Random thoughts from Reed Purvis, our officially unofficial man in Argentina. First stop, Cerro Catedral...

SIA bro. Yeah high five! Sweeeeet.
Story by Reed Purvis

With tons of new products, innovations, girls, parties, gatherings, girls, friends, hotel casino mazes that leave you walking in circles, hippies, lots of booze, and little sleep, the memories build as the week of SIA passes, seeing old friends, making new ones, the past, present and future all come together

The great thing about gravity is that no matter which way you point your skis; you'll always slide downhill. Without such fundamentals of nature, we'd still be skiing in erratic circles to nowhere, lost in the unrestrained alpine terrain that makes up Davos/Klosters Mountains, Switzerland.

When pigs can fly, will all the crazy statements people have made over the years come true? More importantly, if billy goats could fly, would they all migrate to Verbier, Switzerland for the winter to join the lucky ones already there?

What do proper catholic schoolgirls, 7-11, death, and Engelberg, Switzerland have in common? Well not much, but they all have something to do with heaven... if you include rhyming. Heaven has always sounded pretty awesome, so we at doglotion.com were keen to get a taste of it. Death didn't sound very fun, convenient stores are a dime a dozen, and there's already plenty of websites featuring catholic schoolgirls, uh, so we're told. So with Engelberg Titlis ski resort boasting the motto "It's Heaven", it was an obvious stop on our Europe Tour.

With rumors of Aspen-esque cougars, rampant fur coats and Royal Family sightings, how could we miss a chance to visit this European utopia known to mortals as Lech am Arlberg. Originally one of the poorest villages in Austria, Lech was an isolated cattle and dairy farming town with very little connection to nearby valleys.

They say the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. But what I wanted to know was why there was any grass at all? Grass skiing has it's moments, don't get me wrong, but a whole winter of it leaves a bit to be desired. Watching the reports of big winter storms bashing Austria and North East Switzerland was tough to cope with. Then as the stories and photos of deeeeep pow came rolling in, it was time to get over there and see for ourselves.

BY MARK LASSETER

After 12 days of rain late January in Whistler it was time to get a powder fix after not having a single one all season. Tired of getting photo after photo from friend Vince Boelema of the pounding storms in the San Juans, specifically in Telluride, it was time to head down there. It was off to be sleepless in Seattle arriving at 1 AM at the airport in my normal bench spot by the Starbucks to get the cheap flight at 6AM that flew right into Telluride via Phoenix, total convenience. This week was also Mardi Gras which is eventful in Telluride.

Submitted by Mark Lasseter Photos: Mark Lasseter & Vince Boelema

After getting over altitude sickness, scoping the local scene in Telluride, Colorado, and grooving to a local funk band, it was time for Vince Boelema and I to make the 2 hour journey across the pass to Silverton. Silverton Mountain, one of the newer resorts in Colorado at only 3 years old is located in the San Juan mountain range 2 hours from Telluride Ski Resort and about 1.5 hours from Montrose airport.