2plankerider
04-26-2004, 01:23 PM
let me first off say that i'll post some photos at a later date....now that i'm out of the ravine,my life is yet again moving at 100mph. maybe when i'm up at 3 am for those late night feedings and can't get back to sleep i'll find the time to post some.
well, here it is monday and my bag is still packed....nah, not going this weekend too, too many things to do and too little time. just havn't unpacked yet. i figure it took me a good 5 days to pack for it, why not take 5 days to unpack?
here's my story...
Got to Pinkham at 9:30 on friday and met up with our 3rd person. bought our shelter passes and were on our way. (we were #69/70/71 out of 80 spots) needless to say it was a full house friday night.
we got up to hojos around 12:30 took shelter 7 and set up camp, had some lunch and decided what to do from there. Being the only skier in the group (and extremely out of shape for this time of year) i decided i wanted to get a full day of skiing in on saturday and not burn myself out, so i used friday afternoon to scope out lines for it. we did venture up into the bowl though with a mad river rocket (it's like a sled, but you ride it like a kneeboard) played around on it for a few runs and ended up breaking the strap so that was the end of that.... chilled in the bowl till about 4:00 and headed back to hojos to cook some dinner. we did see DMC and his crew pop up above the chute that day. was pretty cool, one minute there was no one, then all of a sudden 8 or 9 guys pop out of nowhere.
had a killer dinner at hojos (chicken pesto pasta with garlic bread), the sun went down, and the party started. Beer, wine, rumplemintz, cigars, and a few other substances were flowing amongst the deck. the sky was pretty clear and the crescent moon was glowing in the sky, hanging just above the ravine. going to tux is an experience in itself, but being up there friday night was REALLY SWEET!
(this is where i would insert such said photo of the sky)
(insert photo of me and my crew in front of the tux avy awareness board)
i have about a million pictures of me in front of this board, but i was informed by DMC (i think it was him) that the true overnite hardcore's get a photo in front of it AT NIGHT.
Met DMC and his crew on the deck and proceeded to partake in the festivities.....i remember a drink that was being passed around called a "Yucka bucket" or "Yuck bucket" something like that. Basically a bucket filled with lemon,orange,lime, sugar and vodka......my brain became a bit blurred after that. i then woke up at about 3:30am half-in/half-out of my sleeping bag.....went back to sleep.
woke up to a cloudy, cold, windy, snowy day. couldn't see the ravine at all and by 10:00 (my crew still in bed) i decided to hit hillman's highway for a solo breakfast run. i was pretty stoked that it appeared as though i would be getting first trax of the day (there was a bit of freshies to be had) as i could not see any boot prints ahead of me. a few minutes into it, two guys pop out above me. DOH! they poached it first (they were actually my shelter mates. they had gotten up at about 6:30 and were out hiking by 8:00) i proceeded to boot up hillman's as far as i could, got a hold of NtrentN on the radio as well. almost to the top, as it got a bit hairy (steep and icy) and i didn't feel comfortable going any higher as i was not in crampons. wind picked up, visibility was about 30 feet and there was very little room to click in. Nonethless, hillman's was pretty good. i did get in a few first track turns, as i booted up higher than the other two guys did. little bit of powder, little bit of crud, ice, bumps, brush and rocks.....kinda like it should be in may.
made it back to hojos at around 11:30 and by then one of my crew had made it out of bed ( i had 2 non skiing newbies with me who were along for the ride) the other one was still sleeping off the hojo's deck party, he did finally show up in the ravine at about 3:00 though.
so we went up into the ravine (it was still clouded in) set up camp just above the first aid at lunch rocks. We viewed the carnage take place as numerous people were falling either as they skied down or as they were climbing up. Decided it was now or never, and that the weather was not going to break into a bluebird.was told that the wind would be picking up throughout the day and that the temps were expected to drop as well. I had every intention of heading up the chute and then busting left up into the top section of chute variation south. it appeared as though it could be done from scoping it out with binoculars the day before.i have done this run before and it is pretty sweet when doable. i got up to the point where i would need to either commit and boot up through to the top, or click in where i was. it appeared as though it was starting to firm up and i just did not feel comfortable with the current conditions...alas i clicked in where i was and took some turns in the bowl and skied over to lunch rocks for a beer. had a shot of Yagermeister from some stranger and at about 3:30 i decided that was enough. not more than 30 seconds after i had reached the floor of the bowl to switch boots, the clouds cracked and it was :bluebird: until sunday when i left. couldn't get any runs in sunday as we (myself included) had to get back to the family...as i hiked down sunday morning, the big question of the day from everbody coming up was "so how was it?"
my answer:
"i'm sure it will be a hell of a lot better today"
Saturday night the winds got up to 60mph at hojos and 103 at the summit. needless to say there were a few people in the shelters (the three sided ones anyway)who were bumming. the caretaker said one group packed up in the middle of the night and hiked out. it was about 25 degrees when i checked at 6:30.
let's see, what did i leave out? oh yeah, saw a guy with an inflatable doll strapped to his back(insert that photo here)
and a guy straight line it down headfirst in a tube....(no photo )
again, photos to follow shortly.
the tux's experience was a 10 (as always!)
the tux's skiing was a 6
well, here it is monday and my bag is still packed....nah, not going this weekend too, too many things to do and too little time. just havn't unpacked yet. i figure it took me a good 5 days to pack for it, why not take 5 days to unpack?
here's my story...
