Euro TR: Strong Men Also Cry

[JRainey]

A true inspiration...

[Obstruction]

The outside world seemed non-existent. I would get occasional texts from my wife, but for some reason the auto-correct on her iPhone would turn "I can't wait until you get home so I can blow you while we watch porn" into "don't forget we have that potluck at your sister's the day after you get back."
^^THIS IS PURE GOLD. THANKS FOR THE TR. BEST I HAVE READ. MORE PLEASE!

+1 Where has this thread been hiding.

[JoeStrummer]

OK, let's put a sad faded little bow on this thing so I can begin my next TR - either kid stoke from Copper Mountain or La Grave. You choose!

Anyway, we decided to return to the burnished fineries of civilization, and lift-served pleasure. . .



Of course, as all things eventually do, we ended up at the Mooserwirt. If you have ever celebrated the resurrection of OUR SAVIOUR on Easter Sunday with DJ Gerhard, you know what I am talking about. If you have never been to see DJ Gerhard, I cannot explain it to you. Just go.

It is loud music and crowds. . .



It is the Black Cabernet. . .



It is convincing Mike T he should just stay up all night and catch his 6:10am train to Zurich straight from the bar. My philosophy is that 2 hours of sleep is worse than no sleep at all. Mike is the 3rd person I have successfully fooled with the 6:10am train gambit, which always sounds so sensible at 3am when staggering out of Piccadilly and trying to close a half-conscious tourist girl from London. I wish I had pictures of his taxi no-showing and then him dragging his ski bag and frantically run-staggering towards the bahnhof with only minutes to go, in the process destroying the shovel of one of his skis and slashing my rando rope in half with a crampon. But I have no pictures of this epic shit-show, since I was sleeping in for several more hours.

We did make a few more turns. I think we might've ran into Marius and his crew of wild freeriders, not sure. At 1:14 of this clip we are discouraged from hanging out with them. . .



But eventually I had to return to Chamonix, as I was wondering if the horrible winds and zero-viz were going to follow me everywhere I went. Of course they did but at least I had endless blind face shots all the way to the glacier at Grand Montet for a couple days . . .



I was also concerned that Chamonix had perhaps lost some of it's EXTREMENESS in my absence. Turns out I needn't have worried. 10 FUCKING SCOOPS OF ICE CREAM IN ONE CONE?



Where else in the world would even try such madness? There are no rules here, no nanny-state Mayor Bloomberg nonsense. If you want to eat a 10 SCOOP CONE directly under a serac while smoking Gauloises and looking for Grindr hookups in Argentiere, it's nobody's goddamn business!

[Like a Boss]

Er...mah...gerd....

He's back, and hasn't lost the touch. Now I know how an 11 year-old girl feels when One Direction takes the stage...

[freshie247]

While a thoroughly enjoyable addition to your TR, I feel compelled to shatter the mythic pretense of your not so cleverly disguised Easter Egg & reveal to your fervent followers that in fact the picture at the Moosewirt was taken from the upstairs gay bar area. Please don't claim incidentally that it was the only non crowded place that offered the panorama shot, the true reason you bailed on the Innsbruck My Ass chick is painfully apparent. Your unorthodox but legally protected way of life should be embraced, not concealed. It won't detract from the minion's love of your prose.

[JoeStrummer]

^^^ I stand in whatever zone is most likely to get me some free drinks!

Even though I offered a disclaimer there would be little skiing in this TR, looking back it is even more abysmal than I thought. I have very little in terms of action photos from my return to Cham on that trip, as I put my camera away when I stepped outside at 3200 meters and could not see the Aiguille Verte. . .




But storm riding is always a fun time, except for when you get lost in the white by yourself on the Rognons. Fortunately, just wait a few moments and brightly clad crevasse / cliff poodles will come past. . . .



Providing a day-glo handrail so that you can get back down to the valley and back to what you were meant to do. What you were born to do. . .



Sorry for the shabby TR, at least as far as skiing is concerned. I just posted a photo of lift-served skiing for Chrissakes and I think people who do that are worse human beings than Mohammed Atta.

I hate to end it like this, even with sausage providing the punctuation. So I will stick a Nathan Wallace edit on the end, if only to provide some actual skiing for you to enjoy. I doubt Nate will mind, it will drive some traffic to his site where real skiers do real skiing and not just post photos of sausage and alcohol. . .



Stay tuned for my upcoming TR to Keystone. NIGHT SKIING!