Just catching up on my posts, this one is from my attempt of Short Swing in Mill D North (Big Cottonwood Canyon). I was so out of shape from a major sick-scare that I made it only half way up short swing. Quite possibly the most pathetic BC ski outing of my entire career, including my 7th grade, night-time outings when skiing Brown's Floral peach orchard which was directly behind my parents home, which comes in at about a 15-degree slope. Barely steep enough to straight line, but it was fun to ski in the dark, on forbidden grounds. Rumor was Leon Brown would load his shotgun with salt pellets and blast anyone crossing into his property. But today on Short Swing, in Mill D North in Big Cottonwood Canyon, I barely skinned 1,000 vertical feet and I was toast, dizzy and coughing up an esophagus . . . . so I bailed.
When I say sick, I'm getting old and I have some issues I'm working through. Some of the symptoms were extreme dehydration, the Doc gave me 4 liters of IV fluids before I could pee, and projectile bloody diarrhea - sorry, way TMI - which resulted in the obligatory colonoscopy the next day, which revealed two very handsome pre-cancerous polyps, which were removed and which committed me to an annual colonoscopy. When I asked the doc why "if they are "pre-cancerous," why the annual colonoscopy?" He said I had nothing unusual two years ago (the 55-yr-old colonoscopy) and anything growing quickly is considered pre-cancerous. Thanks Doc.
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| Kessler Peak (view SW) |
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| SE side of Tom's Hill. |
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| View west with Gobblers Knob through the aspens. |
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| My new 'light-weight' rig. No brakes, 88mm under foot, and 167cm length. Yes, they are light and climb like a feather, but I was worried they would suck on the downhill side of the equation. I skied them once at Snowbasin (forgot my resort boots, so had to go with my BC rig because that's the only complete rig in the truck) and I swear, they held an edge like LCC granite. On hard pack man-made snow, they were smooth and rock-solid doing high-speed Super-G turns. In bumps they ruled due to their narrow width. Very quick edge to edge. They are racing skis on par with Mikaela Shiffrin's Atomics. OK, that's a total embellishment, just know I'm very impressed with their ability to arc fast turns especially when considering their lightness and lack of obvious muscle. Speaking of Atomics, I went with Atomic Backland bindings, with no brake, and they also exceeded expectations. They are super light but rock solid. After going with Dynafit's on my last four rigs, and after breaking a pair of Dynafit Speed Turns last winter, I thought it was high time to branch out, try something new. Oh, so how is the rig in powder or crusty mank? In a word, stupendous! They exceed all my expectations. They float and turn with ease in all conditions. If any complaint it would be they are too short. I need sit back just a 'tich' so I don't go over the bars. But you know the way it is: "there are no bad skis, just bad skiers." |
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| Mt. Raymond (l) and Gobblers Knob (r). View west from half way up Short Swing. |
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| Gobblers |
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| Raymond |
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| Turns, Raymond and Gobblers. Beautiful day. Felt so good to be in the mountains, snow and sun. |
I bought those same skis...admittedly, your owning them was the deciding factor when trying to choose among all the skis I was considering. I put the Ski-Trab Vario pin-binding on them, and paired them with the 2019 Atomic Backland Carbon Fiber ski boots. The whole rig is _very_ light-weight. Maybe if I get back in half-marathon-shape, I can then keep up with John.
ReplyDeleteI found them to be good in powder too. I do have to try to keep my skis close together, though. I've always struggled with that.
I hope your new job is going well.