M
so sunday was the day this week, blue bird day. headed up, unloaded and met greg and highmark up top. was going to be a great day, my two favorite riding buds in my favorite spot. who could ask for anything more? so we bs for a little while, one of the reasons i love riding with these guys is we just click. no drama, no bs, we're there to ride, nothing else. the riding is always great and the laughs in between just can't be beat. it also doesn't hurt that they both are great riders, no liabilites here. the three of us together in the trees can cover some ground and thats what we were about to do. no bozo's was our first destination, lets ride.
headed into the trees, snow was all over the place. set here, bottomless there, tree wells were huge down here, made for some interesting lines. got going a little further in and things improved, snow was still funky but tree wells were filled in, sweet. go to the bottom of the ridge and it was time to start scouting for a way over. we poked up a couple of ways and got pinched. so kept heading left and got to a spot where we all took our own lines and started looking in different areas. got all back together and headed up where there were a couple of big pulls to get over. a little bigger than the conditions were gonna allow. we were kind of following a step in the middle of the hill and there were nice trees and rocks poking out, what better place to roll up and pull a couple wicked commitment lines!!! just love picking the line thats gonna take me right to the point of losing or making it. feels great when you make it, your probably in a tree if you don't. nothing like holding your line and looking back at your buds and giving them a little wave, always nice to know thier still back there
so the first couple just get me pumped, got to the end of the step and greg and doug stopped so i pulled 3 or 4 back to back. going a little higher and more technical everytime. was a great time when you hit the end, set the sled, roll over to your shoulder and head back the other way. have just been in the groove the last few rides, gelling with the pro. can't say enough about this sled, has most defiantley advanced my riding level. so was wondering how long my luck was gonna hold out, when doug and greg headed back. got all back together at the top of the ridge, me smiling from ear to ear. it was time to head to superbowl. lets ride.
dougs in front and cuts up the ridge a little early. me and greg go over a little farther and turn up. each taking our own lines. is a nice pull up to the top, pretty steep and lots of trees, love it. so i top out right at the top where we usually do. look around no greg or doug. can hear them over in the trees banging through. eventually we were all up top checking out the view. this place is huge, lets you know how insignificant of a speck your are in scale!!! the bowl is just an avalanche waiting to happen. rollers were coming off just from the vibartion of our voices and had some monster cracks all over the place. had been wanting sooooo bad to get in there and top out, there was a perfect line up and out right at the end of the cornices. had been dreaming about cutting some sweet sidehills through the trees. but it was not to be, seems none of us had a death wish this day and decided it better not to push our luck. decided to head over to no cigar, had a couple of nice ridges to get over. lets ride.
so we start bangin our way back, no back tracking that would be silly. coming off the ridge was quite the thrill. snow was slick underneath, most defiantly a slide it sideways as much as possible to scrub some speed kind of day. so we get to the bottom of the first ridge we need to get over and start heading down along it looking for a place to get over. all real steep and full of trees. finally found the perfect spot, was in the middle of a little saddle and had half the trees. the only problem was trying to find a way to get there. after poking around for a minute greg spotted the line in and pointed it out to me. sweet. got to the bottom and picked my line up, was a nice little steep pull with plenty of obsticles to make it interesting. i like to come in slow and get squared up with my line and then hit it. everytime i got to the point where i thought i was about to get into it something banged me or i saw i had to change my line, so i was a lot farther up the hill before i was able to get my mo going than i had planned. no problem with the pro, get in the gas and feel the front come just a couple inches off the snow and here we go. no letting off now its time to carve to the top. get almost to the crest and can see the top is lined with small trees, no way i'm turning out, so pick a spot i can get into and figure i'll take my chances from there worked out well was an easy turn to the left and follow the saddle up to the top. figured i'd go up to the higher right side of the saddle and get a better view over to the next ridge. the trees in the saddle were more open and the upside had a ton of steps one after the other. made it over the first few, even had to walk a couple of them out! came up to a 10 footer and knew i shouldn't but the pro just gives you sooooooo much confidence. so i hit the bottoom gas it and get it to point up, skis up in the air, pinned, starting to trench, off and walking. down, i'm blaming this one on the pro, if it didn't do things all day long it shouldn't i wouldn't have even thought about hitting it so gregs coming up behind me and doesn't want me to feel bad so he does a sympathy stuck just below me! what a great guy!!! so we get ourselves out and ready to go. got one more ridge to get around, figured this one would be better to follow up the other way and top over where it junctions with another. lets ride.
