Dec. 30th... A day in the deep

Ryan, August, and myself spent the day at Crystal playing in soft, cold, deep snow that has been falling the last couple of days. In in the interest of gleaning more information about the performance of the Paradox's I skied on them once again. I'm beginning to believe they are the most fun ski I have ever been on, in deep snow. Even in the super light snow we've been experiencing these things float like a fat man in salt water. And they actually carve pretty damn well on the groomers! They are quickly becoming my go-to skis for all but the most unforgiving of conditions, they are performing that well. I loved my Seth Viscous as an all-mountain machine, I really liked my Pontoons in the soft stuff, but the Paradox amplify the forgiveness of the Pontoons and carve almost as well as the Seth's. They simply ROCK!

Solstice

This morning at 4:03 am, the tides of light ebbed to their fullest and stopped slack, for the briefest of moments, before beginning their annual flood once again. We are on our way out of the darkness that shrouds these winter months. Every day from now until the 21st of June will bring more light than the last. And on that day, the cycle will start again.

In these hours and days of increasing light, and increasing hope, we often find ourselves immersed in the winter playground of our beloved Cascade mountains. It is in these times and with these bright eyes and visions of promised joy that we must take a quick and calculated step back and ask: Do I know the consequences of my planned actions? If the answer is yes, with what certainty? If the answer is no... you are have officially started to recognize the power of the place you choose to frolic. We all want to experience the unbridled excitement and energy of being in the mountains. For many, it is one of the few things capable of re-energizing the spirit. The trick to fulfilling the prophecy, however, is veiled behind the intensity of the excitement itself. The lure of the experience is often too powerful to keep harnessed, leading to potentially dangerous actions. We can all know more, and we can all take more time to consider what we know, and what we don't. Let us be aware of the potential consequences of our actions and our own decision making processes.

Day two of "product testing." It snowed briskly the entire 3 1/2 hour drive from Seattle to Mt. Baker. A great day despite the lack of a base with Justin taking full advantage of 50 inches of fluffy white stuff. After a good number of lift served turns, I must say the paradox v1.0 were a lot fun and performed better than anticipated. In the deep they take advantage of the full rocker, giving the ski a sporty nimbleness previously reserved for skis much shorter. In deep, soft snow I would estimate that the 180cm ski turns with the quickness of a ski 15-20cm shorter! And then there's the float. The enormous dimensions (155-125-146) provide ample flotation in even the lightest, coldest snow. The relatively stiff and progressive flex pattern along with the burly size of the ski makes for a very stable ship to blast through crud and chopped up pow. On the way back to the lift, lay the monsters on edge and they carve quite well for ski with significant rocker. It does take a bit of speed to really get the ski on edge to make a clean carving turn but once it's there, it likes it.

Maiden Voyage for the Paradox v1.0

Dec. 14th 2008 has been written into the history books as the day I skied, for the first time ever, on a pair of skis that I built myself. The day was remarkably cold for the Cascades. The temperatures never got much over zero and the stiff breeze didn't make the biting cold and less fierce. We didn't leave the car until around 9:30 but we (Karl, Rachel, Tim, Dan, myself) were able to see the spectacular sunrise on the drive up before the valley became obscured behind a vale of falling snow. Early season gear mishaps was to be the story of the day but nothing catastrophic occurred. The breakfast burritos I made really hit the spot at lunch and gave my legs the little extra boost they were asking for after the initial climb to the base of the goods. Initially I was skeptical about the snow depth as there was significant flora poking its stalks out of the snow into the wind chilled air. But in the end, only a few minor base shots were obtained. The snow was ridiculously light and fluffy. And the skis seemed to handle the conditions wonderfully! I can't definitively give them a grade yet but at this point, I'm pretty damn happy with how they turned out.

Tim and Karl reveling in the deep:

Fish tank toilet tank

This is brilliant! Maybe it would stop people from flushing every time they added a little tinkle to the toilet. Maybe not. Either way, it really instills just how much water we use with each flush.
Find it at http://www.elseware.to/products/aq.htm

Moving forward... slowly.

