Tuesday, March 15, 2005
Silverton Part 2
Just wanted to post some pictures sent to me from the guys from Brick, NJ. These guys were cool; apparently several are snowbard instuctors at Stratton, VT. :thumbsup:
The first image (below) was from Day 1 and the beginning of the hike from the lift. We just strapped boards on and were probably hiking for about 5 minutes. Its the guide in the lead, mergs, eric, then a skiier from MA.
This imge (below) is about another 10 minutes or so into the hike. you still cannot see the summit yet. we had 2 smaller peaks first...
This image (below) is probably about halfway or 60% of the hike done. We're probably 30 minutes from the summit (the "billboard"). That's me leading and this shot is great view of the boot path we followed. If you note that we're going slightly down hill to a saddle at the bottom of the saddle, (about where my snowboard is pointing) you'll notice a coulior. That is the coulior we dropped into on Day 3 that I described in my write-up. I remember walking past that and saying "nah... too steep" :) so in this shot I am about 1 minute from looking left down into Rope de Dope 1.
This image (below) is about 10 minutes from the summit of the "billboard" at 13,000 ft... Mergs in the lead, then Eric, then MA skiier. The guide let us go ahead bc some flatlanders were straggling. ;) There is a fixed rope to my right, but i don't think I am holding it at this point. It was useless anyway with eric yanking on it (like Batman scaling a building).
This image is of "the yurt" but its really a tent, viewed from the double chair. we were there after having a Ska later on... the bus to the right is where they store the explosives :O
This is most of the crew from Brick. and the van they picked us up in for one ride. that ride sucked. usually the rid was in a "short bus" with windows (i felt at home on the short bus) and no seats, but when i entered i expected to see bloodstained walls and meat hanging on hooks. ;)
The first image (below) was from Day 1 and the beginning of the hike from the lift. We just strapped boards on and were probably hiking for about 5 minutes. Its the guide in the lead, mergs, eric, then a skiier from MA.
This imge (below) is about another 10 minutes or so into the hike. you still cannot see the summit yet. we had 2 smaller peaks first...
This image (below) is probably about halfway or 60% of the hike done. We're probably 30 minutes from the summit (the "billboard"). That's me leading and this shot is great view of the boot path we followed. If you note that we're going slightly down hill to a saddle at the bottom of the saddle, (about where my snowboard is pointing) you'll notice a coulior. That is the coulior we dropped into on Day 3 that I described in my write-up. I remember walking past that and saying "nah... too steep" :) so in this shot I am about 1 minute from looking left down into Rope de Dope 1.
This image (below) is about 10 minutes from the summit of the "billboard" at 13,000 ft... Mergs in the lead, then Eric, then MA skiier. The guide let us go ahead bc some flatlanders were straggling. ;) There is a fixed rope to my right, but i don't think I am holding it at this point. It was useless anyway with eric yanking on it (like Batman scaling a building).This image is of "the yurt" but its really a tent, viewed from the double chair. we were there after having a Ska later on... the bus to the right is where they store the explosives :O
This is most of the crew from Brick. and the van they picked us up in for one ride. that ride sucked. usually the rid was in a "short bus" with windows (i felt at home on the short bus) and no seats, but when i entered i expected to see bloodstained walls and meat hanging on hooks. ;) 
Monday, March 14, 2005
Snowboarding at Silverton Colorado
I don't even know where to begin...
I guess I'll try to re-constitute my past 3 days in Silverton by just starting from the beginning and moving forward, but the past three days are a blur and its hard to contain my excitement and at the same relate the facts of our trip due to sheer physical and mental exhaustion...
On Wed we touched down in Montrose CO and drove up the Red Mtn pass (11000 ft) to Silverton. On the way, we stopped into Ouray and checed out this funky cool mtn town. Its home to the Ouray Ice Climbing Park. Its a man made Ice wall set into a natural gorge. The town has tapped into a water main along the top of the canyon and installed sprinklers for about 500 feet, creating an awesome set of, I think, 160 ice climbing routes. Beyond cool...
We get into Silverton on Wed night and dump our bags at the Triangle Motel.
We walk the streets for a bit and find a place to eat. Amazingly, we're winded walking stairs here... since we're at 10,000 feet it should be no surprise however.
After dinner, we're back and snoozing by 9pm.
Day 1:
Thu morning we wake up and drive up to the mountain. Some knucklehead tells us you will be in for a shock when you see the base for for the first time, becuase its "just a lift and a yurt".
Well, when we arrive, that is about all you have, but its think it cool, and frankly its all you need.
At 8:30am lineup we are thrown into groups based on hiking speed. we are placed in a medium pace group. I'm a little nervous bc I have no idea if I am really medium pace or have placed my self into a group that's too fast. But since the other 5 dudes are from NJ, one from MA, I figure a group of flatlanders will be roughly equivalent.
So we get out avy breifing, use of probe, beacon, etc. On the way over to the lift I bump into Cheers' friend Nick from VT; we talked for few minutes but I never saw him again after that. So we get on the double chair and head up. The easiest run down the mtn is the lift line, and its 35 degrees and we're looking down upon it, but we're actually not allowed to run it.
