Match - with his best "Pro" smile. And out the front of our office this morning... check out the pile of snow on the railing!

Self-portrait while I wait for the bus this morning... perfect powder everywhere!

POWDER DAY!

It has been puking snow for the past 48 hours - there's at least 2 feet of fresh fluffy powder everywhere. I love living in a ski town... our boss called everyone last night to declare it a "powder day" and we had to meet at the chair lift at 8.20am for first tracks. Wahoooooo! So my first 2 hours of work this morning were spent knee-deep in powder (and a couple of times neck-deep after a few tumbles on my board). Unfortunately my camera battery froze up on the mountain, so I've only got photos from around town. You just have to believe me when I tell you how good it was!!!

Much later in the evening of Mardi Gras... Kirst and Adam, Match looking frightful in wig and bandana, JVC's tongue. Needless to say, I have been feeling a bit dusty today!

On Sunday night we ran into Match's old boss - Richard & Anna Allsopp - from Rundles Auctions in Wagga. Every Sunday night we attend drinks hosted by Travelplan for Australian guests who have just arrived in town. Match is there to represent Aspen Ski Co and I just go for the free drinks! We had a great night out at dinner with Richard and Anna and bumped into them again at Mardi Gras. Sadly, Anna dislocated her shoulder on Monday.

Post Mardi Gras parade drinks (early in the evening...) Match with Jason, and me with Casey and Mary.

The competition to see who could catch the most beads! Match's client Perryn won hands down.

Mardi Gras festivities in Snowmass Village on Tues 20 Feb. Businesses threw out beads to the crowds below... it was a family-friendly affair, unlike the real-deal in New Orleans where girls flash their breasts to gain the best beads!

As if the uphill climb wasn't hard enough... these guys dressed up for Mardi-Gras for the "Mother of All Ascensions" race. There are big festivities in town today with a Mardi-Gras parade at 4pm, free concerts and partying.

We made it to the finish! My colleagues Sarah and Jenni, me and Match.

"The Mother of All Ascensions"! We did the Snowmass uphill race - a vertical "fun run" this morning. It snowed about a foot last night, and we were amongst a crazy hundred or so people who made their up Snowmass Mountain in snow shoes, skins, cross-country skiis... I even saw one woman being pulled up by her two dogs! This was one of the toughest races I have ever done... something like being stuck on a never-ending stair machine with no oxygen! I am going to have "buns of steel" before I know it. It was worth the effort - with great prize giveaways at the finish. I won a night for two at one of the local on-mountain hotels!

Match and Kirst on top of the world... back-country bowls behind us, but we were just checking them out. Match of course was keen to venture out, I think he's been watching too many extreme-skiing movies.

Match prepares to risk life and limb and enter the "out of bounds" zone. This is at the top of the Cirque run and the entry point for double-black diamond back country skiing. We were just being tourists this day!

Sequence of Match instructing Denny, a mono-skier.

Kirst at the top of the Elk Camp run with the Maroon Bells mountain in the distance. This was my favourite day of skiing so far... Match was working so I skied with one of the mountain hosts (a free service) and small group. "Biff" was our mountain host and a local larikin who told great stories about how the ski runs were named and showed us all the best runs. A perfect day... fresh snow, sunshine and great skiing!

Post-X Games partying... Brian & Mary, Mary & me, Meg & Match. ESPN put on a superb party for all workers and volunteers - heated tent on the slopes, with middle-eastern theme and flowing drinks and food. 'Twas a very late start the next morning...

Some more (belated!) photos from X-Games! View of the half-pipe at the men's final. Shaun White looking disappointed with 2nd place. Match looking impressed with himself after hitting the pipe after all the competitions were over (he was not really supposed to go in the pipe, but being the cheeky fella he is, managed to get away with it!).

It has been a sad day... today we said goodbye to a dear Challenge Aspen friend - Chris Bove.

Chris is my age and was in a freakishly simple skiing accident last Saturday, he hit a tree whilst free-skiing on a blue run and later died from internal injuries in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Chris was a real character and long-time Challenge Aspen ski instructor (picture of him tethering one of our participants). I had the fortune to meet him just 4 times and each time was a big laugh.

This week has shown me the closeness and love of the beautiful community that we are now living in. It has also opened up old scars for me personally, with the loss of my own brother 11 years ago. So I know that Cam now has another lovable character to ride the biggest mountains with, surf the longest wave, and play music til the never-ending wee hours of the morn.

Like Chris, please live life to the fullest and do what you are passionate about everyday... and be sure to let all who you love know that you do.

K x