so now i'm feeling it, moving good. making some nice carves through the drains. plenty of verticle spots to clear and keep moving. got hung again in one thinking i could go straight up where i couldn't! figured instead of bailing down to the bottom after we cleared the ridge we'd just carve along the side and bail down somewhere else. got to a spot and was needing a break, was sweating pretty good but man was just eating it up. so i stop and just minute later greg comes pulling up. we sat there for a few and doug comes pulling up. seems he wasn't having as good a time in the back and expressed his displeasure with my line choice and change of flight plans we were almost to the top of the backside of the mt. so we headed up and ended up at a little lake just before the crest. time for lunch! doug always has the hot dogger ready to go and today was one of my favorites, cheese filled little smokeys with mustard. even had toothpicks so we didn't have to burn our little fingers, perfect! after our munch session we decided to head down around the next ridge and then up. lets ride.
sweet coming down, sliding, carving, hoping that next bluff isn't too steep on the other side. got down to the marsh and set our sights on the back side of no cigar. awesome ride up, lots of steep parts and then you'll come up to part where it flattens out and then bam, back to climbing. always love it when you come up to the top and see sky poking out between the trees, you know your home. so topped out just to the right so we had to cut just a little over to the left to hit the bowl. kind of scary up here, makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up. been off the top of that ridge plenty of times but still never like bailing off the top when you didn't climb out first. you just never know, especially on a day like today, if your gonna get enough traction to slow down before you have to get around the trees. so doug finds the best spot to bail off between the cornices. if it wasn't for him i think me and greg would have bagged this and found another way. but this is dougs thing, loves the steep. takes some big ones to be the first one to bail, think i saw them dragging in the pow when he got to the bottom!!! next greg, then me. we all got together at the bottom of the hill and i shook dougs hand and thanked him for taking me out of my comfort zone. your never gonna improve unless you push yourself. we were ready to head down to the face. lets ride.
hit the bottom and headed over, did a couple of quick marks on the face and headed up the left side. carved a nice sidehill up to the first set of trees. snow was soft, hard, bumpy and icy all within a 200 yard carve. got up to the end where you have to carve through the trees and got bucked off. no turning out, did a superman up to the trees where i could drag myself back up as i turned down to the next section. made some marks on mangina hill, was gonna highmark dougs by 30-40 feet but got bumped just where he starting turning out and was all i could do just to keep 10 feet above his. greg comes up last on the 600 and gets the line and marks us all easily. we all head down and gather up at the end of the lake. time for the adventure back down to the road. this last couple of miles is always the toughest, trees get ultra tight in places and drains everywhere. lets ride.
we take turns in front here, after a few minutes of bouncing side to side you wonder if you've totally lost your ability to find your way through. then you start following the next guys line and you think, where the he!! is he going got down in one drain and was fighting it back and fourth and had enough. decided it was time to make the pro earn its due. picked a line up the side and out. got started and had a small drop between two trees, hit it and sank to the boards. this wasn't gonna stop me, wiggled the boards and hit the gas and the pro clawed its way out! now its time to roll and carve up the bank. rolled, gassed, pulled up on one ski and carve out, priceless!!! so gregs behind me and doug hit the other side of the drain and heads down. greg really has no choice but to follow my line, he makes it through where i had to wiggle no problem. then he hits the roll and go spot, i'm watching as he gives the sled a test pull to see how its gonna roll. i'm thinking to myslef perfect, just what i would've done. so he rolls and goes and right up top with me, nice pull greg!!! so we decide to head back over to the other side and follow dougs line. would be pretty easy in this stuff to end up rolling your sled and get pinned underneath. so we come up to a creek where he had jumped across. i wish i would have got a pic, he jumped downhill, banged into the other bank and then somehow went between 2 trees you could barely fit through. ugh, so now i'm stopped 3 feet from the edge thinking once i hit the other side i'm gonna hit his trench and be in a tree. but theres no going back and greg mentions he thinks he sees the road from where we are. well i hit it, bang the other side and on the gas, hit the trench and just what i thought, right towards the tree. no problem, was already expecting this, off gas on brake and just kissed the tree. drug it back and out. greg did a little line improvement and hit it, made the creek, on the gas, bounced off the tree i kissed, up and out and carved right around the back of my sled. the road was another 20 yards!!!
so this is where we part ways. have pulled up to this spot before with other groups after a day in the trees and not been greeted with such enthusiasim. more like i've had more than enough and if i had a gun i'd shoot you so since i don't lets just go. not today, hooting and hollering with smiles all around!!! we all had a awesome time and pulled lines that won't soon be forgotten, thats what i'm talking about!!! great friends who can ride in a great place, it just doesn't get any better. the sun was setting as we said our goodbyes, was time to go, one last time, LETS RIDE...