Got to Pinkham at 9:30 on friday and met up with our 3rd person. bought our shelter passes and were on our way. (we were #69/70/71 out of 80 spots) needless to say it was a full house friday night.
we got up to hojos around 12:30 took shelter 7 and set up camp, had some lunch and decided what to do from there. Being the only skier in the group (and extremely out of shape for this time of year) i decided i wanted to get a full day of skiing in on saturday and not burn myself out, so i used friday afternoon to scope out lines for it. we did venture up into the bowl though with a mad river rocket (it's like a sled, but you ride it like a kneeboard) played around on it for a few runs and ended up breaking the strap so that was the end of that.... chilled in the bowl till about 4:00 and headed back to hojos to cook some dinner. we did see DMC and his crew pop up above the chute that day. was pretty cool, one minute there was no one, then all of a sudden 8 or 9 guys pop out of nowhere.
had a killer dinner at hojos (chicken pesto pasta with garlic bread), the sun went down, and the party started. Beer, wine, rumplemintz, cigars, and a few other substances were flowing amongst the deck. the sky was pretty clear and the crescent moon was glowing in the sky, hanging just above the ravine. going to tux is an experience in itself, but being up there friday night was REALLY SWEET!
(this is where i would insert such said photo of the sky)
(insert photo of me and my crew in front of the tux avy awareness board)
i have about a million pictures of me in front of this board, but i was informed by DMC (i think it was him) that the true overnite hardcore's get a photo in front of it AT NIGHT.
Met DMC and his crew on the deck and proceeded to partake in the festivities.....i remember a drink that was being passed around called a "Yucka bucket" or "Yuck bucket" something like that. Basically a bucket filled with lemon,orange,lime, sugar and vodka......my brain became a bit blurred after that. i then woke up at about 3:30am half-in/half-out of my sleeping bag.....went back to sleep.
woke up to a cloudy, cold, windy, snowy day. couldn't see the ravine at all and by 10:00 (my crew still in bed) i decided to hit hillman's highway for a solo breakfast run. i was pretty stoked that it appeared as though i would be getting first trax of the day (there was a bit of freshies to be had) as i could not see any boot prints ahead of me. a few minutes into it, two guys pop out above me. DOH! they poached it first (they were actually my shelter mates. they had gotten up at about 6:30 and were out hiking by 8:00) i proceeded to boot up hillman's as far as i could, got a hold of NtrentN on the radio as well. almost to the top, as it got a bit hairy (steep and icy) and i didn't feel comfortable going any higher as i was not in crampons. wind picked up, visibility was about 30 feet and there was very little room to click in. Nonethless, hillman's was pretty good. i did get in a few first track turns, as i booted up higher than the other two guys did. little bit of powder, little bit of crud, ice, bumps, brush and rocks.....kinda like it should be in may.
made it back to hojos at around 11:30 and by then one of my crew had made it out of bed ( i had 2 non skiing newbies with me who were along for the ride) the other one was still sleeping off the hojo's deck party, he did finally show up in the ravine at about 3:00 though.
so we went up into the ravine (it was still clouded in) set up camp just above the first aid at lunch rocks. We viewed the carnage take place as numerous people were falling either as they skied down or as they were climbing up. Decided it was now or never, and that the weather was not going to break into a bluebird.was told that the wind would be picking up throughout the day and that the temps were expected to drop as well. I had every intention of heading up the chute and then busting left up into the top section of chute variation south. it appeared as though it could be done from scoping it out with binoculars the day before.i have done this run before and it is pretty sweet when doable. i got up to the point where i would need to either commit and boot up through to the top, or click in where i was. it appeared as though it was starting to firm up and i just did not feel comfortable with the current conditions...alas i clicked in where i was and took some turns in the bowl and skied over to lunch rocks for a beer. had a shot of Yagermeister from some stranger and at about 3:30 i decided that was enough. not more than 30 seconds after i had reached the floor of the bowl to switch boots, the clouds cracked and it was :bluebird: until sunday when i left. couldn't get any runs in sunday as we (myself included) had to get back to the family...as i hiked down sunday morning, the big question of the day from everbody coming up was "so how was it?"
my answer:
"i'm sure it will be a hell of a lot better today"
Saturday night the winds got up to 60mph at hojos and 103 at the summit. needless to say there were a few people in the shelters (the three sided ones anyway)who were bumming. the caretaker said one group packed up in the middle of the night and hiked out. it was about 25 degrees when i checked at 6:30.
let's see, what did i leave out? oh yeah, saw a guy with an inflatable doll strapped to his back(insert that photo here)
and a guy straight line it down headfirst in a tube....(no photo )
again, photos to follow shortly.
the tux's experience was a 10 (as always!)
the tux's skiing was a 6