I seem to be saying that more often nowadays, but when the powder, terrain, company, food and even weather are as good as today, thats an equation with only one possible outcome.
Yesterday, Ben decided it was time to determine a snow scale by evaluating how much was falling outside
- Snowing - Normal steady snow
- Dumpin' - Getting pretty heavy
- Pukin' - About as good as it gets
- Nukin' (exceptional) - 'Snowing so hard it gets in your ear!'
Last night, it was pukin'. All night. We woke up this morning already grinning. Everybody knew, we just didn't know how much. 15cm? 20cm? Nope. Try 35cm! The report from Mark was that the layer from yesterday was still powder too. The reason why? The snow we had last night was only 3.6% water, and for the record, thats about as light as it gets. It's so light it just sat on top of the existing snowpack, giving us about 65cm of blower pow to smash today. WOW.
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| The awkward moment when you have to kick down the snow barrier to leave the house. |
After a top notch breakfast of porridge, eggs ole and fried potatoes courtesy of Shirley we kitted up and headed out. The plan for today was to get out a bit further out and maybe touch on a bit of the alpine skiing (above treeline).
The first run of the day will be one i remember for a long time. The group split in two and i ended up being the first to go after Mark, meaning the fresh tracks were ALL mine! Words cannot express what i felt just then, but it was the best moment of my life all over again. You stand about knee deep, but add the slope angle and your easily waist deep, then add momentum you've got faceshots baby! The holy grail of powder skiing. Here's the GoPro of the conditions:
Its quite hard to tell how deep the snow is from a helmet mount. Luckily James was on hand with his camera and although the whole album is pretty incredible, here are a few gems:
The rest of the day consisted of more of the same. On one pitch the snow was like a bouncy castle, launching you out of the snow on each turn before plunging back down into the depths of the white room. It was immense fun. Unfortunately, a little bit too much fun. Midway down that run we had been ordered to traverse left to cut over the top of some ice falls. I was skiing down trying to make sense of the tracks crossing all over the place when out of the corner of my eye i saw them all bunch together and take a sharp left. I'd missed the traverse. I slammed the anchors on and cut across, i was only the other side of a tree to where i should have been, but that was enough. As i made my way across to where i thought i could rejoin the traverse, i crossed over the top of a convex roll, which then avalanched the whole slope beneath me. A strange sense of calm washed over me, which was the opposite of what i could have expected, so i made a turn away from where the crack had propogated to and stopped out of the way, watching it roll down the hill. It was then i heard Ben yelling my name. He hadn't realised the slope had slid and thought i was merrily skiing off an ice fall. With a bit of communication we sorted out that the best plan was to cut across the top of the slope and down the gully we skied earlier in the day. After a private conversation with Mark, i turned around to see the damage, only to witness Leon skiing down the gully, having made the exact same mistake i did. At least i wasn't the only one! The assessment was that it was only a level 1 avalanche and only the new snow from last night had slid (enough to knock you off your feet, burial unlikely), but it was the hazard below that made it dangerous.
We skied out the day and Mark, who was not one to hold a grudge ensured we all learned a lesson from what happened, and was soon smiling and having fun in the powder again. After getting back to the hut, and with a little banter going down about the days events i ended up with a brand new nickname, courtesy of the one and only Mr Attwood. Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce 'Trig':
The Powder Pig is a special award for dedication to powder skiing. It is presented to the person who displays the most piggy behaviour on the mountain with no remorse or shame. It can be given for a number of reasons, but the main one is for the sly manouvres undertaken to worm to the front of the group to ensure that they get first tracks. Looking back over the entirety of the trip, there was only one person who fully deserved this award. Mark and Ben both mentioned that never before have they seen someone have to actually be physically restrained to prevent them from going first. That person was Will, who was presented with the pig tonight, and was forced to carry it on his pack all day today tomorrow. The pig also provides its holder with certain privelidges though, meaning Will would be able to go first again all day tomorrow. DOH!
