TR: Mt Slurpee, Fourteener 06-16-07

[TeleHoar]

Remember the Icee?

A frozen treat in a wax cup. 3 sizes, 3 flavors; cherry, grape and cola.

Before the slurpee, the slushie and the smoothie, the Icee was king. A smartly sweatered polar bear with a red scarf would peek out from behind the Icee logo, daring you to try one. A knowing look in his eye seemed to be saying: “You are about to embark on a journey of syrup and frozen ice shavings that will make your childhood complete

It's 7AM, the sun has been up awhile already






School was out and I am 8 years old, it is a hot summer day and there is only one thing that will satisfy; the cold sugar crack of youngsters with an allowance. A quick trip on my Schwinn Stingray (with a banana seat and a Carl Yastremski baseball card proudly clothes-pinned to my spokes) to the 7-11 just three blocks away would yield the trophy of youth. A large Cola Icee! The cost was 25 cents, you had to pump the syrup yourself. The 7-11 guy would watch you carefully as prepared your own drink. For a few extra pennies you could score some Bazooka Joe bubble gum and maybe a Jolly Rancher or two.


The way up.




Old soda bottles were the bartering means of exchange for an eight year old addict. The neighborhood was gleened for sticky old bottles of Fanta and Pepsi, No trash can was safe, the road was scoured on both sides for the golden litter, every bottle bringing you a nickel closer to your goal. The moment that the fifth bottle was found it was a race to the 7-11 with a bag of pirate glass. Turn in the bottles and receive your reward. The Icee firmly in hand, lid on, with a long red straw, was relished and worshipped as you sat on the curb in front of the little store.

The summit was a short hike from the lake. Amazingly beautiful moment at 14K. No wind, warm...in fact - may have been too warm...




A summit Kiss


Icee’s taught patience as you could only consume the beverage so fast. To the gluttenous and headstrong drinker lay the penalty for not sipping slow; the dreaded Icee headache, two minutes of torture and pain that no eight year old should ever suffer. A vice of enormous pressure applied equally to each temple turned little boys into screaming little girls. “Just make it stop…I will do anything!”

A short downclimb to the top of a great looking snowfield.


Summer time is magic when you are eight years old. A special time of the year when being a kid was the pinnacle of human evolution. Kids own the summer. The smell of chlorine from the local pool and freshly mowed grass, the taste of bubble gum on your tongue, grasshoppers fleeing your path as you walk through the fields on a new adventure of a hot summer morning. Boredom was the enemy; bicycles, pools and baseball were your shields of defense. Cut-off jeans and plain white t-shirts were the uniforms of the faithful, stained with the cherry red blood of candy and Kool-Aide.


Let the skiing begin!








I have now been through many many summers, Somewhere along the way it has lost most of it’s magic. But every now and then, the smell of a pool full of kids or a field of wild grass, will bring me right back. I want nothing more than to ride my bike down to the local 7-11 and have an Icee as I sit on the stoop. The polar bear winks and nods approvingly

Boston Sarah




Some thicketeering on the way out


Our route down = blue dots, red pac-mans = safe zones to stop in.


Lines to the lookers left.



Pretty picture on the way out


Mt Democrat


It was too warm for safe skiing. We left the Summit around 10:30, The conditions looked great on the way up, firm and nicely frozen from the night before. We were wrong.

As we dropped in I made the first few turns, went over the handlebars, recovered, made another two turns when I saw over my right shoulder some sluff following me from my last turn. I skied right through it and realized it was substantial. I rode right out of it and stopped to wait. I watched the sluff ride all the way down the face, gathering more steam. SHHHHHH was all I could hear and actually was very loud. This is when I got a bit nervous.

Seeing this picture later, I realize I set off two more sympathetic point releases from the rocks to the lookers right. I couldn't have known from where I was at the time. The slop was only 4-6" deep, had it been any more deep I could have been in some serious trouble, the slide went a long way.

Christian and Sarah were great. we made our way down very carefully. we picked good safe zones and skied one at a time till we were well out of danger. As were coming down we could see other point releases going off around us. Every turn sent a little sluff going. We skied the bed surfaces most of the way down.



Everybody was fine, It could have been much worse. But I think we all agreed that it was too late for this descent. It just didn't get cold enough the night before and we were skiing on a record-breaking hot day.

8 hours after starting up, were back at the shuttle car at Montgomery and glad to have put such an awesome day behind us.

I have had enough of slurpee's, Icee's or snowcones for awhile...I need a beer.

[smitchell333]

Good write-up - esp addressing the slurpee conditions.

I've wanted to do that line off Dem for a couple years.

Wet slides - not so fun, even though they're slow and unlikely to grab you its never good to see the snow moving in significant quantities. Its definitely in a transition period - those super hot temps during the day and not so cold at night dont make for a good combination. If we can get some cold temps at night it should lock up and last for another month or so, but if it doesnt we could be done skiing very soon.