Cleaned up the bases as best I could by hand. 5 gallons of QCM epoxy are now in my possession awaiting the second pressing. More bamboo has been secured and all that is missing is more 22oz triax. With an order to be placed on Monday, there should be a Paradox v2.0 proto coming out of the press in the next week or two. In the meantime, I've taken a few crummy shots with my point and shoot to give a better sense of how pretty the first pair really are, in my opinion.

The twins have arrived!

They popped out last night with very little labor. Today saw them
cleaned up and wiped down, then paraded around by their proud father.
They aren't production skis but they turned out pretty well for a
first attemp.

Inaugural Ski Pressing

Last night at 9:00, the first pair of skis was pulled from the press! It has been a long and drawn-out process to get to this point but it has been engaging. As with most creative endeavors, this first pressing did not come without its share of surprises and mishaps. First, the heat blanket seams to have shorted itself out just as we turned it on at the beginning of the pressing, no heat. Second, we hadn't really considered the critical nature and difficulty of aligning the ski in the press. Also, the gap in the press at the tip and tail is so narrow that it made inserting the cassette very difficult, an issue that must be rendered if we expect to make more that just a couple pairs of skis. The quantity of resin used is a complete mystery to me being new to the fiberglass layup process. We used far too much Epoxy. Luckily, it was not enough to drip out of the press and make a huge mess. Today is going to consist of trimming the flashing and cleaning up the edges! We might have a pair of skis that is functional by the end of tomorrow!

Heliotrope Ridge Ski Tour

Nov 23rd, 2008. Heliotrope Ridge ski tour with 25 of your closest friends:
After throwing the first pair of skis in the press at 7:00 pm yesterday, Joe invited me to join he and Sinead on a tour up to Heliotrope the next day. It never sounds fun to drive all night, sleep in the parking lot, get up super early, ski on crappy snow, explode your knees on the hike out, then drive all night on the verge of falling asleep - just for half a days worth of turns. Luckily this trip only contained a few of those elements, and they weren't the bad ones. No blown out knees, no super early wake up calls, and certainly no crappy snow.
We got to the trail head at about 12:30 to 4-5 inches of cold snow on the ground and below freezing temps. We set up the back of Joe's subaru to accomodate three bodies for the night and I quickly jumped into my sleeping bag with as much clothing as I could find. Woke up about 7:00 to blue skys and a slight breeze visible in the tree tops. At this point I was debating what my options were. I did not anticipate the "nut-freezing" temperature and hence had brought only minimal warm clothing. F*#k it. If I freeze I can always turn around. With a blueberry scone for breakfast I hit the trail first with every piece of clothing I had, minus my shell. It didn't take long before I was stopping to shed layers. Despite the 4 inches of snow on the thickly forested trail, there had been plenty of hikers with more ambition than us to make hiking in shoes very comfortable. We ditched the shoes and started skinning at the Y to the overlook. Following the spine all the way to the base of the glacier, we turned right, staying in the shallow skin track already established. The wind certainly had a bite to it but it was certainly warmer than expected. Once we reached the crest and found ourselves in the sun, the temperature seemed to jump a good 10 degrees. Oddly enough, despite the huge appearant increase in temperature in the sun, the snow was not noticable effected! Very strange. The snow was amazing. A good 6" of fresh snow on a nice base made for great GS turns. Three laps and my legs were completely spent. This no job thing has really taken its toll on my level of fitness. We headed off the glacier around 2:00 and had a pleasant hike out. Ate a Rudy's in B-ham and was home before 9:00. What a great day in the mountains.

Winter Season '08/09

The season is certainly not sneaking up on us this year. It's in clear view, taking is marry ol' time. There is one benefit of a languishing autumn: More time to build skis! The press is virtually complete and is fully functional. After more than 10 months of research and development, it is now time to start cranking out the boards. VITAL has been launched (if only in theory). Let the skis and the snow be plentiful this season! This time of year never fails to deliver on the stoke...

Finally...

As a junior in the Industrial Design program at Western Washington University, I proposed a design for a system that would harness the energy of vehicles on our roads as they slowed down at stop lights and off-ramps. I'm extremely glad to see that such ideas are becoming reality. We need to do all we can to harness every joule of energy we expend.