I am ashamed to reveal that i have no idea what Shirley cooked for dinner tonight, but i know it was good. So good infact that me and Matt felt compelled to offer to do the dishes tonight. Another day at the Boulder Hut nearly done, there was just enough time to seranade my compadres before heading out to the casa for some well deserved shut eye
One more thing. Its dumping! Goodnight.
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| The sun broke through on the first climb to reveal the stunning mountain paradise we were in |
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| Top of the first hike. Sun, snow, skis. What more could you need? |
The first run of the day will be one i remember for a long time. The group split in two and i ended up being the first to go after Mark, meaning the fresh tracks were ALL mine! Words cannot express what i felt just then, but it was the best moment of my life all over again. You stand about knee deep, but add the slope angle and your easily waist deep, then add momentum you've got faceshots baby! The holy grail of powder skiing. Here's the GoPro of the conditions:
Its quite hard to tell how deep the snow is from a helmet mount. Luckily James was on hand with his camera and although the whole album is pretty incredible, here are a few gems:
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| Steep and deep! Will in action |
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| Matt likes his pow buttered |
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| Matt's in there somewhere, honestly! |
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| Wickham does it again, insane photo! Neck deep baby! |
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| And the winner of the best snow beard goes to... |
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| ...Our very own Martin Vaivods! |
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| Live for the faceshots, less than a second away! |
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| Ruben pretending to be a snowplough |
The rest of the day consisted of more of the same. On one pitch the snow was like a bouncy castle, launching you out of the snow on each turn before plunging back down into the depths of the white room. It was immense fun. Unfortunately, a little bit too much fun. Midway down that run we had been ordered to traverse left to cut over the top of some ice falls. I was skiing down trying to make sense of the tracks crossing all over the place when out of the corner of my eye i saw them all bunch together and take a sharp left. I'd missed the traverse. I slammed the anchors on and cut across, i was only the other side of a tree to where i should have been, but that was enough. As i made my way across to where i thought i could rejoin the traverse, i crossed over the top of a convex roll, which then avalanched the whole slope beneath me. A strange sense of calm washed over me, which was the opposite of what i could have expected, so i made a turn away from where the crack had propogated to and stopped out of the way, watching it roll down the hill. It was then i heard Ben yelling my name. He hadn't realised the slope had slid and thought i was merrily skiing off an ice fall. With a bit of communication we sorted out that the best plan was to cut across the top of the slope and down the gully we skied earlier in the day. After a private conversation with Mark, i turned around to see the damage, only to witness Leon skiing down the gully, having made the exact same mistake i did. At least i wasn't the only one! The assessment was that it was only a level 1 avalanche and only the new snow from last night had slid (enough to knock you off your feet, burial unlikely), but it was the hazard below that made it dangerous.
We skied out the day and Mark, who was not one to hold a grudge ensured we all learned a lesson from what happened, and was soon smiling and having fun in the powder again. After getting back to the hut, and with a little banter going down about the days events i ended up with a brand new nickname, courtesy of the one and only Mr Attwood. Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce 'Trig':
 |
| 'You're such a f**king trig!' |
The Powder Pig is a special award for dedication to powder skiing. It is presented to the person who displays the most piggy behaviour on the mountain with no remorse or shame. It can be given for a number of reasons, but the main one is for the sly manouvres undertaken to worm to the front of the group to ensure that they get first tracks. Looking back over the entirety of the trip, there was only one person who fully deserved this award. Mark and Ben both mentioned that never before have they seen someone have to actually be physically restrained to prevent them from going first. That person was Will, who was presented with the pig tonight, and was forced to carry it on his pack all day today tomorrow. The pig also provides its holder with certain privelidges though, meaning Will would be able to go first again all day tomorrow. DOH!
I am ashamed to reveal that i have no idea what Shirley cooked for dinner tonight, but i know it was good. So good infact that me and Matt felt compelled to offer to do the dishes tonight. Another day at the Boulder Hut nearly done, there was just enough time to seranade my compadres before heading out to the casa for some well deserved shut eye
One more thing. Its dumping! Goodnight.
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