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Winters of My Life from Jonathan Burhop on Vimeo.

When is the ski season over? Is it when the lifts at the local ski area stop running? Do you travel farther and farther to find an open ski area? Or, do you chase winter across the globe so the ski season never ends? I haven't crossed the equator to ski yet, but I have climbed a mountain for some 'post-ski-season' turns.

My father loves skiing and he got me started skiing when I was a kid. I had heard a few stories from my father about skiing 'back in the day' but he didn't have photos. I found this great archive of ski photos from the 1970's DOCUMERICA project. The skis and bindings have changed a lot in 35+ years, but the fashion seems to be making a comeback. Hopefully, my kids will look back at images of skiing from today, have a laugh and then go skiing with me.

...sitting here on Capitol Hill. The clock is ticking while the American Clean Energy Leadership Act (ACELA) sits in a Senate committee. If you're not a policy wonk (political nerd) the US Senate must vote on this bill before April 16, 2010 or it expires. Apparently, some Senators are willing to let the bill die. If you are concerned about reducing CO2 emissions nationally and growing renewable energy, then it's time to call or write your Senator.

It's been quite a while since I've brought home a report card, but I remember it pretty well. A report card with all 'A's was great (although rare), but grades lower than 'B' were cause for a long conversation with my parents. The '09/10 report cards are out for ski areas in the Western United States. Unfortunately, I feel like it's time to have a long conversation with the ski areas in my state. The nearby ski areas have earned no 'A's, a few 'B's and one 'C'. Not a stellar grade point average for my area.

'There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.' That saying applies to skiing and snowboarding as well as time-share condo seminars. Peter Frick-Wright discovered as much in his attempt to reduce his carbon footprint (snowprint?) by snowboarding in the backcountry. Peter rode a train to 'see whether I can ride the rails to a near-zero-emissions vacation'. Unfortunately, Peter wasn't able to avoid car trips to the trailhead and he got a crash-course in backcountry ski safety too.

The modern Olympic Games are a showcase for athletic competition and for the city and country that host them. Vancouver, British Columbia will host the 2010 Winter Olympics and the organizing committee (VANOC) is going all out to present their city at its best.

Get your boot bags together, go bring your ski friends too, ‘cause its getting nearer, it soon will be with you. Yes, the Denver to Winter Park ski train is returning on December 27, 2009. Now called the Rio Grande Scenic Ski Train, the train departs from Union Station in Denver at 7am, arrives at Winter Park at 9:15am. The return trip departs Winter Park at 4:15pm and arrives at Denver at 6:30pm. The ski train will run through March 28, 2010 with a weekend schedule in January, adding Thursday and Friday service in February and March.

Getting your point across often requires taking the extra step. Sometimes you have to take several thousand extra steps, just ask Alison Gannett. She is hiking 250 miles from London to Brussels to make the point that Climate Change threatens the existence of snow and glaciers across the planet. To drive her point home, Alison is hiking with a pair of skis strapped on her full backpack!