Travels with Skis

First fall.

It was inevitable - the first big fall on the mountain. Not at all how I imagined though. P and I hiked up the ridge from the bottom of the Saddle T-bar. It was about a half hour walk with our skis on our backs. The scenery was amazing - you can see for miles, over the mountains and down to the lake.
We dropped off the ridge and skied for about 15 minutes. It hasn't snowed for about 3 days, and the powder is starting to get a bit crusty, so the skiing was hard on the legs. About half way down we collapsed in a heap, and chilled for a while, finished our lunchtime sandwiches, and took in the view. Time to move on....

The snow on the lower reaches of the mountain is getting pretty thin. Even though it snowed about a foot on Monday, it is pretty early in the season so the base hasn't built up just yet. We skied down to a point where we realised that we were on the top of a 30m cliff. On a bit further and we found a little gully where we could drop down and make our way back to the piste. It was pretty steep - we could see the top 20m but not all the way to the bottom - the slope curved away from us, the gradient increasing towards the bottom. There were tracks leading down, and we could see more tracks just beyond the foot of the gully, so we were pretty sure that we could just drop down and make it back to the piste. About two thirds of the way down the snow gave way to grass and rocks. The first option was to hike back up to the top of the gully and find another way down, but being the lazy bastard that I am, that thought was only entertained for a split second. The other option was to climb down. As I unclipped my skis I commented to P that the first rule of off piste skiing is to NEVER take off your skis. P did point out that given there wasn't any snow, it probably didn't count. One step and half a second later I am on my arse heading rapidly towards the bottom. No drama - it might hurt a bit but no serious damage was going to be done. At this point a rather large clump of grass intervened - it caught my boot and flipped me 180 degrees. I was now accelerating head first down a 70 degree slope. I was not sure what was going to hurt more - reaching the bottom, or the skis that were following closely behind. As you have already realised, I lived to tell the tale. A moment of concern from P followed as I staggered to my feet, and immediately as if by way of sympathy she slipped and performed her own stylish decent. One strained shoulder, and a slightly twisted thumb were left as reminders of the event. Moral of the story... DON'T TAKE OFF YOUR SKIS!

posted by snow_gibbon @ 11:40 am