Making peace with the rock gods

[Flaskman]

I was out for a nice ride yesterday on the east side of Mammoth Mtn. Had been peddling mostly uphill for about an hour when I came to a familiar location over by chair 9. I stopped to rest and gaze up at a line I love to hit every chance I get. In the summer it is interesting to see the mountain all naked and to have a chance to scout the rock situation. As I'm sitting there trying to make a mental map of the rocks in that area, I recall the rock I hit last season before the snowpack got too deep. It was on the left side, just after the big trees...as I turned to look for it it became immediately obvious...it was that rock right there! Damn that rock I thought!

But then a different attitude overwhelmed me and I had an immediate paradigm shift. I was thinking "damn that rock" and the rock was thinking "damn snowboarder". I walked over to that rock to take a closer look and low and behold...there was the black base material that peeled off of my board and left behind right on the leading edge of that rock. "This is definitely my p-tex" I thought. So instead of cursing that poor rock for just laying there minding it's own business, I peeled the little curly black material off the rock and brushed off the rock and bent down to give it a nice little kiss and begged for it's forgiveness. It was me who was the aggressor here, it was me who assaulted it without provocation, it was my fault for not missing it, though it was buried under enough snow to hide it's presence. I am on a mission to be at peace with all the pertinent mountain and river gods.

So with sweat dripping off my face I said my peace and went on my way. Now I hope I have a clean slate with the rock god, and I certainly have a better understanding of where the rocks are right in that particular area. I picked out a better line and hope to get to rip some nice fat turns right next to my new rock friend real soon.

[MOHSHSIHd]

ha....if I did that I would have to kiss like 3000 rocks in summit and eagle counties.....half of my skis are in them hills

[buckethead]

nice sentiments, Flaskman.
have similar plan (w/o bike) to scope out the woods at MAD for big rocks and stumps and saplings, and visualize some new lines for the winter. though my hope is to know where the nasty ones are to avoid kissing them through the snow. i lucked out last spring sliding off an ice waterfall in a back somersault.
soft landing zone - and laughs - all around.

[hutash]

Fuck that, take a crow bar to that bastrad and send it rolling into Mammoth creek. Now if I hit any rock this season I will be thinking, "Damn that Flaskman, he had a chance to deal with this bitch, but he left it here for me to hit". I will be sending you the bill for any core shots I get this season at Mammy.

[Flaskman]

I hear ya Hutash, sorry. But what you describe would take way too much effort, this was a big rock mind you. But maybe I shoulda pounded another rock on it on that uphill side to smooth it out a bit.

I figured I'd kiss it, mentally map it, and I guarantee I won't hit it again this year. And though I don't have to worry about all of Summit County, I do pretty much have all of Mammoth mapped for rocks that I have to worry about at different snow levels. But no matter how many you know about, there's always a couple more to learn about every year.

[yogachik]

Thread is worthless without pictures

Nice story - so glad you're living there now. Awesome to see the weekend warriors migrate there, for a new life.