I went up this morning with CJ and his friend Jake. We debated back and forth and ultimately decided to ski Short Swing in Mill D. Little did we know that the entire Wasatch backcountry community had come to this same conclusion. We pulled into the Spruces parking lot around 5:25 along with one other car. As we were finishing our preparations for the trailhead another four cars showed up. Then as we started skinning up there were another three cars that were arriving. We started just a little behind one of the other groups so we followed them on the skin track for the first while. It wasn't long, however, before they got tired and we passed them. I set the pace for the first of the real uphill climbing, and then let CJ do the rest. That guy is superhuman when it comes to skinning. It doesn't matter how hard I try - I just can't keep up with him. We reached the top with some really cool light happening. More and more people kept summiting and I was not into that, so I decided to ski. The skiing was great! Super deep. Sometimes too deep. I
would get about four great turns and then I would sink and have to pull myself out. I reached the bottom and put my skins back on for another lap. I got about half of the way up before I realized I needed to get to class. So I got a few more turns in and then left my party to catch a ride down the canyon. I didn't have shoes again because they were in CJ's car (he is going to have every pair of shoes I own soon), but there was no way I was going to go to class with my boots on again. I swung by my house and picked up some shoes before going to class. I even put some jeans on as opposed to the ski pants I show up in every Tuesday and Thursday.
I went up this morning with CJ and his friend Jake. We debated back and forth and ultimately decided to ski Short Swing in Mill D. Little did we know that the entire Wasatch backcountry community had come to this same conclusion. We pulled into the Spruces parking lot around 5:25 along with one other car. As we were finishing our preparations for the trailhead another four cars showed up. Then as we started skinning up there were another three cars that were arriving. We started just a little behind one of the other groups so we followed them on the skin track for the first while. It wasn't long, however, before they got tired and we passed them. I set the pace for the first of the real uphill climbing, and then let CJ do the rest. That guy is superhuman when it comes to skinning. It doesn't matter how hard I try - I just can't keep up with him. We reached the top with some really cool light happening. More and more people kept summiting and I was not into that, so I decided to ski. The skiing was great! Super deep. Sometimes too deep. I 
would get about four great turns and then I would sink and have to pull myself out. I reached the bottom and put my skins back on for another lap. I got about half of the way up before I realized I needed to get to class. So I got a few more turns in and then left my party to catch a ride down the canyon. I didn't have shoes again because they were in CJ's car (he is going to have every pair of shoes I own soon), but there was no way I was going to go to class with my boots on again. I swung by my house and picked up some shoes before going to class. I even put some jeans on as opposed to the ski pants I show up in every Tuesday and Thursday.
One day this blog will be as popular as "Short Swing in Mill D" was today. (And Jesus will shoot twinkies from his eye balls.)
ReplyDeleteHi! I met your friends Jer and Dan up at Snowbird today. They were commenting on my touring skis and I was lamenting that I don't use them for touring anymore because all my buddies who were into that moved away. They told me to look up your blog. So...um...can I play with you guys sometime? I don't know if this is good blog protocol or not - but my contact info is miscnelson@hotmail.com. It looks like you and your friends have some great adventures!
ReplyDeleteHappy Trails!
miscnelson