bushwack scenery
small distractions
up on top
lots of sweet singletrack tunnel
heading home.
cruising
crossing
oh, here's the trailhead.
Flatrock Run drainage from
a couple weeks back.
roadside distractions
'nuff said
nacho time scenery
rainy day tourist snapshop,
Black Water Falls.
that was an interesting spell,
good to step back and recogniz.
realize that it's been game on
since Jack Frost, 6-7weeks of
trying to be 'on it.' long wknds
of stacked long tours, not feeling
like i've slept in my own bed
since before Christmas.
A wknd at home was on tap.
Ignore the corn harvest happening
up in the valley and hit the local
hills with friends, roll down to
WhiteTail with OMW & Bender,
hook it up with Lars for the day,
good times were had. take an
earlyish break for refreshments
and shedding, then ski thru the
rush of freshly honed ski school
experts until the lunch break thins
the lift line.
Try to ski like a hero in the
mostly hero snow, find that
groove once again and billy
goat the edges, make the
most of the techy narrow
challenge, it's just p-tex.
Forget about making the
'proper' turn, and just make
the turn on instinct, ski a line
that doesn't give you the option
of mid motion analysis, hit it
where focused execution is the
only option, challenge yourself
and get your head back in the
game...you've got this.
success! and feel the mood lift,
ski once again like you know how
and every thing else will fall into
place, simple as that, once the
confidence is back....qwik pre rain
ski back at the home mountain this
morn. Good to see all the familiar
faces are still out and gettin' after at.
felt a bit like a stranger, last time
I skied RT on a wknd was, uhmmm,
Christmas wknd maybe? Fun runs
for a couple hours, then there was
mist on the goggles, the sign to run
errands and settle into a lazy Sunday
of afternoon chores, like blogging,
and other important shite.
peace.
looking at the forecast has not
been lifting my spirits lately.
hitting that damn tree didn't
do much for motivation, but still...
gotta get it while it's there. body's
been showing signs of fatigue, all
I need to do now is get sick, legs
have little to no snap right now,
been charging since Jack Frost
back in early Dec, it's been game
on, just been getting better and
better and better and better....
and it's almost time for a qwik
break, almost, or at least dial
it back just a bit.
get it while the gettin's good.
but get what? half gimped up,
no legs left for chasing turns,
so go out on tour, go exploring,
gather beta for the next time and
the time after that. Liked the glades
I saw on the ski up FlatRock a couple
weeks back, Boar's Nest is on similar
aspect, as well as a more direct route
to the top, let's give it a go, why not?
traveling solo, in unknown terrain,
gotta keep that in mind. weather
looks reasonable, but today isn't
the day to be a hero, best to ski
smart, will challenge myself sure,
but don't take any silly risks, you're
on your own out there. The pack is
loaded, plenty of calories on board,
warm jacket, an extra wool top, thick
gloves, spaceblanket bivy, fire sticks,
spare binding bits, etc..be prepared.
8am departe, bit of a fireroad approach
then a fun route finding schwack to cross
the creek and find the blue diamonds.
Got suckered onto an old railbed, see
more sweet ice, then slap on the skins
and climb for real to pick up the trail.
Spot a couple nice glades down low,
but soon enshrouded in a birch and
rhodo tunnel for the bulk of the 1400ft
climb. forget about scouting the off
piste, enjoy the singletrack tour and
see where it takes me. lot's of techy
moves across the plains, the 3' of pow
that was up here is consolidating into
18-20" of consistent wet mank, and
draining into the trailbed. lots of open
exposed spots on the trail, tough going
along the edges at times, then back into
the tunnels, now spruce lined instead of
the dense rhodo thickets.
A nice 4hr ski finds me up on FR 70 and
looking at the map, looking at the clock,
thinking about options...sure would be
nice to see one of these overlooks, hmmm,
that closest one could be another hour
away, which will add about 2hrs to the trip,
then add on the expected 2hr descent/cruise
out and that's an 8hr day and a missed WG
nacho platter.
South Prong it is, turn tail, turn left and
kick n glide along FR70 to the SPT. Make
an attempt to boot up the trail to a marked
'view', but again, it's cloudy out, it's a bit
further than expected, look at the clock
and sit down to have a snack before
dropping into the descent.
hope to see some open glades over in this
drainage, but it's more more more rhodo
thicket on down to the lower elevations.
snow is super duper slow manky mank,
descending isn't really offering much in
the way of 'coasting.' lots of false flat
kick n glide back out to the fireroad,
mix in a handful of techy spring seep
crossings and FR19 is a welcome sight.
Can't get to the car qwik enough,
unclip the bindings one final time
and punch the clock at 6.5 elapsed,
a nice solid day on the skis.
Commute to WG and ogle at the
terrain that awaits now that I can
see the tops of these hills, lots
of tastiness out there...
Reach WG, settle into the dreamt
of nachos then jump in behind the
counter, learn on the go and lend
a hand refilling the rental rack
and hanging up boots, what a hoot!
Great to see everybody again!!!
Sunday, woke up and it was raining,
ick. Wanted to do something, so I
went to BW Falls like a good tourist
and took a picture.
fin.
is all it takes.
last run of the night.
not exactly a stellar night,
on a ski I haven't been on
for a year & battling built up
fatigue, just. not. feeling. it.
wanted to work out
the kinks though, take
a handful of laps to loosen
the system, rev the motor
just a bit. did that, it was
great for about an hour.
then the last run of the
night. Nothing special,
hit The Leap, most fun
way back to the departe'.
give Bender a 4 bump gap,
drop in and find the rhythm
of the line. pop pop pop,
just like that, get the ski
working, man this is sweet,
then see Dave check up
and spot a bump traversing
grom cutting him off from
the left.
