Snap! Back to reality

[shmerham]

Well, it was a dissapointing day back out skiing on the east after a week in Jackson and week in Utah with one day with gaper friends at K-Mart in between.

Snap as in cold snap. The summit high was -6. Really wasn't that bad though since it wasn't windy. Cannon had reported 15" in 24 hours at the top. I might have seen some pockets of 15" but most trails were crud bumps on top of glare ice. I have to say I really have been spoiled by the west. I wouldn't have been thrilled in the past about this, but I would've enjoyed it probably. Mittersill, the hike-to area had some great powder, but it was on top of some really crusty crust, not to mention rocks, stumps, etc. Impossible to pick up any speed.

I found a tree stash between Mittersill and Cannon proper. Snow wasn't too bad actually, only a little crusty. Trees were REALLY tight though. The whole going fast thing you can do in the west just isn't possible here. Despite my slow speeds I hit a chunk of ice and suddenly found one ski on one side of the tree, and one on the other. 'Oh shit' I thought. Next thing I knew, I released from my binding and suddenly I'm going downhill backwards. Slam! Into a tree I went and I made some funny sound. Totally Plakespeared it (sorry Plake but it was the same exact sequence of events). I didn't get the wind knocked out of me, but I was short of breath. I was in definite pain but not enough that I thought anything was broken. Good thing since in the 5 minutes I was there I didn't see one soul. [/rant because I'm hurt and tired]

Definitely feeling better (mentally). I think I'm pretty fortunate to have only been injured a couple times and nothing really serious or career-threatening. ...and at least I've gotten the chance to ski out west and had some truly great days here in the east.

Injury isn't too bad. Might even be able to make it out next weekend. Definitely should be back for the EC Mini. Which I'm truly looking forward to.

Bonus: I'm riding on the chairlift and all of a sudden I hear the sound of a binding releasing and I see a ski flying in the air, except it's continuing to rise and come toward me. The trail where said ski released from a skier was about 30 feet away and 15 feet lower (vertically). I'd estimate that the ski traveled 35 to 40 feet horizontally and at it's maximum vertical height was 20 to 25 feet above where it released from! I skied down to the guy who lost it, but couldn't really gather his story. I know he ducked under a rope for some pow and came back and hit the rope, but I can't really picture the event that released the binding in such a fashion. I wish I had video of it. This is kind of sad, but it was the highlight of my day.

[Mit]

Glad to hear the injury wasn't worse. Take care of yourself.

As for comming back east, I totally agree with you about the need to slow down, it is really really tight out here if you want to get some powder. Unlike out west where powder is a quiet whoosh, out here it's more like the wackity wackity of tree branches followed by powder followed by more wackity wackity, then sudden semi-controlled fall to avoid a cluster of unpassable trees.

ahhh it's good to be home..


Mildbill looking for a line at Big Jay yesterday


Gin (also yesterday) in the thick(it) of things (too bad its blurry but a good example of brambles)

[AfroMullet]

I had one of those funny binding releases once. My friends and I had built a kicker over a cat track at Holiday Valley, NY. I was, of course, the guinea pig (read my avatar thingy.) I attempted a 3 over the gap and cased the side of the cat track. Somehow I landed on my side and my ski hit the ground at an odd angle. It flew probably 20 feet in the air, and that was my last day on the Scratch BC.

[phUnk]

I was, of course, the guinea pig (read my avatar thingy.)

I pity the fool that throws a trick while guinea pigging. Save that shit for Sage and Olson.

[AfroMullet]

It's proven, I'm not the brightest.

[gincognito]

Unlike out west where powder is a quiet whoosh, out here it's more like the wackity wackity of tree branches followed by powder followed by more wackity wackity, then sudden semi-controlled fall to avoid a cluster of unpassable trees.

ahhh it's good to be home..

So true, that. If my camera hadn't crapped out, we could have had a nice soundtrack on that last run.

Sick and ashamed and happy (and, all things considered, that blurry shot at least shows some deep snow),
d.