Once we get past the initial ridge and get above treeline, the blue bird skies open up and we get a full on view of the terrain up there. Wow.
So, we get off the chair we group up, throw the boards on out backs and hike a ridge for about 15 mins. Since its early and we've had warm days and cold nights, we hit the SE facing slopes first. They are softening up fast. Most of the time, the first run is a little scratchy, but OK (this pattern repeated itself for all 3 days). So we hit this 35 deg or so pitch and make some turns, drop into some ravines, more turns, another gentleslope then out to a traverse to the bus waiting for us. We hop on, go to the base and hit the lift again.
We repeated this for each lap where we went off the backside (southerly facing slopes). A similar run was in store for us for run #2. This run had a variation on the last one as we were one ravine over from run #1 and this second run included a gulley called waterfall that was 45+ degrees and pretty hammered by other groups, but ridable. It had a board length choke point that made side slipping not an option so you had to straightline it then deal with the speed at the apron. This was pretty cool, requiring either quick turns to recover or a self arrest on the steep slope below it. Since I was first, I sat off to the side a bit below wathing folks manage it well or slide it on their asses for a 100 feet. :)
On our 3rd run of the day we did an hourlong hike to the summit, which they call "the Billboard" (there is a radio reflector panel up there, from the pre-satellite days), at an elev of 13,050 feet. You will all be happy to know that yours truly reached the summit first at abt 1:05, followed closely by my buddy. It was only 1000 feet of vertical, but considering we came from sea level the day before I was glad we made it. The hike included 2 seperate ascents of smaller peaks false summits, each with a saddle to cross, and then followed by the last summit peak. The last two peaks incl the summit, being highly exposed with fixed ropes. I found the ropes useless as the two guys behind me would be yanking on it so hard, ala "Batman style", that it just messed up my momentum. I simply used the footholds as handholds and climbed it like a ladder. The guide called this the "Hillary Step" and although it was an utter joke compared to the real thing, it was frickin cool to be climbing there, at that elev in the beautiful weather we had.
Reaching the summit was a view of the San Juans that was incredible. I am sure I was looking 20 miles away at a minimum. I was breathing hard, but I caught my breath within a minute, then dropped my board down, leaned up against it and then settled down and just enjoyed the view.
The rest of the group made it up in spurts, the last guy about 10 mins back. High fives went around, everyone was smiling once they caught their breath. This little climb was an immense pleasure.
After everyone got a chance to enjoy the moment, we strapped in and dropped down into a pitch that was light powder, slightly crusty but great on a board.
This pitch was about 500 feet or so and we-regrouped above the Dope Chute, about 500 vertical of sheer rock on both sides, about 45 deg pitch, about 30 feet wide with a slight right hand bend. Think Corbett's-lite without the drop in. the conditions were highly variable. Appareently, you can never ski this in fresh pow to do so was a guaranteed death sentence from an avy, so its always bombed by avy/ski patrol. So we drop in one by one and carve turns. Its rough on many of us bc the hike has made us a bit wobbly but the snow is good and edgy, just a workout on the quads. I tried to make some good turns in there but admittingly I had to check my speed a couple of times with a heelside turn, usually up the wall a bit. No one came close to straighlining it. We all felt wobbly. But it was a cool run. Once we hit the apron, we made a right re-grouped again as ride the right side of the apron which was much gentler with nicer snow, down to the traverse out to the bus.
We grabbed the chair again and then traversed over to the front side and hiked about 10-15 minutes to a tree run about 1/4 mile up the road from the chair. Our final run of the day, we dropped into the trees and hit a stash of thigh deep pow with nicely spaced spruce and fir trees. I would day the pitch was a little bit above 35 degress but really nice for the spacing. Think the trees below the Chin, once you get into the treeling, but the branches not so close together where you cannot see the next turn... here you could see 2 -3 turns ahead. We stopped a couple of times with the guide to make sure we were all still there, and then continued down until we hit the road and awaited the bus back the base.
Since that was about 4:30, and everyone was shot, we meandered into the Yurt and downed a Ska Nut Brown to celebrate being alive and lucky enough to be here. A pat on the back to the guide and we headed down to the town for a meal and another beer, then it was sleepy time. 8:30 pm we're tucked in and snoozing again. tonight however, sleep was difficult. Both of use would repeat a pattern of sleeping for an hour, the waking for an a hour, then repeat that again. I also had a mild headache, and a little trouble breathing through my nose at times. I had water next to the bed which I drank as much as possible which also made me hit the john 3-4 times a night. The two beers were not a good idea but then again it was only two.
Day 2:
Today, since its the same guide, same group from day 1, we get to skip the avy breif and head straight up. So, we ride the chair to the top and hike about 15-20 minuted to a southeasterly slope and ride 3 pitches down to the traverse. Again being about 9:30 am, its still highly variable, challenging conditions. We all looked a little sloppy on this one. Runs 2 and 3 we variations on run 1 but usually one or 2 ravines over. By 11am everything was soft since it reached about 50 degrees, blue skies that day. We carved through a couple of natural halfpipes and then rode them out to the traverse to the bus. This traverse started to get on my nerves at this point but it was part of the game and you sucked it up without complaining (I'm complaining now ;) ).
