Hey @Barney , look what I got! Back in the AT game now:
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Hey @Barney - I’m (US) National Ski Patrol (25,000 of us and 22,000 are volunteers like me)- in the midwest but with a few trips to the Rockies each year for fun. Another patroller was telling me just last Friday about a ski-vacation-itinerary near RED in your neck of the woods. Something about hitting a different ski area each day for like a week along the same highway. Any info?
Back country stuff is awesome BTW - I’ve gone in Colorado and Alaska - both with guides that included the full kit - because skiing in the midwest (vertical ice skating) has no need for powder skis and skins. Alaska was a once-in-a-lifetime situation - stranded with work over a weekend in Valdez with heli-ski season just about to begin but no official trips booked yet. So when I called up a place and told them the situation, they let me ride-along while they set their radio relays on various peaks - got in four heli-runs at about an hour each - but at about 25% the cost of a normal day. Black Ops Valdez was the company - good dudes!
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The collection of resorts is sometimes called ‘The Powder Highway’
Lots of great skiing/ touring out here. Tricky backcountry season this year with the unstable snow pack in BC. 5 dead already in avi’s. CHM Heli ski had 2 guests killed last week; not great for business I guess. They killed a few people a while back, but when you pretty much ski only in the high alpine above the treeline you roll the dice.
I’m also conscious @KenKnight that the most likely people to be involved in an avalanche are long term back country guys like me. The only, and mean the only thing I can control is my terrain choice. But group dynamics, recent snow fall etc can always lead to the possibility of poor decision making.
Grab a coffee sometime an read quite possibly one of the best articles about how a group of relatively experienced skiers ended up in a huge avalanche. The whole ‘group dynamic’ thing is fascinating and something I keep in the back of my mind touring. One of the few advantages of being older is the confidence to say ‘No I’m not doing that’. Worth a read.
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Yep. One thing that comes with age is the increased ability to not give a rat’s ass what others think of us.
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Wife and I enjoy traveling. Especially to places where we can shoot Sporting Clays.
There’s no other occupation like it Mac.
I served as a volunteer many years ago but now serve as a Chaplain.
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I’m just one of 28,000 volunteers in my state !
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40 degrees here today so it was almost a certainty things would go pear shaped at some point.
Then at 1.30pm it did.
Just got back home . Reckon my new hobby is going to be pretty full on
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Looks like the portal to hell
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Ugh… hope you get that contained quickly!! (Is that picture from your property??? 
)
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Good to hear, on both accounts. Must have been quite taxing though… 
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Thank you @joergkutter and @howard
We were back at it last night. A massive fire that we’ll most likely be back to once we’ve rested.
“Prepare to leave “ orders are in place
Time to sleep 
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If it’s that hot in winter, imagine summer in Oz eh @Mac?
That was stolen from a real job site conversation years ago.
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We’re coming to the end of summer @Barney
Celebrating Christmas in 35 + heat still freaks me out.
We lost in the region of 20,000 hectares last night!
And it’s still raging
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Yeah I did Xmas in Brisbane years ago. Odd 
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I’m a writer. I write satire and articles at Medium, novels, and skill acquisitions
self-help books at Amazon. (Links in my profile. Just saying.)
I also “play the piano like a guitarist.” Meaning I can play popular songs from chord sheets.
I’m also into straighr razor wet shaving, i juggle, and I’m a speed cuber. I can solve a rubik’s cube in under 30 seconds (although my average is around 40-45 seconds.
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Cool. I did straight razors for a few years. Nice shave for sure. Had a nice JNAT, a coticule, and a bunch of kamisori. Makes me want to peek in to Badger & Blade 
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