Winter is here (sort of)

Winter is here

I ended my last post for a hope of winter and snow. As it turned out three days after my last post we went skiing for the first time. The first few times it was more like backcountry skiing since there was no grooming yet. Despite this it was really nice to get on snow and skis especially because the weather was great on most of the days. Once they started grooming the trails the skiing has been awesome. Seriously it looks like Lapland during late spring. So far the grooming has been done using snowmobiles and those tire rollers so the tracks have been somewhat soft, but this week they should have gotten out the big snow cats. We should see that later today!

Enjoying the first snow of the season

Still skiing in deep snow, but in this landscape it doesn't really matter

It does look like Lapland during late spring, doesn't it

Now you might be wondering 'Wait a second, didn't you recently broke your collarbone. How are you skiing?' Obviously using only one arm. Actually skiing is one the easiest exercise modes with broken arm (except for "double" poling, which is quite though, especially in deep soft snow). Running involves too much impact, holding the bicycle handlebar with both hands is impossible and obviously all upper-body workouts at the gym are out of the question (yes, I could do the exercises with one arm but that would just emphasize the side difference caused by the immobilization of the other arm). So for past five weeks my training has involved mainly skiing, roller skiing, hiking and core strength. Now I can already move my arm quite nicely but not put much weight or resistance on it. But road biking is possible and I can go through daily stuff (like putting on clothes) pretty much normally. And yesterday I went for a short easy run and it didn't feel bad or painful at all.

Skiing with a sling (some four weeks ago)

What do you mean sort of?

The place where we are skiing is on top of the Grand Mesa (a nearby "mountain") at 3200 meters (or 10 500 feet, or 2 miles), an hour drive away from campus. After latest snowstorm (or blizzard) there should be close to a meter (or three feet) of snow. Despite this we haven't gotten any snow in Grand Junction yet. And on most of the days the weather actually feels like nice late fall days in Finland with clear sky, sunshine and day temperature of 10 degrees Celsius (or 50 Fahrenheit). And what I've heard from the locals there won't be permanent snow in Grand Junction during the whole winter and on some days the temperature might hit over 15 degrees Celsius (or 60 Fahrenheit) even during December or January.

Something besides skiing

Okay, I can't write the whole post about skiing.

Even though it's not such a big deal in Europe you probably know that Halloween is at the end of October and that in America it's a massive holiday. Even though the actual Halloween day was on Saturday October 31st they started decorating the buildings at the beginning of the week and the celebration (read partying) with costumes went on from Thursday till Sunday (at least for some). Of course I wanted to participate so I was carving a pumpkin (continuing our tradition in Jyväskylä) and for the first time put together a costume for Halloween.

It's quite traditional but I think it turned out to be quite nice

I'm really proud of the harvester/scythe (=viikate) (note the Exel ski pole)

A couple of weeks ago we had a day trip to see this beautiful high-altitude bond called Hanging Lake. The hike to the lake was pretty nice and there was a cool waterfall too. On the way back we stopped to enjoy some natural hot springs, which are built simply by separating a small portion from the river at the point where hot spring water is flowing to the river. This way the cold river water and hot spring water mix to make enjoyably warm pool. The sulfur in the hot spring water causes not so pleasant smell, though, but fortunately the human smell sense is quickly adaptable.

Hanging Lake, quite pretty ain't it

Relaxing in a hot spring pool

Last weekend we had a city holiday in Denver. This trip included a visit to Rocky Mountain National Park on Saturday and some of us (not me, the tickets were like 140 bucks) went to watch Denver Broncos football (not soccer) game on Sunday. The city and the national park were nice, but I have to admit that this trip was too expensive and included way too much sitting in the car for what we got out of it (especially since Broncos were totally destroyed in the game). But not every trip can be a huge success.

Frozen lake reminds me of home (the mountains not so much though)

Some skyscrapers in downtown Denver

First proper restaurant meal in America so far: Mussels and toast. Nice!

Denver City Council in beautiful tricolore lighting

I still have to mention one thing about skiing. Now that the race season in skiing has begun I have realized that it's going to be too difficult to watch the races live. Damn time difference!