Shut it down?
Or roll with it?
Last run baby, roll with,
the extra lane is there
along the edge, no worries.
Re-allign the zipper, and
immediately find a nasty
looking trough between
the bumps.
Fuck. bail? or roll it?
Feeling oats, so square it
drop a knee and hit it.
Take the blow, unweight
the rear ski and roll that
edge...now!
Fuck! what? Why isn't that
rear edge releasing? wtf?
check trajectory....shit,
trees. real close. straight ahead.
ok breath, try to release again,
untangle that shit! what. the.
FUCK!. is wrong. with. my. skis?
still locked on edge, trees
even closer now. motherfucker,
this is gonna hurt. Into survival
mode, refocus on the unintended
trajectory. just don't go in headfirst.
skis still won't release, save the
post mortem for the drive
home and fucking throw it
into the back seat & loop it
out off of this bump.
better to lead with the big
muscles and bones than the
scrawny top end of a cyclist.
And, I like my skull intact.
impossible to split the trees,
try to get out a foot to deflect
off the first, no chance to clear
the second, so just go silent
and wait for the impact.
why hasn't it come yet?
OUCH! MotherFucker!!!!!!
Right on the hip, godDamn
that hurts. god. damn. that.
hurts. at least I'm alive, and
at least it wasn't my knee/back/
head..you stupid mother fucker!
how the fuck did that happen??!?!!!
can I move my leg? and why am
I shaking? stand up, stand up,
stretch and take inventory.
yeah that was scary as shit,
better hold onto this tree.
oh, ok, maybe sit back down.
ok, now stand back up...
'yeah Dave, I'm fine..took it in
the leg/hip, I'm good..need to
get off this damn hill...'
stretch, check ranges of motion,
feels ok enough, start with a bit
of side slip, then traverse across
to the light and try to stop shaking.
just breathe. breathe....yeah, it was
fucking scary, but it's over now,
you're here now, still here, so
breathe and get off this damn hill.
why am I still shaking???
couple of tentative parrallels to find
a balance then rip some fast GS styley
down Minuteman, just to get back on
that horse...
Lots of drive home debriefing.
It's apparent that I literally can't
make a tele turn to save my ass.
Cuz' I didn't.
And I need to work on that. But first,
I need to heal & rest up. Might even
turn some rehab style pedals with
this warm spell comin'. But first,
we'll see how ganked up I am by this
wknd..maybe this purple tennis ball
growing out of my leg won't be all
that bad....
this year I've been hearing that
I sure do get an early start relative
to other 'cross country skiers...'
but, if you don't get there early,
then you might miss these moments.
the longer you're out there,
the more you'll see. 
the more you'll do.
chase pow with a friend one day.
go on an exploratory walkabout
with others on the next.
take it to the far out places.
day turns into night,
find wisdom on the wall.
morning pick me up,
start it off right.
what's new is the old new again,
quite humbling on the down.
don't forget to look around.
because it went blue,
deep, deep, deep blue.
mind numbing in every direction.
WhiteGrass, where you can get
a cookie as big as your face!
great seeing all ya'll,
you know who you are.
full set of pics on the SMug.
more gps track, Fri & Sat last wknd,
didn't carry on Sunday.
formulatin' a plan for something you
can see in that pic, maybe head into
the Boar's Nest, another big day,
steel the nerves now, snow is here.
what can I say? One of the best calender reboots I've had in a while. Ran down to the IceBox in the sketchy 30deg drizzle Thursday eve, unloaded and was settled in & catching up with housemates by 10. Hit snow at Mt Storm as usual and lived in a cloud for the next three days, only hazy subtle shadows on occasion on the southern exposures, otherwise socked in and reveling in it, watching the roadside cornices grow.
fire, friends, celebration, revelry, good good times. 
then out for a 'quik New Year's ski'....'til 2am. Great way to ring in the New Year, what a celebration..
Friday, solo epique on Mt Porte Crayon. Found some incredible stuff, scenery, glades that'll blow your mind, frozen waterfalls and a 2hr low angle false flat, semi-technical approach/slog in order to just get anywhere near where the climb begins...I have a hunch to follow though, more later, and the snow will get better. Skipped the night ski in favor of warm couch cocoonage, ahhh. 
Saturday, head with housemates to tour around WhiteGrass, it's cold, official high for the day was 5deg I think. We cruised around out there for about 6 1/2 hours, I love my new jacket, I love wool kit. We played in the Wilderness boundary lands, listening to the wind, and trying to stay out of it for the most part. Found great snow in the usual stashes, awesome to see Churtle so stoked after some turn linkage, good times. Night ski didn't feel cold at all and it was the first one where we didn't get lost, although I'm not sure anybody actually knows where we went...
Sunday morn, 0deg, -25 windchill, no rush other than beat the masses and quietly try on new boots...mission accomplished & hook up w/ Misty and Churtle for a fun ski in the 1deg rapidly moving air. Sweet tour on the groomers and singletrack to the top before cruising the trees back to the main slope, figuring out the new Crispi's, different for sure. One and done on that giddyup, leather no match for the Guides combined with my feeble skillz, time for a chili break...then back out on the big Bros & skins for a hot lap on Roundtop...that was skeeetchy, good tune up for the drive home though, pleasant enough commute once down off the plateau. Now it's reverse gear shuffle, tune and sort for next wknd, see what Ullr brings.
Beyond on that, I can't thank SuzySue enough for the IceBox invite, what an incredible group of people to be a part of and to call friends, what more can one say? Thanks everybody, Happy New Year, here's to O-10!
