Hiking

On the way up the gondola today I said to Dan that I’d be third position on blues because I don’t have any returns. Then, “Of course, having said that means I’ll be last on yellows.” I was the only one on yellows. We didn’t have any beginners at all, so the reds and yellows instructors had no work. Dan asked if I wanted to shadow him because he’s evidently so good at it. It was funny to see nine instructors huddled around when he went by with his class of four greens. Someone suggested each kid could get two instructors today.

It was only snowing a little more than yesterday, but cloudy and chilly. I decided to hike a bit to warm up and work out. I hiked a short way up to the backcountry exit point from Peak 5, and skied from there down The Abyss. That’s very much like it sounds: a double black with a very steep narrow section flanked by trees. I skied it once in a training clinic. I liked it so much that I did it twice, though I didn’t hike the second time but just traversed through the woods. I confess, at one steep part I sideslipped a little because I wasn’t confident I could turn my long skis quickly enough to keep a controlled speed. The bottom of The Abyss opens up into a wide powder bowl and I had enough speed and wax to just play around there back and forth.

Next, I did the long, tiring hike all the way up to the main backcountry exit point from 9990. They keep all those gates at the end of a hike to keep people from accidentally going to them. I didn’t have my camera, and don’t want to do it again, so you’ll just have to believe that I did it. This gate had lots of forbidding signs. One had a skull and crossbones and: “You are leaving the ski resort. YOU CAN DIE! This is your choice.” The others had all the usual warnings about how the backcountry has no ski patrol services, including avalanche control. One must always carry an avalanche beacon, probe, and shovel, and never travel alone. I didn’t go in there of course, one more thing I won’t do this season after all. Instead, I jumped down the deep untouched powder of the face and skied it back down to the top of 9990. Yes, it was nearly thigh-deep, and yes, it was amazing, but such a short drop wasn’t worth that long an uphill hike.

Fortunately the north face of 9990 was finally open, and I skied down Red Pine Chutes. That was possibly the best run I’ve done. It was steep, with trees spaced just wide enough apart and filled up with gorgeous knee-deep powder. Someone should do a neurological study of what goes on in my brain when I ski through such powder, because it’s indescribable. I slowly fell once when I overbalanced down the hill, and I hooked my ski behind a tree trunk to stop my descent... so in a sense I was hanging upside down from a tree by my ski in the deep snow. As soon as released the ski to twist my feet back beneath me, I slid down into the next tree.

Near the top of my hike Matthew called me and said he’d be at Daybreak lift, so I worked my way back there. I met Bill and his double-blue class at the Peak 5 lift line: Nicole was with him and called to me. I rode up with her and another girl who laughed a lot. He took them to Mystic Pines, a none-too-easy black tree run, and taught them some stuff I might want to un-teach them, like to do a big wedge when turning down the steep hill between moguls. I skied on a different way and met Matthew at the top of Dreamscape and Dreamcatcher lifts. He led me to a powder-filled wood we think is Fool’s Paradise; that was a lot of fun. Then we went up and through Phantasm Woods and Illusion to do the jump at the bottom there, but neither of us got much speed or air in the deep snow there. We both wanted to return early, so we went up again just so that we could return through Deja Vu, Bliss, and then White Water and Cascade. I had planned on hitting Red Pine Chutes again because I enjoyed it so much but by the time we got back up Tombstone it was nearly 1:00PM, and Matthew agreed to try Deshutes. I have determined that run is good if you stay in the woods where it isn’t tracked out. He thought it would be easier to go where everyone had gone before, and ended up doing a “falling leaf” sideslip through the steep hard parts because he was tired. I think on that run my skis took a couple of shallow scratches though they survived everything else.

Half-days of mostly double-black runs are about as much as my tired body can reasonably take, and I’m pleased with today. I'm even glad I didn't get work. Matthew went down the gondola but I did another run on The Pines, which is always good, and took Silverado to the bottom. The fresh snow changes everything. I returned home around 2:00PM to have a breakfast of eggs and sandwiches: I hadn’t had a bite to eat all day. Then I played video games for a couple hours, and took a nap for a couple more. Josh and Vanessa had some noisy guests over after I got up and showered.

I cooked up a storm tonight: I had a late dinner of chicken liver with chopped onions, mushrooms, and radishes; spinach cooked with sliced garlic; steamed asparagus; and rice. That was one of the fanciest and healthiest dinners I ever cooked. I could only eat this sort of thing because I cooked it myself. I went to so much effort cooking that I opened up my Chianti even though nobody else wanted any. I’m hoping the red wine will neutralize all the cholesterol from the livers, and the overdose of vitamins will restore me to full health.