Crystal Mountain and Gaza

Caroline and I went skiing yesterday at Crystal Mountain. It was a bit sketchy driving the last 20 miles or so, but all-in-all the roads were in pretty decent shape. When we got there, it was snowing, creating almost whiteout conditions. I hate skiing in those conditions and even considered turning around and going home, but we stuck it out, and I'm glad we did. After all, I had to at least try out my new rig of Atomic skis, Scarpa boots and Fritschi bindings. It snowed on and off all day, but the sun actually came out for a while in the morning. And was there ever snow! Only the easiest green runs showed any sign of grooming; most everything else was knee to waist-deep powder.






Powder can be hard to ski in (especially for lousy intermediate skiers like me), requiring a different technique than on packed and groomed surfaces. Anyway, we had a lot of fun, even though I did one semi-serious face-plant, popping out of my bindings, and then spent the next half-hour trying to find my skis in the deep snow. Now at least I know what the long florescent ribbons attached to some skis are for.

So today my thighs are pretty sore, but it was well worth it. The new skis worked great, but I'm still, and probably always will be a lousy intermediate skier. I can hardly wait to get out there again.



I just don't get the point of the Israeli invasion of Gaza. Supposedly it's purpose is to stop the launch of rockets from Gaza to Southern Israel that have killed four Israelis in the last few weeks. The bombing of Gaza alone has killed over 400 Palestinians, and the Israelis brag that 88% of those killed are Hamas fighters. That still leaves over 40 civilians killed. Where's the proportionality? The rockets from Gaza are notoriously inaccurate, and if they actually hit anything, it's a random event. I think a better response from Israel would be to launch a random rocket for every one that Hamas launches. Yes, innocent civilians would be hurt, but the scale would be similar to the damage in Israel.

Israel unilaterally pulled out of Gaza over three years ago, forcibly uprooting Jewish settlements that had been there for 30 years, and handing the area over to the Palestinian Authority. They got nothing in return. After the Palestinian elections of 2006, Hamas won in Gaza, and forcibly took over the area from Fatah in 2007. Since then, Gaza has been locked down, and nothing but humanitarian aid has been allowed in.

So does Israel want to go back to being the occupiers they were in September of 2005? It didn't work then. What's changed to make them think it will work now? There are no easy answers to the questions of Israel and Palestine, but this adventure is a really stupid. I can't see any good coming of it.