Happy New Year.

2008 ended rather roughly. A storm blew in the day of our company Christmas party, so instead of working that day, a few of us decided to check out the fresh snowfall instead of our computers.

Unfortunately, the storm bringing the snow also brought high winds to the lifts so the day was spent throwing back drinks at the bar and clownging around (clowning around + lounging = clownging).

We returned to GV in time to be casually late for the Christmas party.

I was damn drunk to start the night and it only got worse - a pic that I don't remember taking with the ladies of the Mining Group.

I drunk myself stupid and did some typical drunk Dave stuff then missed my 7:00 am flight to Denver the next morning. When I finally DID get dropped off at the airport, I found myself without wallet or cell phone. After some quick emails and a of luck, I was able to make it to Denver by 8:00 pm to meet up with my uncle Don for the rest of the trip home. Thank you Southwest.

Once I got to MO I united with the Famdamily. We ate lots of good food. Sang jolly songs and were quite merry - classic family Christmas photo.

X-mas day was a lovely day spent on the farm with the fam, dog Pauli and horse Archie.

On my way out of town I got to meet up with some old buds for a good ol' night of college drinking!

I got back to GV in time to half-ass a work week until New Years, which started for me Wednesday afternoon with a disc golf match between Dave, Rocco and I.

New Years Day on the bike. A good start for 2009. Ride details can be found here.

Nick and I with the Forest Hill Divide Bridge in the background - the tallest bridge in CA.

Friday Dave and I headed up to Sugar Bowl. He took off on snow shoes to bag some peaks and I got treated to some terrific conditions.

Saturday Nick, Dave and I headed to N. Lake Tahoe to do some backcountry skiing around Mt. Rose, NV. It was a good day to avoid the crowds in the BC. Trip details can be found here.

The views from the climb up Relay Peak.

The climbing CAN be fun sometimes - if you come across the right drop. Good job Rocco on the shutter.

The Daves and Rocco clowngin' at the summit of Relay Peak.

The view from Relay Peak looking south across Lake Tahoe.

The backcountry left me with a pretty sore right hip flexer so I'll be laying low for a couple of days. Hopefully both weather and body are on my side for this coming weekend...