Run 4 was off the front side which gets later sun, we started out under the chair then turned left then right into a natural ravine that served as a 1000+ foot vertical halfpipe. Some of the dudes were pretty good riders and we're pulling some nice tricks. Me I was tripping over myself trying to muster turns as day 2 was coming to a close and I was near bonked. I tried a couple of stupid tricks, such as front or back 180s, which I can normally can do off lips like this, but fail like a first day rider. I'm cooked. Its about 3pm when we get to the road, and I decide to throw in the towel for the day.
The group decides to do one more run (chair closes at 3:30pm) so they head up and do a variation of the last run but end up in the same ravine. They do however get to ride a face of the front side that has not been ridden in a couple of weeks. Its steep and the powder was pretty good. Me, I am at the yurt, chatting with some of the guides Ska Nut Brown in hand. I am ok with this. :)
We grab dinner again, I have a beer at dinner a Ska Porter which I simply cannot finish. Its tasty but I am so crushed that I just want to get back, and get into bed, which we do. Sleepy time is about 8:30pm again this night, and its another night like the last, of intermittant sleep, awake, sleep, awake. Between the shitty pillows and the 10,000 foot elev, it's rough sleeping at night for the both of us.
Day 3:
Today, we start off with a new guide and new group. The jersey boyz only were in for 2 days, so we have a group of Coloradan's with us on day 3. Nice fellas.
We start off with a short hike of about 15 minutes and drop into a ravine I had ridden on day 1. The weather pattern changed today, it was blue skies but there was wind today (it was still on day 1 and 2) and this had a rough effect on the snow. It was still pretty dang hard. We all scratched and crunched our way down a first pitch that varied between soft mash and hard crust and dropped into waterfall again. It was torn to shyte due to 2 days of groups hitting it. With the choke point now rock on the left you had to strightline or core shot your board, or just hop it. I just got to the choke ollied to rock then rode to toe side and bled speed... then mangled my way down to the traverse. the conditions were tough, and my legs were not up to the job. I decided on a strategy of biding my time for the sun to warm up the mtn, and conserving my strength, so I told our guide I was going to sit the next run out. She said, no problem, and she assured me that the third run would be a longer hike and to new terrain. I was pleased with that, and I hung out at a picnic table next to the chairlift, bs'ing with a lifty originally from Burlington, VT. the group caught up about 1:15 later and I was told I didn't miss much. Similar to run #1 and not a lot of fun.
So the group takes a short 5 minute break then we all hit the chair. Today its windy and the "the billboard" is closed as a result. I can totally understand why... the exposed sections to the summit in a wind, could easily catch a snowboard stowed on ones back, like a spinnaker on a downwind tack and knock someone off trail and off the mountain. The unfortunate soul would find themselve2 about 12-1500 vertical feet below where they started the fall down a 45-50 pitch. If they survived by avoiding the 20 cliff bands they'd still have to manage the avy whick they no doubt would have triggered on themselves. So we repeated the hike of day 1 towards the billboard but before we got to the second summit and the fixed ropes we stopped at a coulior that I had seen on our day 1 hike. I looked down on it on day 1 and said nah... I ain't got the balls for that, as we walked by it on our way to the summit. Its called Rope de Dope #1, and I am going to try and be conservative here and say it was about 48-50 degs, and 15 feet wide, about 400 vertical feet long. This day however, I am 2 minutes behind the guide and when I reach her... yep, she's clicking into her skis... above this coulior. I immediately starting getting butterflies. This thing made me part giddy, part nervous. Its so hardto describe it. I guess its adrenaline. There was no way I was not going to do this and bail, but with the same token, I kept thinking to myself: game time, no f-ups, no lazy sloppy turns (resulting in a heelside ass-check... that will get you a one way ticket to the bottom on your ass as gravity sees fit. So, I am filming this the guide, then the coloradans, then my buddy. Everyone makes it down OK. I totally OK with the fact that I used "I'm filming" to let everyone go first. :)
So I strap in, take 5 deep breaths and drop in heelside. I immediately grab the snow with the edge and it feels very firm but it all packed powder. Its great! I ride the heelside down trans to toe side ride it, hop to heel, hop to toe. How is the snow sticking to the side?? Its amazing. I get down thru the crux of this thing in about 6-8 hop turns and then ride over to the left side apron to bleed speed, and rejoin the group. Smiles everywhere. I'm brething fast but feeling great. What a rush, We then all ride down the apron into the sun and ride 2-3 pitched of nice spring powder and have a blast. The conditions were a little crunchy on planks but the boarders floated it with ease. I go first on this pitch, and I carve thru an untracked route, see a 5 ft rock, ride off it and float about 15 feet into more untracked powder and carve more turns until i reach the guide, she's smiling at me, not sure why... :) We group up again, traverse over and drop into a ravine called nightmare. Its north facing so its all light fresh powder, 4 of us decide to drop an 12 footer, and I decide hit a variation of it but at about 8 feet it had a much better landing and a more natural approach. I hit the puff pocket and ride out to a ravine making turns down to the group, everyone is smiling again. We ride the funky traverse to the bug and we're back at the base.
