Yesterday was a day full of new experiences and firsts. Wake up call was at 5am. Early, really early. As we shook the dust and the sleep off we began to organize our gear in the dark and put on ski clothes in the desert. After gaining a few thousand feet on the drive we were quickly at the trail head and departing soon after. Our group had grown over night and today we were accompanied by Ross Downard and Alex Paul as well as our usual suspects of Josh Madsen and Shaun Raskin.
The skin was later clocked at over 3 miles in and you could begin to feel every step, especially as we got closer to 11,000ft and the early hours. It was draining because of the distance and the heat but it really got strenuous when we began the boot pack. Booting up a 45 degree couloir for well over an hour took a toll on our bodies. The snow was the epitome of variable. Mostly crust but also containing rotten snow, ice, desert dust and everything in between. The boot pack went from barely being able to get your toes in the snow to jamming your entire boot in and it changed dramatically the entire way up.
Cool rock
Once at the top we grabbed a snack and began to prepare for the descent. I chose to ski down the way we came up, down the steep, narrow and icy couloir. Spring skiing is a different kind of game, usually waiting for the sun to heat up the frozen snow just enough to grab an edge but not too much that the entire slope lets loose. Due to the characteristics of the couloir, the sun, the clouds, and the snow pack that never ended up happening for me.
Top of Helen Keller Couloir
I have never skied a couloir this size, this steep or in this crappy of conditions. While I have skied all these elements at one time or another in my life, this was the first time they were all combined and had such severe consequences. I went into a very quite and introspective mood at the top trying only to calm my nerves and focus on nothing. I don’t like to look at my lines too much before I ski them, I begin to over think them and get entirely too nervous. I know that once I drop in years of muscle memory will kick in and everything happens so fast its more reaction than decision.
The sun came out, the camera’s were rolling and it was time to test my mettle. The drop in was terrible, it was just as bad going down as it was coming up…icy and scary. There were two cruxes in the line and one was at the very top. I slid through it uneventfully and kept forcing my self to make turns in my head. Making telemark turns in such conditions is very difficult and very committing. The second crux was about 1/4 way down and was tighter than the first, basically the width of my skis, and still a very long way from the bottom. Falling is absolutely out of the question but the thought doesn’t even cross your mind because you are so focused on the task at hand, nothing else matters. Below the second crux was the “best” snow of the run, rotten, dusty and comparatively soft. I was essentially skiing with my slough which also included pebble to fist size rocks also descending with me. The turns started to happen faster and with more regularity, the bottom even began to come into view. Some of the worst snow was at the very bottom of the couloir so I had to dump speed so that my edges would actually give me some resemblance of control. My legs were burning, my chest thumping and the adrenaline was still raging by the time I got to the bottom.
I turned around and took a look at what I just skied and took it all in. Hands down that line pushed my limits further than they have ever been taken before. The entirety of the day was what made it so complex, skinning, boot packing, conditions, elevation, consequence and pitch. It all came together. Its an indescribable feeling to be pushed to the edge, to use the fear, to conquer the fear and to come back and grow/learn from it.
With out further adieu some pictures from the GoPro while skiing.
Edge of the world. Turn one.
Long way down
Catching air
Tight
The good snow
Adios
Looking back and the path taken
Oh and the line is called Helen Keller because Shaun accidentally took out my contacts from the car so I skied with out them, quasi blind.
