What's new

Alpine skiing?

Owen Bawn

Garden party cupcake scented
Tuckerman Ravine? That's on my bucket list; I doubt I'll have the stones to go off the headwall but I'd love to make the trip.
I never made it to the top of the headwall, no. It is almost a 45 degree angle to sea level up there. Your ski tails are at the back of your head!
tuckermans.jpg
tuckermans2.jpg
 
It is almost a 45 degree angle to sea level up there.

100% grade is more freefall than freeskiing. :eek2:

At least if something untoward happens, you won't have to stomp back up to retrieve gear. It will plummet to the angle of repose right along with you!

June skiing? Lift served here on Wyeast. Along with July. But my Timberline spring pass usually stops working after Memorial Day.
 
I never made it to the top of the headwall, no. It is almost a 45 degree angle to sea level up there. Your ski tails are at the back of your head!

100% grade is more freefall than freeskiing. :eek2:
Last season there was a big snow whale on the steepest part of the small hill I patrol at, and the backside of it was right at 45 degrees for about 20 vertical feet (I measured it). I got my edges razor sharp and hit that thing a few dozen times, and man, it seemed like I was going over a cliff every time I did it. Steepest thing I've ever been on; by the time it was groomed out I didn't look like a total newbie, but dropping in over hundreds of vertical feet of it? Not likely.
 
I've been skiing plenty, but not posting here much. Driving solo to the mountain, I've been staying after my companions have headed home. I've gotten 20 days in, but about 750k vertical feet. Skiing seven or more hours adds up!

Yesterday I traversed, twice, into double diamond Clark Canyon, the most remote part of our area.

Looking up canyon toward the summit of Mt. Hood / Wy'east from my high point:
F57464F5-A5C6-47CE-A44D-1F3C8B07A441.jpeg

The double diamond relates more the remote access and objective hazards (cliffs, fallen rock, creek holes, icing, avalanche) than to steepness.

Dramatic cliff/waterfall/creek hole:
F62EBBA1-2DEB-49C6-AD7F-529C5D7B84CE.jpeg


Looking back up towards that hole from near the flats / run out:
D2F164FC-E2A5-46E1-9BF9-35EE330E5571.jpeg

On the topic of icing, three of five skiers, observed on entry to the traverse of the last ridge before the canyon, fell on an area of ice. I was solo and had a minor fall in failing visibility on my second lap. That's one. A younger skier, one of two guys, was struggling to get back up on my first lap. A gal snowboarder, leading her partner on skis, crashed below me on the second lap. Patrol was still working on evacuation an hour later, after the canyon had closed for the day.

Play safe out there!
 
Skiing since my 3th... so half a century. For now europe is not realy available due to covid. Else I would be in either Zillertal or preferably Italy where you can ski more between the trees and still on piste. Lol and better food.
Last time I was in Breckenridge it was also very nice especially that sweet dry powder you get and empty slopes on some of the days I was there.
Hope next year to sharpen and wax my Volkl Grizzlies for some nice trips around zillertal but might be a year later before covid stabilizes heck could always go ski in august on the gletcher if they are open.

Wish you all prestine virgin snow on empty slopes with enough elevation to make you roar in anticipation

Schi Heil!
 

Attachments

  • 06E48BE3-D8B9-42EF-AEEB-61FC8CB0971C.jpeg
    06E48BE3-D8B9-42EF-AEEB-61FC8CB0971C.jpeg
    94 KB · Views: 6
  • 9B7700F3-AB44-4177-99C6-4DC788D0F240.jpeg
    9B7700F3-AB44-4177-99C6-4DC788D0F240.jpeg
    44.2 KB · Views: 6
Hit my million vertical feet on a warm day of spring skiing last Friday. Then winter returned for the weekend at 5000' altitude and above, but I wasn't free to ski.

Next Friday/Saturday are the final days at my main area. Then through Memorial Day my other pass will still work, with the high lift going up to 8200'. With a short climb up and over the lift house, the quiet out-of-bounds upper mountain is available for for skiing. Safe, if you are savvy.
 
I got out once this season for about 20 minutes: long enough to realize that it was a really bad idea, considering the torn ligament in my ankle. Surgery's scheduled for early May, and I should be ready for snow by the start of next season.
 

Owen Bawn

Garden party cupcake scented
I sent Italy's Sofia Goggia a tweet telling her I'm available to ski with her when she goes up to the Passo dello Stelvio (the Stelvio glacier) to train this July, but I haven't heard anything from her yet. I'll keep everyone posted.
 
Hit my million vertical feet on a warm day of spring skiing last Friday. Then winter returned for the weekend at 5000' altitude and above, but I wasn't free to ski.

Next Friday/Saturday are the final days at my main area. Then through Memorial Day my other pass will still work, with the high lift going up to 8200'. With a short climb up and over the lift house, the quiet out-of-bounds upper mountain is available for for skiing. Safe, if you are savvy.

Congratulations!
Snowing in Colorado now.
Just keep skiing ⛷
 
I put in a couple tune-up days back in early December. Then I was sidelined by some medical advice. It even looked like I might not ski again this season.

But I won my case on appeal to the specialist (a skier). On Monday I was cleared to return to the slopes. Yesterday I did. I had lost my tuck, which was significant due to high winds. But...

Lift lines ranged from short to non-existent. And I had enough muscle tone left to ride up forty times, to the tune of over 40,000 vertical feet of mostly hard, fast blue groomers. The diamonds were badly in need of freshening.

The stoke was particularly strong in me.
 
Well heck, this is another case of great minds thinking alike. My surgery went well, I'm fully recovered and am on a ski trip right now.

Yesterday I was at Whiteface, home of the 1980 Winter Olympics. Today was Mad River Glen. Tomorrow I'll be at Stowe for three days. Three places I've never been to before. MRG is really a special place, if I lived nearby I'd absoluteley be a member. Whiteface... *ShakeHead*... it's NUTS how fast those guys were taking the downhill course in the Olympics.
 
Top Bottom