Unfortunately my buddy Eric who did not sit out run #2 like I did, bonked... hard. He was dragging ass on the previous hike up to Rope de 1, and although he rode the couliour like a pro, he simply sh!t the bed by the time we reached the bus. He said, I'm out. I say cool bro, take a brether I'll meet you at the yurt after...
So I join the guide at the lift. Its run #4 for her, and #3 for me, and only me, and two other CO skiiers remain. I feel perky. :) you see, I knew I would hit the wall, I just did not want to hit it early that's why I took a break early and boy am I glad I did. I get to the summit, gather up with the guide and we start towards a tree run that I thought we had done on day 1. But along the way, our guide got a call on the radio from the owner, Aaron Brill who owns the place. He said his entire group had bailed he'd like to join us. Cool! Sonya the guide says, Aaron want to check out a new place for us, lets wait here for him to catch up. We're all more than willing to wait for that! So, he arrives about 5 minutes later and takes us into the trees immediately below us. The pitch is nice somehwere in the high 30's, but not over 40 usually. We have completely fresh untracked tree protected powder... about knee deep or so. No crust just pow. We drop down about 300 feet criss crossing Arron's tracks and group up again. We're above a cliff band and I don;t know if its 5 feet or 20 but Aaron knows a way thru it so we veer off slighy right into a kind a flute in the rock and drop about 8 feet onto another powder pillow, then another 3 feet to a landing area. A stright launch looked about 20 feet, but he found us a funky way down that was probably even more fun, and all completely untracked, gorgeous pow, all shaded by beautiful big Spruce. We then ran a slot thorugh the trees for about another 200 feet, then re-grouped above a fully shaded gully with 10 foot wide lines interspersed by small baby trees here and there. Its time to stop and mention something that may/may not have occured to you yet: maybe you can tell from my stories above that there was not much pow. That is totally correct, Silverton had not had fresh snow in over 3 weeks. All the exposed bowls was 3 week old snow and worked by the 80 people each day. Simply put, I have had better conditions in the past but I've rarely seen this sort of terrain, and rode it, in my life. And that's what made this moment I am getting to so special, I was looking down into a this gully and as far as you could see was fresh pow and not a single track. I could have hugged Aaron at this point, I was giddy. So Aaron's running the show now, and since I went third on the last pitch, I get to go first, well second actually. Aaron drops in and disappears in 5 seconds behind the small trees that dot the gully on the way down. I give him a about 3 secs more and look to Sonya and she nods yes, so I drop it. I start out stright get some speed going and then start making turns around the trees, oh my gawd... the pow is so good. I cross AB's tracks a coupleof time but most of the time its fresh pow on my tip and I am turning nice, feeling sprite and loving life. I feel so good and then I hear Aaron let out a whoop, and then say, ok, hold up there partner. I stop next to Aaron and just say: "thanks man, thanks..." He's a pretty serious dude, running the joint and all, but I think I almost saw him smile. We wait for the group then I we continue this pattern... riding the gully for about 60 secs or so, re-grouping then starting again. The regroup was for 2 purposes, first to not lose anyone and second bc we were riding an avy chute (which explains why the trees were all young trees), and he wanted us on certain side of his track, depending on how he interpreted the angle, the snowpack, and sun on the snow, etc. I get to ride on AB's "6" near one of the last pitches and getting freshies again, I take the line off to AB's right and then launch off of some feature, whoosh.... its only about a 4 foot high or so but bc i had so much speed shooting a gap in the trees to reach it, i must have gone 20-25 feet horizontally to the landing which was soft and fresh and i continued making turns until I caught up to AB again. I was so happy, breathing hard but happy. The last pitch was short through some really tight trees, and I rode it out to a clearing and skiidded to a stop with the group. We then did what AB called a "cowboy creek crossing" and hopped 5 feet down from a bank of a creek walked across a gravel bar and back up the other bank to the road where we walked about 200 yards down to the lift. The run was called "1/4 Track" and it was awesome. Think H/B on a full on waist deep powder day, just longer vert, and you're the second one to drop it.
I get back to the yurt and I am trying to contain my excitement... he said "how was it"? I reply," eh, the run sucked", I didn't have the heart to tell him the truth, simply that this was one of the best runs of the 3 days. So I grab a Ska Brown and settle down and have a few sips. I see Sonya, our guide and give her a big hug, I see Aaron, over in the corner talking to two other guides, kind of shy like, and I walk up shake his hand thank him again, thanking him, told him what a great place he has and I will be back again next year. I saw the dude smile at that. Cool.
I walk back to my buddy and he said what's that all about? I then gave him the skinny on the last run. He was ok with it, he haid he had nothin left and he would not have been able to ride it anyway, so it was for the best. Sounds good. I bailed the previous day on a run #5 which he did, and on today's run #2 which he also did, so I know how it is. Its amazing what this elevation does to flatlandera like us but we did enjoy ourselves. And we're planning next years' trip already, and already we're calling this our "annual pilgrimage". We'll see...
