Cold and Dry

1.13.24- It’s been a hard week. I’ve had to put myself on the IR for blood related injuries. My counts are too low to move, and I really haven’t even wanted too. The snow has been coming but the temps have been low. Normaly I would be out in this weather regardless of my health status, but this time is different. I haven’t hit my quota on POW by any means; My longing for life is greater, however. I need to believe myself when I tell myself that there will be more POW days. Right now I feel so much of being on the knife’s edge. I feel the right thing is to slow myself down to assure that I can get my treatment and ultimately get better. Unfortunately this is where real life kicks in. This is where that knife, sharp as hell, just brushes up against you. It stretches your skin to the brink letting you know you could be sliced with any false move. It is not a sure thing that the treatment will work. The gameplan says slow down and assure you can receive treatment to prolong life. But what if. What if this prolonging is NOT POSSIBLE. What if this Cancer is just too strong. What if I’m missing these first big pow days of 2024. I have to try to be healthy for treatment. I have to prolong this precious life that I live. I have to shred more happy healthy days in this life. I have to try. I have to believe. But I want to shred.

There’s this cycle that seemingly sets up annually. We get this really cold dry front that comes around the New Year. Sometimes before. Unfortunately, sometimes a few weeks post. Quickly following this front a few small storms start to brew. It stays cold and the storms begin to pile up. Finally a big day is forecasted. 10” on Sunday. But it’s not just that 10”. It’s the cold but constant 2” and 3” and 4” days from the days prior that filled in the crosshairs. Now when that 10” storm brews it’s just dumping happiness. There’s already a solid base. Denver has already ridden absolutely everything that needs a pack and now we can just focus on ripping. Go anywhere, jump off anything. These are the days that I will be going to permanently. These are the days that I dream of. Dark, misty, quiet. These are the days where you feel lost amongst the sound of flakes pounding. The days where you plan your routes by the fall line. They can be endless in turns and bliss or endless in hiking and post holing. At Vail you choose your desire. I proudly know how to get it all day everyday, but it has taken long days to get to this bliss. The land of mellow, seemingly endless rolling snow fields. The land of fun gullies and soft drops. The land of spread out trees and approachable slope angle. Vail, Like nothing on Earth.

For a week to be shut down, this is the one. The National Championship happened on Monday and from there all hell has broken loose on the coaching carousel. Belichick, Carroll, Saban, Vrabel. All four are out. Wild. Just a good week to sit and live in nostalgia. The good ole days. I was in fourth grade when Brady saved the Patriots and brought them to the promised land for the first time. Bill’s defense was mean. Back then Bill’s defense was mean. These guys were the reason the Patriot’s were able to win three out of four  and allow Brady to develop into the great competitor that he became. The defense gave the offense an opportunity to get cooking. Everything wasn’t on Brady’s shoulders. Always remember that. The Patriots were a team and nthey experienced team success. Brady beat the Falcons. Other than that it was a team effort. It wasn’t until Brady left that we realized that Brady really did win a lot of gmes with his talent. It’s a funny game. You need team success, but there is often individual success that propels that team success. It’s difficult to safely recognize in the current media landscape, but Brady deserves everything that has been said of him. He is the greatest, and from 2005 to the end of the Dynasty he is the main reason for the Patriot’s success.