originally posted at www.sledspace.com
headed into the trees, snow was all over the place. set here, bottomless there, tree wells were huge down here, made for some interesting lines. got going a little further in and things improved, snow was still funky but tree wells were filled in, sweet. go to the bottom of the ridge and it was time to start scouting for a way over. we poked up a couple of ways and got pinched. so kept heading left and got to a spot where we all took our own lines and started looking in different areas. got all back together and headed up where there were a couple of big pulls to get over. a little bigger than the conditions were gonna allow. we were kind of following a step in the middle of the hill and there were nice trees and rocks poking out, what better place to roll up and pull a couple wicked commitment lines!!! just love picking the line thats gonna take me right to the point of losing or making it. feels great when you make it, your probably in a tree if you don't. nothing like holding your line and looking back at your buds and giving them a little wave, always nice to know thier still back there
so the first couple just get me pumped, got to the end of the step and greg and doug stopped so i pulled 3 or 4 back to back. going a little higher and more technical everytime. was a great time when you hit the end, set the sled, roll over to your shoulder and head back the other way. have just been in the groove the last few rides, gelling with the pro. can't say enough about this sled, has most defiantley advanced my riding level. so was wondering how long my luck was gonna hold out, when doug and greg headed back. got all back together at the top of the ridge, me smiling from ear to ear. it was time to head to superbowl. lets ride.dougs in front and cuts up the ridge a little early. me and greg go over a little farther and turn up. each taking our own lines. is a nice pull up to the top, pretty steep and lots of trees, love it. so i top out right at the top where we usually do. look around no greg or doug. can hear them over in the trees banging through. eventually we were all up top checking out the view. this place is huge, lets you know how insignificant of a speck your are in scale!!! the bowl is just an avalanche waiting to happen. rollers were coming off just from the vibartion of our voices and had some monster cracks all over the place. had been wanting sooooo bad to get in there and top out, there was a perfect line up and out right at the end of the cornices. had been dreaming about cutting some sweet sidehills through the trees. but it was not to be, seems none of us had a death wish this day and decided it better not to push our luck. decided to head over to no cigar, had a couple of nice ridges to get over. lets ride.
so we start bangin our way back, no back tracking that would be silly. coming off the ridge was quite the thrill. snow was slick underneath, most defiantly a slide it sideways as much as possible to scrub some speed kind of day. so we get to the bottom of the first ridge we need to get over and start heading down along it looking for a place to get over. all real steep and full of trees. finally found the perfect spot, was in the middle of a little saddle and had half the trees. the only problem was trying to find a way to get there. after poking around for a minute greg spotted the line in and pointed it out to me. sweet. got to the bottom and picked my line up, was a nice little steep pull with plenty of obsticles to make it interesting. i like to come in slow and get squared up with my line and then hit it. everytime i got to the point where i thought i was about to get into it something banged me or i saw i had to change my line, so i was a lot farther up the hill before i was able to get my mo going than i had planned. no problem with the pro, get in the gas and feel the front come just a couple inches off the snow and here we go. no letting off now its time to carve to the top. get almost to the crest and can see the top is lined with small trees, no way i'm turning out, so pick a spot i can get into and figure i'll take my chances from there worked out well was an easy turn to the left and follow the saddle up to the top. figured i'd go up to the higher right side of the saddle and get a better view over to the next ridge. the trees in the saddle were more open and the upside had a ton of steps one after the other. made it over the first few, even had to walk a couple of them out! came up to a 10 footer and knew i shouldn't but the pro just gives you sooooooo much confidence. so i hit the bottoom gas it and get it to point up, skis up in the air, pinned, starting to trench, off and walking. down, i'm blaming this one on the pro, if it didn't do things all day long it shouldn't i wouldn't have even thought about hitting it so gregs coming up behind me and doesn't want me to feel bad so he does a sympathy stuck just below me! what a great guy!!! so we get ourselves out and ready to go. got one more ridge to get around, figured this one would be better to follow up the other way and top over where it junctions with another. lets ride.