We finished the trip at what I consider to beone of the greatest bars on earth: the explorers club.
Its got a great climber's vibe, great beer and a DIY grill in the back. You order your meat from the bartender, and he cuts up potatoes, onions, peppers, mushrooms, etc. on one plate, and the meat on the other. You then spice up your veggies and dose it with olive oil and srop it on the grill. Cool. I had a porterhouse and E had a keibasa. I did the cooking for us, and it turned out pretty damn good. It was the last night and the beer was going down too easy.
I was griiling with a smile, and with a Paulaner Hefeweizen in hand. Yum...
We head out about 10pm, which is a record for us, but we were in a celebretory mood so the it was good times. Sleep came fast that night and it was a better sleep than the previous nights.
With all this good news there's two pieces of "not so great news".
First, the video is forthcoming... but I had a technical f-up and, (it hurts even to type this) day 3's video is a black screen. :( I think something came unplugged, not sure really... but f-it, as much as it hurts to think of the lost footage. I'll never forget the visions and riding of day 3. It was truly an amazing day and a great trip. Second, on Sun morning my buddy woke up and coughed up a little blood... that was not good. He was unfazed, but I was fazed. I said let's get the f- out of Silverton (10000 ft elev) and back to Montrose (5000 ft lower). We left a few hours earlier than planned and everything is now fine. That was the only blood and he's back in NJ and doing fine. Its pretty scary though... PE is nothing to play with, and I am glad we're back at 1000 feet elevation. I slept like a rock last night, first good sleep in 4 days.
I guess I'll try to re-constitute my past 3 days in Silverton by just starting from the beginning and moving forward, but the past three days are a blur and its hard to contain my excitement and at the same relate the facts of our trip due to sheer physical and mental exhaustion...
On Wed we touched down in Montrose CO and drove up the Red Mtn pass (11000 ft) to Silverton. On the way, we stopped into Ouray and checed out this funky cool mtn town. Its home to the Ouray Ice Climbing Park. Its a man made Ice wall set into a natural gorge. The town has tapped into a water main along the top of the canyon and installed sprinklers for about 500 feet, creating an awesome set of, I think, 160 ice climbing routes. Beyond cool...
We get into Silverton on Wed night and dump our bags at the Triangle Motel.
We walk the streets for a bit and find a place to eat. Amazingly, we're winded walking stairs here... since we're at 10,000 feet it should be no surprise however.
After dinner, we're back and snoozing by 9pm.Day 1:
Thu morning we wake up and drive up to the mountain. Some knucklehead tells us you will be in for a shock when you see the base for for the first time, becuase its "just a lift and a yurt".
Well, when we arrive, that is about all you have, but its think it cool, and frankly its all you need.At 8:30am lineup we are thrown into groups based on hiking speed. we are placed in a medium pace group. I'm a little nervous bc I have no idea if I am really medium pace or have placed my self into a group that's too fast. But since the other 5 dudes are from NJ, one from MA, I figure a group of flatlanders will be roughly equivalent.
So we get out avy breifing, use of probe, beacon, etc. On the way over to the lift I bump into Cheers' friend Nick from VT; we talked for few minutes but I never saw him again after that. So we get on the double chair and head up. The easiest run down the mtn is the lift line, and its 35 degrees and we're looking down upon it, but we're actually not allowed to run it.
Once we get past the initial ridge and get above treeline, the blue bird skies open up and we get a full on view of the terrain up there. Wow.
So, we get off the chair we group up, throw the boards on out backs and hike a ridge for about 15 mins. Since its early and we've had warm days and cold nights, we hit the SE facing slopes first. They are softening up fast. Most of the time, the first run is a little scratchy, but OK (this pattern repeated itself for all 3 days). So we hit this 35 deg or so pitch and make some turns, drop into some ravines, more turns, another gentleslope then out to a traverse to the bus waiting for us. We hop on, go to the base and hit the lift again.
We repeated this for each lap where we went off the backside (southerly facing slopes). A similar run was in store for us for run #2. This run had a variation on the last one as we were one ravine over from run #1 and this second run included a gulley called waterfall that was 45+ degrees and pretty hammered by other groups, but ridable. It had a board length choke point that made side slipping not an option so you had to straightline it then deal with the speed at the apron. This was pretty cool, requiring either quick turns to recover or a self arrest on the steep slope below it. Since I was first, I sat off to the side a bit below wathing folks manage it well or slide it on their asses for a 100 feet. :)On our 3rd run of the day we did an hourlong hike to the summit, which they call "the Billboard" (there is a radio reflector panel up there, from the pre-satellite days), at an elev of 13,050 feet. You will all be happy to know that yours truly reached the summit first at abt 1:05, followed closely by my buddy. It was only 1000 feet of vertical, but considering we came from sea level the day before I was glad we made it. The hike included 2 seperate ascents of smaller peaks false summits, each with a saddle to cross, and then followed by the last summit peak. The last two peaks incl the summit, being highly exposed with fixed ropes. I found the ropes useless as the two guys behind me would be yanking on it so hard, ala "Batman style", that it just messed up my momentum. I simply used the footholds as handholds and climbed it like a ladder. The guide called this the "Hillary Step" and although it was an utter joke compared to the real thing, it was frickin cool to be climbing there, at that elev in the beautiful weather we had.
