"In the parking lot yesterday, I randomly ran into my friend, Mike, who was a hut keeper on one of my BC hut trips about 5 years ago. He had a crew of 3 and invited myself to ski with them. Mike and his two buddies huddled up, peeked over at me, and then one asked, "Miles, are you cool?" "I'm OK..." I said. For some reason, they let me in."
"I had no idea what I was in for... These guys were on a mission. No breaks, no water, no food, quick transitions. I barely kept it together. The first chute we skied held perfect snow and was melllow and happy. Then, Matt took me to a skinny rock-filled flute that flowed into a stunning, left-bending chute. Matt went first, revealed stones in the chute and crushed the thing top to bottom."
"I couldn't believe how quickly he appeared on the apron, throwing huge plumes of smokescreen. I couldn't handle the drop from where he started... The rocks had me freaked out. I side-stepped down a bit, then pointed it. Zero to 50 in seconds. My first speed check turn in the chute exploded in my face. It was deep. I barely kept it together the rest of the chute, trying to balance too much speed, a small air, and not digging a tip."
An unplanned meeting with a friend led to joining a three-person backcountry ski crew that moved fast with no breaks, water, or food. The group skied a mellow first chute with perfect snow before tackling a skinny, rock-filled flute leading to a left-bending chute where visible stones prompted an aggressive, top-to-bottom descent. A steep drop and exposed rocks forced side-stepping and a speed-check turn that nearly blew out the run. Repeated quick laps across sunlit slopes offered dreamy, deep-snow skiing through baby trees. A hanging snowfield over a cliff and a windlip led into a full-throttle deep chute where following a lead track proved essential.
Read at SnowBrains
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]