[berko]

Brain Freeze!!!!!!!!!

[StanWagon]

On the same day that you were on N-facing Democrat we were on Buckskin, next peak south, on a south-facing line, with some steepness, and conditions were fine.

On the next day we went to Grizzly (Independence Pass) and found similar slushy conditions on the N facing Chute, though nothing rolled very far and we felt it was safe.

So it seems that south-facing must bake faster and settle in sooner?

Aside: From Buckskin we saw two people skiing the S side of Democrat. I'm guessing that provided better skiing than the N side on that day.

[powdork]

The slurpee talk took me back, but the cards in the spokes was the icee on the cake. Good times.

I went to the movies 2 days ago with 2 of my daughters. They each got a slurpee. it set me back 10 bucks! How many bottles would I need to return to get that?!

[TeleHoar]

Aside: From Buckskin we saw two people skiing the S side of Democrat. I'm guessing that provided better skiing than the N side on that day.

Yeah, we ran into two guys from Fairplay on the top headed back down the south side. They had been skiing all over that area.
I think your assessment sounds pretty good. The south stuff seemed great on the way up.

[IridePow]

Nice outing!

Glad you played it safe with the slurpee.

[MakersTeleMark]

Another great ski descent with solid partners. The line itself was safe in a kick off a big slide and ski the bed surface rinse and repeat sort of way. Our utilization of carefully chosen safe zones and excellent coordination made this descent possible. FYI, Scotty, there were no sypathetic slides. The one you see high looker's right in your photo released while I was backing out of the first safezone. I hustled backwards across the face (I heart twintips) and watched it flow by, that's why I took so long.

Heading Up From Kite Lake:



Kite Lake Still Frozen:



Scotty Hydrates The Arid Landscape While Routefinding:



Approaching Democrat's Summit:



Scotty Drops In:



Waiting Out A Slide:



The Posse:



Scotty Likes The Line:



Hopping Back On Snow:



Obligatory Point:



The Face:



On Sunday, Sarah and I slept in, went out for eggs bene, and took Bailey up into the Holy Cross Wilderness for some stick throwing and fishing.

The Lake:



Bailey Hucks:



Good Retriever:



A Nice High Alpine Cutthroat:



Shadow Of A Peak:

[Dhelihiker]

You left your headlights on!!

[TeleHoar]

Cool shots!
Great day!

So those were the slides you were waiting for...glad they waited for Sarah and I to get out of the way!

Those were going off all around us as we went down, Not so bad when you are the one kicking them off but I would hate to be below as it came down on you.

Once again...thanks for the tour!
(I have more pictures of Sarah skiing but they didn't make the first go around to photobucket for some reason...I'll post them up tonight!)

[Hutch]

Looks fun.

There is (almost) nothing hotter than a chick with skis on her back and a sox cap on her head!

[powdork]

(I have more pictures of Sarah skiing but they didn't make the first go around to photobucket for some reason...I'll post them up tonight!)

Wy tonite? Wynotnow?

There is (almost) nothing hotter than a chick with skis on her back and a sox cap on her head!

Sure there is.

[MakersTeleMark]

^^^

Sarah being a born and bread Vermonter would not appreciate that one bit. Here, let me highlight something for you:

[TeleHoar]

^^^Ha
great photoshops

Sarah is one of the best ski partners you could have. She does some extremo-gnarly stuff. But more importantly she always as such a great outlook. I've seen her hung-over and sick but she always manages a smile, and I don't think I've ever heard her complain once. I count myself fortunate to tour with her.

So.

I had to get back to the home computer where my images are kept.
S'more of the core - no - fear Sarah De'Minturn;





Big mistake leaving the Fourteener book with me Christian. It can only lead to skiing more stuff like that!

[leroy jenkins]

Trey Anastasio is a maggot?

Fun looking day guys, I like the doggy stoke at the end.

[deepsquat]

Good stuff folks.



(Next time, how about a PM?)

[FiveLarge]

Good stuff folks.



(Next time, how about a PM?)

What, you wanted to go ski that again?

[StroupSkier]

Nice TR!

But seriously, what's up with letting the lady lead the bushwack?

[bean]

Nice. I was there Sunday, much less snow on the final walk to the summit than there was in your picture. No slides though on the way down.

[FiveLarge]

I should have posted my comment when making my snide comment to deepsquat.

Good stuff...I finally got that face this year with deepsquat, after 2 failed attempts due to weather/conditions about 3 years ago. It's a really fun face, with what I would consider to be excellent access. Thanks for the photo you had posted some time ago from Clinton...that was helpful for current conditions at the time I hit it around Memorial Day.