Reaching the summit was a view of the San Juans that was incredible. I am sure I was looking 20 miles away at a minimum. I was breathing hard, but I caught my breath within a minute, then dropped my board down, leaned up against it and then settled down and just enjoyed the view.The rest of the group made it up in spurts, the last guy about 10 mins back. High fives went around, everyone was smiling once they caught their breath. This little climb was an immense pleasure.
After everyone got a chance to enjoy the moment, we strapped in and dropped down into a pitch that was light powder, slightly crusty but great on a board.
This pitch was about 500 feet or so and we-regrouped above the Dope Chute, about 500 vertical of sheer rock on both sides, about 45 deg pitch, about 30 feet wide with a slight right hand bend. Think Corbett's-lite without the drop in. the conditions were highly variable. Appareently, you can never ski this in fresh pow to do so was a guaranteed death sentence from an avy, so its always bombed by avy/ski patrol. So we drop in one by one and carve turns. Its rough on many of us bc the hike has made us a bit wobbly but the snow is good and edgy, just a workout on the quads. I tried to make some good turns in there but admittingly I had to check my speed a couple of times with a heelside turn, usually up the wall a bit. No one came close to straighlining it. We all felt wobbly. But it was a cool run. Once we hit the apron, we made a right re-grouped again as ride the right side of the apron which was much gentler with nicer snow, down to the traverse out to the bus.We grabbed the chair again and then traversed over to the front side and hiked about 10-15 minutes to a tree run about 1/4 mile up the road from the chair. Our final run of the day, we dropped into the trees and hit a stash of thigh deep pow with nicely spaced spruce and fir trees. I would day the pitch was a little bit above 35 degress but really nice for the spacing. Think the trees below the Chin, once you get into the treeling, but the branches not so close together where you cannot see the next turn... here you could see 2 -3 turns ahead. We stopped a couple of times with the guide to make sure we were all still there, and then continued down until we hit the road and awaited the bus back the base.
Since that was about 4:30, and everyone was shot, we meandered into the Yurt and downed a Ska Nut Brown to celebrate being alive and lucky enough to be here. A pat on the back to the guide and we headed down to the town for a meal and another beer, then it was sleepy time. 8:30 pm we're tucked in and snoozing again. tonight however, sleep was difficult. Both of use would repeat a pattern of sleeping for an hour, the waking for an a hour, then repeat that again. I also had a mild headache, and a little trouble breathing through my nose at times. I had water next to the bed which I drank as much as possible which also made me hit the john 3-4 times a night. The two beers were not a good idea but then again it was only two.
Day 2:
Today, since its the same guide, same group from day 1, we get to skip the avy breif and head straight up. So, we ride the chair to the top and hike about 15-20 minuted to a southeasterly slope and ride 3 pitches down to the traverse. Again being about 9:30 am, its still highly variable, challenging conditions. We all looked a little sloppy on this one. Runs 2 and 3 we variations on run 1 but usually one or 2 ravines over. By 11am everything was soft since it reached about 50 degrees, blue skies that day. We carved through a couple of natural halfpipes and then rode them out to the traverse to the bus. This traverse started to get on my nerves at this point but it was part of the game and you sucked it up without complaining (I'm complaining now ;) ).
Run 4 was off the front side which gets later sun, we started out under the chair then turned left then right into a natural ravine that served as a 1000+ foot vertical halfpipe. Some of the dudes were pretty good riders and we're pulling some nice tricks. Me I was tripping over myself trying to muster turns as day 2 was coming to a close and I was near bonked. I tried a couple of stupid tricks, such as front or back 180s, which I can normally can do off lips like this, but fail like a first day rider. I'm cooked. Its about 3pm when we get to the road, and I decide to throw in the towel for the day.
The group decides to do one more run (chair closes at 3:30pm) so they head up and do a variation of the last run but end up in the same ravine. They do however get to ride a face of the front side that has not been ridden in a couple of weeks. Its steep and the powder was pretty good. Me, I am at the yurt, chatting with some of the guides Ska Nut Brown in hand. I am ok with this. :)
We grab dinner again, I have a beer at dinner a Ska Porter which I simply cannot finish. Its tasty but I am so crushed that I just want to get back, and get into bed, which we do. Sleepy time is about 8:30pm again this night, and its another night like the last, of intermittant sleep, awake, sleep, awake. Between the shitty pillows and the 10,000 foot elev, it's rough sleeping at night for the both of us.Day 3:
Today, we start off with a new guide and new group. The jersey boyz only were in for 2 days, so we have a group of Coloradan's with us on day 3. Nice fellas.
