So far the year is off to a great start: I’ve spent 2/3 of it skiing! Last night I got back from a UVa Outdoors Club trip to Snowshow, where we spent 2 days skiing. We had pretty good conditions. A light snowfall the first morning made for excellent snow. The second day was equally good, with a fantastic clear sky and warm weather. The resort was somewhat busy, with many families wrapping up a week long Christmas/New Years vacation.

As is typical, the slopes became somewhat icy towards the end of the day. I have been embracing the ice, attempting to learn to ski it better. I’m starting to figure it out.

We also met a few interesting people on the trip. I rode up the lift with a ski patrol guy and chatted with him about how to get involved with that. I also saw a guy skinning up below one of the lifts and talked with him for a while. Turns out he was in Alaska last year doing some ski touring and had a few interesting stories, including an exciting exit from the glacier (sans gear) due to storms.

I returned to Charlottesville to a flurry of emails from my advisor regarding a Green Bank Telescope proposal we’d submitted. We’d been offered observing time in late Dec / early Jan, but hadn’t heard anything conclusive about it. Turns out, while I was in Snowshoe we had been added to the schedule for that night. There’s no cell phone service out there so I had no way of finding out. Fortunately my advisor got it sorted out and our observing run has been rescheduled. Ironically, the cabin I was sleeping in was probably ~2 miles from the telescope.

Now that I’m back in town, my gear has all been put away and I’m working on getting into a routine for spring semester. First up though, are qualifying exams. I’ll be spending the next two weeks studying for those (and probably a bit of working on my thesis). Got my work cut out for me!