Monday morning I called the snow report at 7. It said 16″. 16″! Overnight! I considered renting some fatties from Christy across the street, but decided I wouldn’t abandon my beloved Blackeyes.
We snoozed a little while, because getting somewhere early just never works for us. Anyway, we got all our stuff (except the beer we forgot in the fridge), put the dogs in the car and had some of the surprisingly good breakfast the hotel offered. We got on the road to MJ about 840, a little later than I wanted but still OK. We parked in Utah Junction again and booted up reeeal fast.
We skiied down to Super G just in time to see those jokers that got there at 8 for the first chair. They were clearly excited, but probably cold. We got off Super G and headed to Riflesight Notch and skiied thru the trees to the the lift cut. Bottomless! Jennifer headed down under the lift and I continued down the fall line thru the trees. We met back up at Super G and she wanted to rest for a minute, so I got back on the lift. I was one chair from the terminal when the lift stopped–this is where things got interesting. A lift maintenance guy quickly pulled up on a sled, signaling disaster. All this snow and I’m sitting on the freaking chair lift, 50′ from the ramp or 11′ from the snow below! As I sat there patiently for a couple minutes the lift moved forward about halfway to the terminal, 6′ from the ground. I hollered at the liftie that I was prepared to jump. She freaked out. Then we moved almost into the terminal and I was 4′ from the ground. I asked again and she said she’d be fired. I was skeptical anyone really cared and after a couple minutes of waiting and an alliance with two other guys on the chair I hopped off. I popped out of one binding, calmly put it back on and skiied away. I’ve always wanted to jump off a chair–mission accomplished. Ironically, Jared was three chairs back and saw me jump.
Once I was free from the grips of Super G, I skiied over to the Derailer trees, some of my favorite at WP. More untracked, bottomless snow! I met J at Challenger after she road Galloping Goose (the learning lift) and we spent 10 minutes waiting to get back up the hill. From there we headed to Pano by way of the trees off the east side of Roundhouse. Here’s some video, though I hesitate to post it because it just doesn’t capture the magic, even on a pretty tame run.
Off Pano, I went thru the trees (Willet’s?) and J stayed on the run. After that we split up and I went to Eagle.
I didn’t get to Eagle soon enough for face shots (too cut up by 1030), but it was some amazing skiing. My very favorite, most loved kind. On the way over I cued up my phone and Lady by Lenny Kravitz came up–a good hard rock, thrill of speed song. The kind of skiing where you’re full throttle for the whole run, knowing that the snow will atone for lots of recklessness. The kind of skiing where your skis are like an extension of your body. The kind of skiing where the thrill of speed very quickly overcomes the fear of death. I took chances, jumped off things, actually flew down Medicine Man. I ended up with three laps–oh so good!!!
After the third lap, I thought I should probably check-in with J. We decided to meet at Lunch Rock for the leftover pizza in my pack. It was an uneventful run down to Sunnyside, but still uberdeep. After lunch, we skiied Trestle and Roundhouse trees. Again, it was Thrill of Speed Fear of Death snow. It was the same stuff I’d been cautious on just 24 hours early because the snow was so hard and fast. Now, I flew–flew–thru it. Trees, rocks–everything coming at you so fast. Just skiing on instincts and 16″ of untracked snow. I sailed off stuff I wouldn’t have touched with a 10 meter cattle prod just yesterday. I shot between trees, made tight lines down 60 degree + faces. Oh, skiing in Colorado I LOVE you!
After a couple of runs, J was about done in. I worked all day to convince her that being extra aggressive was the easiest way to ski this piece of heaven, but I don’t think she ever really took my advice. That’s OK. The first few days I skiied blower it took me awhile to figure it out. I convinced her she should try the High Lonesome trees and she was OK with that. They weren’t steep enough for blower. They were kind of exhausting actually. After HiLo, we met Jared at Olympia and skiied down MJ Trail. I went thru some trees that reminded my I don’t ski ubertight trees anymore, even for incredible snow.
From there, we skiied two or three runs of the trees under Sunnyside off Bluebell. It was still surprisingly untracked and bottomless, though not quite steep enough for my tastes. We closed down the lifts and ended a nearly perfect ski day. As for skis, no need for 140mm, reverse cambers, the Blackeyes did a beautiful job.
There’s more to write, but I just can’t find the words to describe what happens when the thrill of speed overcomes the fear of death in bottomless snow thru steeps and trees. It makes me feel like all my dreams will come true, like I’m capable of anything and the Kingdom of Heaven is upon me. This is truly living.
SUMMER SUX!!!
September 22, 2010 at 7:53 pm |
[...] she got a Copper-WP pass, which made me gush a little and decide I should read about the infamous Day 18. While heading over to do that, I realized I’d forgotten to post day 31 and 32 events. [...]