We start off with a short hike of about 15 minutes and drop into a ravine I had ridden on day 1. The weather pattern changed today, it was blue skies but there was wind today (it was still on day 1 and 2) and this had a rough effect on the snow. It was still pretty dang hard. We all scratched and crunched our way down a first pitch that varied between soft mash and hard crust and dropped into waterfall again. It was torn to shyte due to 2 days of groups hitting it. With the choke point now rock on the left you had to strightline or core shot your board, or just hop it. I just got to the choke ollied to rock then rode to toe side and bled speed... then mangled my way down to the traverse. the conditions were tough, and my legs were not up to the job. I decided on a strategy of biding my time for the sun to warm up the mtn, and conserving my strength, so I told our guide I was going to sit the next run out. She said, no problem, and she assured me that the third run would be a longer hike and to new terrain. I was pleased with that, and I hung out at a picnic table next to the chairlift, bs'ing with a lifty originally from Burlington, VT. the group caught up about 1:15 later and I was told I didn't miss much. Similar to run #1 and not a lot of fun.
So the group takes a short 5 minute break then we all hit the chair. Today its windy and the "the billboard" is closed as a result. I can totally understand why... the exposed sections to the summit in a wind, could easily catch a snowboard stowed on ones back, like a spinnaker on a downwind tack and knock someone off trail and off the mountain. The unfortunate soul would find themselve2 about 12-1500 vertical feet below where they started the fall down a 45-50 pitch. If they survived by avoiding the 20 cliff bands they'd still have to manage the avy whick they no doubt would have triggered on themselves. So we repeated the hike of day 1 towards the billboard but before we got to the second summit and the fixed ropes we stopped at a coulior that I had seen on our day 1 hike. I looked down on it on day 1 and said nah... I ain't got the balls for that, as we walked by it on our way to the summit. Its called Rope de Dope #1, and I am going to try and be conservative here and say it was about 48-50 degs, and 15 feet wide, about 400 vertical feet long. This day however, I am 2 minutes behind the guide and when I reach her... yep, she's clicking into her skis... above this coulior. I immediately starting getting butterflies. This thing made me part giddy, part nervous. Its so hardto describe it. I guess its adrenaline. There was no way I was not going to do this and bail, but with the same token, I kept thinking to myself: game time, no f-ups, no lazy sloppy turns (resulting in a heelside ass-check... that will get you a one way ticket to the bottom on your ass as gravity sees fit. So, I am filming this the guide, then the coloradans, then my buddy. Everyone makes it down OK. I totally OK with the fact that I used "I'm filming" to let everyone go first. :)
So I strap in, take 5 deep breaths and drop in heelside. I immediately grab the snow with the edge and it feels very firm but it all packed powder. Its great! I ride the heelside down trans to toe side ride it, hop to heel, hop to toe. How is the snow sticking to the side?? Its amazing. I get down thru the crux of this thing in about 6-8 hop turns and then ride over to the left side apron to bleed speed, and rejoin the group. Smiles everywhere. I'm brething fast but feeling great. What a rush, We then all ride down the apron into the sun and ride 2-3 pitched of nice spring powder and have a blast. The conditions were a little crunchy on planks but the boarders floated it with ease. I go first on this pitch, and I carve thru an untracked route, see a 5 ft rock, ride off it and float about 15 feet into more untracked powder and carve more turns until i reach the guide, she's smiling at me, not sure why... :) We group up again, traverse over and drop into a ravine called nightmare. Its north facing so its all light fresh powder, 4 of us decide to drop an 12 footer, and I decide hit a variation of it but at about 8 feet it had a much better landing and a more natural approach. I hit the puff pocket and ride out to a ravine making turns down to the group, everyone is smiling again. We ride the funky traverse to the bug and we're back at the base.
Unfortunately my buddy Eric who did not sit out run #2 like I did, bonked... hard. He was dragging ass on the previous hike up to Rope de 1, and although he rode the couliour like a pro, he simply sh!t the bed by the time we reached the bus. He said, I'm out. I say cool bro, take a brether I'll meet you at the yurt after...
