What do you do when it is a Saturday,clear, cold, and -6? When Bryant suggested skiing at Hatcher's Pass, I wasn't really into it, but I couldn't think of a real reason not to go so I went along with the plan. Hatcher's Pass doesn't have a ski lift, so there are some runs you can do with a car shuttle and ski down or walk up and ski down. Since the purpose of us going to ski was to get in a little exercise, we picked the later.
I unearthed my old telemark gear; the boots, poles and skis weren't hard to find as I use them occasionally at Alyeska Ski Resort. What surprised me is that the skins I needed to climb uphill and hadn't used in 18 years were easily found and in working condition. As I hooked the skin to the top of the ski and stretched it down the ski, I found myself traveling back to a time when I worked ski patrol on downhill skis and on my days off, I climbed mountains to telemark ski down.
Overtime, I lost the desire to invest money and time into skiing and other activities have taken its place. Yesterday was proof though that it is nice to have the gear laying around the house to get outside and do something. Given the right set of conditions, I am easily persuaded into a day of skiing both at the resort and now that I've broken the ice, backcountry skiing at Hatcher's Pass is a closer cheaper opportunity. And, contrary to consumers of the new latest and greatest goods, old gear does still work on the mountains. I was able to climb up, make some figure eight tracks down on my runs, and thoroughly enjoy the thrill of the downhill, being outside, and just soaking up the scenery. Here is a short video clip of them mountains:
http://youtu.be/6bm47JBZe4g
No comments:
Post a Comment