Get Out: Snow Stories

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

By JH Weekly Staff

Powder-day friends
Powder can make a flake (pun intended) out of even the most reliable of humans.  Meetings get missed. Friends get ditched. Lines get stolen. But somehow, post powder giddiness creates a propensity for forgiveness.

With plenty of knee-deep snow to go around in the village last weekend, all grudges were off. 

“I’m sorry I ditched you in the woods,” I heard a skier explain to a buddy. “I waited 200 seconds.”

“Wow. You really shouldn’t have,” the friend replied, patting the skier on the back reassuringly.  “No friends on a powder day, dude.”

I even saw a middle-aged skier propose marriage to a young snowboarder in mid-traverse on the cat track. I’m pretty sure she said no, but I’m also pretty sure the powder cushioned the blow to the skier’s ego.
– Christie Koriakin

Snowshoe Shadow
Some skin and ski it. Others snowmobile it. I prefer snowshoes when traversing Shadow Mountain. The trip to the 8,252-foot summit is almost four miles with 1,500 feet of elevation gain. The ascent winds up the Forest Road 30340, providing excellent views of the Tetons on the way up, with a glimpse of the Gros Ventre slide (June 23, 1925) midway, and a straight shot look down into the Ditch Creek drainage at the top.

Only thing is:?I wished I had my teles on the descent.
– Jake Nichols

Yodel back
My friend was visiting from Boulder, Colo. It was her first excursion to the Northern Rockies so a trip to the ‘Ghee on the season’s second real day of pow was the perfect introduction. With hardly 10 feet of visibility at times and knee-deep powder near Blackhawk, she was slowly falling for the beasts. Heading up after our sixth run, she turned to me.

“I just don’t think I have ever done this before, not in this much snow. It just snows here…”

She was interrupted by a series of yodels from different directions.
“People just giggle and yelp going down this mountain,” she said.
“Well yeah, it’s a powder day.”

“I don’t think anyone yodels at Vail.”
– Victoria Plasse

Game time
Driving back over Teton Pass last week after an epically deep trip to B.C.,  Wyoming’s winter looked pretty grim.The urge to gas up and turn around was strong. It started snowing early in the week, but locals still sighed and said, “It’s not enough.”  By Thursday, it was getting fun.  And on Friday, with no one ready to believe it yet, I skied face shots all day at an empty resort. By the afternoon, my friend and I found our way to choking deep,  bottomless powder fields and pillow lines. By Saturday, it was game-time in Jackson Hole.
 – Brigid Mander

Photo by Christie Koriakin
The tram line Sunday morning: huge hassle or powder party?

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Get Out: Snow Stories | Planet JH News Article: Sports & Recreation

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