	7	5.6	11.1

A nice day with a foot of fresh snow at Copper. I was coming down with something (again!) and didn’t realize it until the next day. But it definitely made me way too tired and I called it quits early. It didn’t help that Sierra and Mountain Chief lifts were closed, along with all Spaulding Bowl terrain - which is where I wanted to ski today. However, it was nice to challenge my knee on some steeper terrain. I even did a few long mogul runs which felt great! My muscular endurance definitely isn’t back to what it was because the mogul runs took a lot out of me. It’s great to know I can do them again though!

Day 10 - 2024-01-28 - Berthoud Pass - Backcountry

Ski Vertical (ft)	Runs	Ski Miles	Total Miles
1,928	3	2.25	5.45