Welcome to my new website, which went live at 3:10 PM MST on January 2, 2013. I’m a month-plus late in getting up this post. Sorry. My old site had been virtually unchanged (except for article updates) since it launched sometime in 2001, which speaks to the mad skills of its designer, a former colleague from Wired magazine, who managed to create a simple, fresh look that endured for more than a decade. With my new site, brilliantly envisioned and created by Heather Mann, I tried to embrace a more visual format that works across platforms big and small—including all those schmancy mobile devices. Social-networking doohickeys appear across the site as well. That’s something, right? So click away and please email me if you find bugs, typos, or really hideous things that should never be done on online. Compliments are okay, too.

At some point during the production cycle of my article in Skiing magazine about building my own skis, there was a temporary headline slapped on the layout: “DIY Skis? Try WTF Skis?” Though the headline didn’t stick, it sums up the insanity of trying to build skis from scratch in my garage. But having done so, I have to admit that my home-built boards were close, very close to being a rideable pair. It turned out that I had made the wood cores too thick, and this left me with skis that were a bit herky-jerky on the hill. If I had to do it over, I’d go much thinner, less fiberglass, less wood, less epoxy … less of everything. Continue reading →