so now i'm feeling it, moving good. making some nice carves through the drains. plenty of verticle spots to clear and keep moving. got hung again in one thinking i could go straight up where i couldn't! figured instead of bailing down to the bottom after we cleared the ridge we'd just carve along the side and bail down somewhere else. got to a spot and was needing a break, was sweating pretty good but man was just eating it up. so i stop and just minute later greg comes pulling up. we sat there for a few and doug comes pulling up. seems he wasn't having as good a time in the back and expressed his displeasure with my line choice and change of flight plans we were almost to the top of the backside of the mt. so we headed up and ended up at a little lake just before the crest. time for lunch! doug always has the hot dogger ready to go and today was one of my favorites, cheese filled little smokeys with mustard. even had toothpicks so we didn't have to burn our little fingers, perfect! after our munch session we decided to head down around the next ridge and then up. lets ride.
sweet coming down, sliding, carving, hoping that next bluff isn't too steep on the other side. got down to the marsh and set our sights on the back side of no cigar. awesome ride up, lots of steep parts and then you'll come up to part where it flattens out and then bam, back to climbing. always love it when you come up to the top and see sky poking out between the trees, you know your home. so topped out just to the right so we had to cut just a little over to the left to hit the bowl. kind of scary up here, makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up. been off the top of that ridge plenty of times but still never like bailing off the top when you didn't climb out first. you just never know, especially on a day like today, if your gonna get enough traction to slow down before you have to get around the trees. so doug finds the best spot to bail off between the cornices. if it wasn't for him i think me and greg would have bagged this and found another way. but this is dougs thing, loves the steep. takes some big ones to be the first one to bail, think i saw them dragging in the pow when he got to the bottom!!! next greg, then me. we all got together at the bottom of the hill and i shook dougs hand and thanked him for taking me out of my comfort zone. your never gonna improve unless you push yourself. we were ready to head down to the face. lets ride.
hit the bottom and headed over, did a couple of quick marks on the face and headed up the left side. carved a nice sidehill up to the first set of trees. snow was soft, hard, bumpy and icy all within a 200 yard carve. got up to the end where you have to carve through the trees and got bucked off. no turning out, did a superman up to the trees where i could drag myself back up as i turned down to the next section. made some marks on mangina hill, was gonna highmark dougs by 30-40 feet but got bumped just where he starting turning out and was all i could do just to keep 10 feet above his. greg comes up last on the 600 and gets the line and marks us all easily. we all head down and gather up at the end of the lake. time for the adventure back down to the road. this last couple of miles is always the toughest, trees get ultra tight in places and drains everywhere. lets ride.
we take turns in front here, after a few minutes of bouncing side to side you wonder if you've totally lost your ability to find your way through. then you start following the next guys line and you think, where the he!! is he going got down in one drain and was fighting it back and fourth and had enough. decided it was time to make the pro earn its due. picked a line up the side and out. got started and had a small drop between two trees, hit it and sank to the boards. this wasn't gonna stop me, wiggled the boards and hit the gas and the pro clawed its way out! now its time to roll and carve up the bank. rolled, gassed, pulled up on one ski and carve out, priceless!!! so gregs behind me and doug hit the other side of the drain and heads down. greg really has no choice but to follow my line, he makes it through where i had to wiggle no problem. then he hits the roll and go spot, i'm watching as he gives the sled a test pull to see how its gonna roll. i'm thinking to myslef perfect, just what i would've done. so he rolls and goes and right up top with me, nice pull greg!!! so we decide to head back over to the other side and follow dougs line. would be pretty easy in this stuff to end up rolling your sled and get pinned underneath. so we come up to a creek where he had jumped across. i wish i would have got a pic, he jumped downhill, banged into the other bank and then somehow went between 2 trees you could barely fit through. ugh, so now i'm stopped 3 feet from the edge thinking once i hit the other side i'm gonna hit his trench and be in a tree. but theres no going back and greg mentions he thinks he sees the road from where we are. well i hit it, bang the other side and on the gas, hit the trench and just what i thought, right towards the tree. no problem, was already expecting this, off gas on brake and just kissed the tree. drug it back and out. greg did a little line improvement and hit it, made the creek, on the gas, bounced off the tree i kissed, up and out and carved right around the back of my sled. the road was another 20 yards!!!
so this is where we part ways. have pulled up to this spot before with other groups after a day in the trees and not been greeted with such enthusiasim. more like i've had more than enough and if i had a gun i'd shoot you so since i don't lets just go. not today, hooting and hollering with smiles all around!!! we all had a awesome time and pulled lines that won't soon be forgotten, thats what i'm talking about!!! great friends who can ride in a great place, it just doesn't get any better. the sun was setting as we said our goodbyes, was time to go, one last time, LETS RIDE...
originally posted at www.sledspace.com
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