So I join the guide at the lift. Its run #4 for her, and #3 for me, and only me, and two other CO skiiers remain. I feel perky. :) you see, I knew I would hit the wall, I just did not want to hit it early that's why I took a break early and boy am I glad I did. I get to the summit, gather up with the guide and we start towards a tree run that I thought we had done on day 1. But along the way, our guide got a call on the radio from the owner, Aaron Brill who owns the place. He said his entire group had bailed he'd like to join us. Cool! Sonya the guide says, Aaron want to check out a new place for us, lets wait here for him to catch up. We're all more than willing to wait for that! So, he arrives about 5 minutes later and takes us into the trees immediately below us. The pitch is nice somehwere in the high 30's, but not over 40 usually. We have completely fresh untracked tree protected powder... about knee deep or so. No crust just pow. We drop down about 300 feet criss crossing Arron's tracks and group up again. We're above a cliff band and I don;t know if its 5 feet or 20 but Aaron knows a way thru it so we veer off slighy right into a kind a flute in the rock and drop about 8 feet onto another powder pillow, then another 3 feet to a landing area. A stright launch looked about 20 feet, but he found us a funky way down that was probably even more fun, and all completely untracked, gorgeous pow, all shaded by beautiful big Spruce. We then ran a slot thorugh the trees for about another 200 feet, then re-grouped above a fully shaded gully with 10 foot wide lines interspersed by small baby trees here and there. Its time to stop and mention something that may/may not have occured to you yet: maybe you can tell from my stories above that there was not much pow. That is totally correct, Silverton had not had fresh snow in over 3 weeks. All the exposed bowls was 3 week old snow and worked by the 80 people each day. Simply put, I have had better conditions in the past but I've rarely seen this sort of terrain, and rode it, in my life. And that's what made this moment I am getting to so special, I was looking down into a this gully and as far as you could see was fresh pow and not a single track. I could have hugged Aaron at this point, I was giddy. So Aaron's running the show now, and since I went third on the last pitch, I get to go first, well second actually. Aaron drops in and disappears in 5 seconds behind the small trees that dot the gully on the way down. I give him a about 3 secs more and look to Sonya and she nods yes, so I drop it. I start out stright get some speed going and then start making turns around the trees, oh my gawd... the pow is so good. I cross AB's tracks a coupleof time but most of the time its fresh pow on my tip and I am turning nice, feeling sprite and loving life. I feel so good and then I hear Aaron let out a whoop, and then say, ok, hold up there partner. I stop next to Aaron and just say: "thanks man, thanks..." He's a pretty serious dude, running the joint and all, but I think I almost saw him smile. We wait for the group then I we continue this pattern... riding the gully for about 60 secs or so, re-grouping then starting again. The regroup was for 2 purposes, first to not lose anyone and second bc we were riding an avy chute (which explains why the trees were all young trees), and he wanted us on certain side of his track, depending on how he interpreted the angle, the snowpack, and sun on the snow, etc. I get to ride on AB's "6" near one of the last pitches and getting freshies again, I take the line off to AB's right and then launch off of some feature, whoosh.... its only about a 4 foot high or so but bc i had so much speed shooting a gap in the trees to reach it, i must have gone 20-25 feet horizontally to the landing which was soft and fresh and i continued making turns until I caught up to AB again. I was so happy, breathing hard but happy. The last pitch was short through some really tight trees, and I rode it out to a clearing and skiidded to a stop with the group. We then did what AB called a "cowboy creek crossing" and hopped 5 feet down from a bank of a creek walked across a gravel bar and back up the other bank to the road where we walked about 200 yards down to the lift. The run was called "1/4 Track" and it was awesome. Think H/B on a full on waist deep powder day, just longer vert, and you're the second one to drop it.
I get back to the yurt and I am trying to contain my excitement... he said "how was it"? I reply," eh, the run sucked", I didn't have the heart to tell him the truth, simply that this was one of the best runs of the 3 days. So I grab a Ska Brown and settle down and have a few sips. I see Sonya, our guide and give her a big hug, I see Aaron, over in the corner talking to two other guides, kind of shy like, and I walk up shake his hand thank him again, thanking him, told him what a great place he has and I will be back again next year. I saw the dude smile at that. Cool.
I walk back to my buddy and he said what's that all about? I then gave him the skinny on the last run. He was ok with it, he haid he had nothin left and he would not have been able to ride it anyway, so it was for the best. Sounds good. I bailed the previous day on a run #5 which he did, and on today's run #2 which he also did, so I know how it is. Its amazing what this elevation does to flatlandera like us but we did enjoy ourselves. And we're planning next years' trip already, and already we're calling this our "annual pilgrimage". We'll see...We finished the trip at what I consider to beone of the greatest bars on earth: the explorers club.
Its got a great climber's vibe, great beer and a DIY grill in the back. You order your meat from the bartender, and he cuts up potatoes, onions, peppers, mushrooms, etc. on one plate, and the meat on the other. You then spice up your veggies and dose it with olive oil and srop it on the grill. Cool. I had a porterhouse and E had a keibasa. I did the cooking for us, and it turned out pretty damn good. It was the last night and the beer was going down too easy.I was griiling with a smile, and with a Paulaner Hefeweizen in hand. Yum...
We head out about 10pm, which is a record for us, but we were in a celebretory mood so the it was good times. Sleep came fast that night and it was a better sleep than the previous nights.
With all this good news there's two pieces of "not so great news".
First, the video is forthcoming... but I had a technical f-up and, (it hurts even to type this) day 3's video is a black screen. :( I think something came unplugged, not sure really... but f-it, as much as it hurts to think of the lost footage. I'll never forget the visions and riding of day 3. It was truly an amazing day and a great trip. Second, on Sun morning my buddy woke up and coughed up a little blood... that was not good. He was unfazed, but I was fazed. I said let's get the f- out of Silverton (10000 ft elev) and back to Montrose (5000 ft lower). We left a few hours earlier than planned and everything is now fine. That was the only blood and he's back in NJ and doing fine. Its pretty scary though... PE is nothing to play with, and I am glad we're back at 1000 feet elevation. I slept like a rock last night, first good sleep in 4 days.