Markets continue to fall

Despite the hope of new economic leadership in Washington, financial markets across the globe continue to plummet. Retailers are posting the worst earnings reports in the past 30 years. What does the future have in store? Hope. We don't have positive signs for the future but we do have hope. I find it interesting how little the slowing economy has affected the Northwest United States. Or maybe I am insulated from repercussion because of my isolation from the business community at this time.

The election: Decided by Undecideds

This is an excerpt from an article by David Sedaris published in The New Yorker in Oct, 2008:

Undecided:

I don’t know that it was always this way, but, for as long as I can remember, just as we move into the final weeks of the Presidential campaign the focus shifts to the undecided voters. “Who are they?” the news anchors ask. “And how might they determine the outcome of this election?”

Then you’ll see this man or woman— someone, I always think, who looks very happy to be on TV. “Well, Charlie,” they say, “I’ve gone back and forth on the issues and whatnot, but I just can’t seem to make up my mind!” Some insist that there’s very little difference between candidate A and candidate B. Others claim that they’re with A on defense and health care but are leaning toward B when it comes to the economy.

I look at these people and can’t quite believe that they exist. Are they professional actors? I wonder. Or are they simply laymen who want a lot of attention?

To put them in perspective, I think of being on an airplane. The flight attendant comes down the aisle with her food cart and, eventually, parks it beside my seat. “Can I interest you in the chicken?” she asks. “Or would you prefer the platter of shit with bits of broken glass in it?”

To be undecided in this election is to pause for a moment and then ask how the chicken is cooked.

"Yes We Can! This is our opportunity"

Last night, at 11:01 local time, Barack Obama took the stage in Chicago, IL as President Elect of the United States of America. The watershed moment in American history was certainly not overlooked by the masses. With people celebrating in living rooms, restaurants, and in streets across the country and across the world , Barack Obama delivered a victory speach the likes of which I never thought possible in American politics. The small group of people with whom I was able to share this momentous occasion was not unique in their response to victory. The joyous laughter, smiles, and tears were and are being shared by citizens the world over.

How can one man create such an amazing sense of Hope and Opportunity among such a diverse group of people? My take: Honesty, integrity, and a genuine desire to make this country better for everyone. Only time will tell whether President Obama will be able to maintain this momentum while in office. Let us hope.

Halloween

How much fun is Halloween? As with most things in life, it is what you make of it. With Rachel's performance Halloween night, we all decided to make this night the best we could and I must say it turned out pretty fun. The whole gang showed up to watch the incredible show. The only one missing was Mom, and she was missed. But we had fun anyway and what a show it was. Absolutely incredible. Gilderoy Lockheart (Tim) was, although not an official participant in the show, remarkable in his delivery. And Owl (Doug) was certainly up to the challenge of stepping into the audience participation role. With the spectacular costumes of Mark Anthony (Jim) and Cleopatra (Connie), the bar was set pretty high for the performers. They didn't disappoint. It was a truly fantastic show. The MC was quite good at engaging the audience but the event was certainly stolen by the aerial performances. Spectacular. It was great to see everyone and let loose for an evening! Rachel was wonderful, as always. Karl was inspired. I was uncomfortable. I highly recommend against using children's costumes for any occasion. I had a blast with all of you! Attendies: Rachel, Karl, Andreas, Phil, Tim, Vanessa, Doug, Kari, Jim, Connie, Marie, Conrad, Dan, and many many others.
Cheers!

The Start

Well... this appears to be the beginning of a new media adventure for me. Traditionally I have not been willing to "waste" my time cataloging my experiences. Despite my past reluctance to spend time on such things, I expect the blog format is aligned more closely with my personal needs than other forms of mass communication. I hope this allows for the killing of the proverbial flock of birds with only one stone. So, sit back, kick your shoes off and look forward with anticipation to the coming posts. It is unlikely that there will be any schedule for postings, I sincerely dislike unnecessary schedules. However, I like to believe there will be a post at least once a week. Hmmm, we'll just have to wait and see!

Good day,
Andreas