Stevens Pass 1/25/04

[char]

My first time to Stevens.

Carnage on SR 2 in the morning. Cars, trucks, buses, plows, all over the place. More traffic than I was expecting or liked.

The girlfreind showed me around. A nice slow easy day, looks like there are lots of fun, tech. lines to be found, but I didn't hit any of them. One of those hang out with the girlfreind days, go slow, wait a bunch. Good times though.

Pollard hooked me up with a pass to White Pass so hopefully in the near future I'll have a little road trip down there. Thanks man! Bummer I didn't get to make some turns with you but the gf and I probably would have just slowed you down today.

Took off around 2:30 as the gf's legs had given out.

Stopped at the Chapel outside Sultan to refill my coffee cup. I think alot of weed has been smoked in that thing. Quite a few amusing entries in the guest book. Smelled like stale urine as well. The Reptile Zoo was considered, but we passed.

[The AD]

Originally posted by char
Took off around 2:30 as the gf's legs had given out.

Oh yeah, blame the girlfriend!

You didn't run into tibaher, a.k.a. Rehabit there, did you?

[char]

Nope, and I have no idea what those guys look like. Next time.

[Jumper Bones]

I was very lucky in experiencing the exact opposite from the women I was with.

I too had my first Stevens experience...yup, trucks flipped onto their sides in the medians, cars that went OFF THE ROAD plunging into whatever was down below, almost incessant driving snow...incredible. I was with two friends who hail from Missoula, MT and were racers there, and one from Russia/ the Ukraine, who was going on snowlerblades. Yes, gaperish, but she's decent on them and has more energy than an H-bomb.

Anyway...the skiing was unreal. First face shots I've had in years. I screwed up and brought the mid-fats, some Morrisons in the 204 length. Note to peeps out there, don't trust their on-line snow update as it said 4 inches received in 24hrs which was about a foot or two off. Otherwise I'd have brought the Iggy FFLs. But anyway, I made 'em work, and found aspets on the far skier's left of the backside area, I guess right along the resort's boundary line, to be absolutely ideal. Going throught the tight tree glades on 204s was interesting, but totally worth it.

I'm a night shift guy, usually work from midnight to 9am, and I'd had me a wierd weekend of being awake during the daytimes at the cost of sleep, about 3 hours total in two days actually, plus I was going to work again that night for my Monday. With my car at my 'rent's house in Bellevue I had another 45 minute drive waiting for me after the drive from Stevens to Belle. With being out-of-shape for skiing (day 4 of the season for me) and short of sleep, I was willing to hang it up after lunch, but the girls said no way, lets keep at it. Keep in mind that the Russian is a former ballerina and has the fucked up feet to prove it, and was on rental boots (thanks to some drunks ganking one of her boots) that flamed up her metatarsal so that her foot was unbearable, and that pow isn't ideal for snowlerblades, and even she didn't want to go. First time I can recall in a very long time that I've been pushed to keep at it and keep skiing hard by chicks.

We ended up calling it a day after about 4:30. The girls would have stayed longer, past 5 anyway, but the potential road conditions made 'em want to leave. No sleep in the car, too soaking wet and cold. But after a day like that, it was a good thing. I didn't get to my parent's until 7:30. I crashed there until 10, then showered, shaved, and hopped into the car to get to the base (McChord, south of Tacoma), jump into my uniform (I'm Air Force) and stumble into work by midnight. Then a full night of crew-chiefin', complete with scrutinizing some aircraft forms and launching a jet out on a mission to the desert. Unreal. Went home, had a beer, and I was out. Slept for 11 hours

fuckin' unreal, fellas.

Oh yeah - and for those there, you might have seen me, I was pretty hard to miss. Full camo gore-tex outfit from work - I'm between good ski outfits right now as all my shit's old and trashed - the morrisons, giro flint helmet w/white oakley goggs. Although I might have been harder to spot in the trees Yeah, I'm a jong, I know, but that day was just