As a side note... does anyone live in Bend or know someone who lives in Bend that would like to host KO & I for a week May 18-25. We are super cool and well trained house guests. We will make you dinner. We will solve your problems. KO is an engineer. I am a mathematician. Our only character flaw is an inability to plan ahead. Seriously though, if this is a way you'd be interested in contributing to our skiing goals and dreams shoot me an email... laura at lauravalaas dot com.