Lance Commander's Ski Trips for the Winter of 1997

Winter of 1997 was a winter of skiing for my friends and I. We skied Utah and Colorado in the West and many local areas in the upper Midwest. The following photos are of the more picturesque Rockies and Wasatch Mountains. In Colorado, our skiing started out with a bang! Two feet of fresh snow on the ground and us flatlanders were eager to tear up the slopes.

Dave Burris burning up the slopes	Dave Plagens making it look easy
Dave Hinrichs slicing through the deep snow	Me picking my way through the bumps

Toward the end of the first day of skiing Keystone, I was a hurting unit. But my friends the Dave's talked me into pushing myself to total exhaustion.

My carving the slopes beyond exhaustion

The next day we skied Copper Mountain and tried out their new bowls.

Frosted Pines at Copper Mountain

Hinrichs showing where we just skied

You can see by the ecstasy on Hinrichs face and his giddiness from having skied the bowls he's pointing to, we all had an excellent time skiing Copper Mountain. Notice part of a mogul Hinrichs is wearing on top of his hat. The third day we skied Vail and met up with my cousin Miles. Miles hadn't skied much that winter. But what he lacked in experience he more than made up for it in enthusiasm.

Miles at Vail

Vail was windy and blustery but we all bundled up to enjoy windblown fun.

At the Top of Vail

All the Dave's with me at Vail's top

The Back Bowls of Vail were calm and warm. So in the afternoon we ventured back for some adventure.

Big back bowls of Vail

Scenery in the Back Bowls

The last day in Colorado we skied A-Basin and watched the Ski Patrol firing into the snowfields above. A snowfield the size of a football field broke loose at one point blasting the valley below with snow and wind. It's an unbelievable sight when you see it happen.

Clearing avalanche danger

Later that winter I skied Utah. Utah is very scenic as shown in the valley shot at Sundance yet has its difficult runs too.

Valleys around Sundance

Jim skiing chute

I had a great time skiing with my friends last winter and I look forward to continuing our fun. Return to Lance's home page