Why did the "mountain chicken" cross the skin track?
Today after work Meghan gave me the OK to make a ski tour up Pyramid Mountain. On Saturday, while temperatures reached the upper 50s down in Kodiak, I skied it as well and got fried. My Dad would say that I got a "good base coat." Well, before heading out this evening I applied a healthy layer of sunscreen. I arrived at the top of the pass to find the mountain devoid of fellow skiers. The sun was still warm at 6:45 when I flipped up the heel pieces of my bindings and started climbing. While skiing alone I usually bring along the nanoCoug III (an iPod nano). Tonight's playlist featured a live recording of Antony and the Johnsons - you can listen to a part of it here. After crossing paths with a ptarmigan and stopping to admire the still valley below, I reached Pyramid's northwest shoulder, put the skis on my pack and kept climbing until I reached the summit ridge. Only briefly did I stop to admire the view - strong winds and choosing a safe route to descend kept my eyes focused downward. Ultimately, I decided on the north face and climbed down to an appropriate area to dig a pit and test the snow. Fortunately, my stability tests revealed safe conditions for a descent. Checking my pulse and taking one last breath, I slid into my first turn and picked up speed. The top five inches of snow was soft yet heavy, forcing me to make wide turns. Only after my sixth or seventh turn did the weight of the loose, wet snow sliding with me start to push me downward. I made a couple more turns and skied out of the direct path of the sliding snow back toward the direction of my ascent. The long, sunny days have definitely started to warm the white stuff up high. The snow was soft for the rest of the descent and I reached the parking lot at nine o'clock to find a solo snowboarder pulling his board from his truck to start his own tour. He might still be up there making turns as I finish this sentence.
2 comments:
I kicked in the 'new stairs' on Sunday and went down into the South Bowl. I got completely fried, and so yesterday I too wore sun screen. Did you see the two goat hanging out on the south face? When we were on the top Sunday - one of the goats was also on the summit ridge. Patrick
Patrick, thanks for the new set of stairs. I didn't like climbing up the "old" ones - too exposed. No goats last night.
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