John Fereira wrote:
"Tinkerntom" wrote in
news:1105919192.042039.143900
@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com:


John Fereira wrote:


BTW, to Tinkertom...where is the triple black diamond run at
Keystone?
When I skied there they only had one black diamond run and it was
pretty marginal for that classification.

There you go getting me confused with the facts. That was 15 years
ago
or so, and I thought it was Keystone, but then it might have been a
green run as well. All I remember was this human snowball slowly
rolling down the slope.

It's certainly not uncommon. If I remember correctly the only black
diamond
run at Keystone was also just under one of the main chairs that went
up the
mountain from the parking lot.

It couldn't have been very steep if he was slowly rolling. I've seen
quite
a few people fall on steep slopes, start sliding, and then begin to
gain
speed. There are a couple of runs at Squaw Valley (where I learned
to ski)
that are notorius for that (west face of KT-22 is one of them). The
biggest
problem is that once you've fallen you really have no control
whatsoever
once you start sliding. I know of a couple of instances where people
have
fallen, started sliding, and eventually hit a tree and died.


I will tell you another OT story, which is my favorite, and has to
do
with the worlds greatest athelete (well at least IMHO)


This has to do when I was learning to ski, and I was playing the
part
of the human snowball. I had taken 3 or 4 days of lessons, and the
instructor told me I just needed to go out and get time on the
slopes.

It's good advice for kayaking too.

BTW, have you read "Deep Trouble"? Considering your safety concerns
you
probably should. There are a lot of lessons to be learned from the
book.

John, when your ski instructor tells you to get some longer skis, and
go out and get some time on the slope, that is pretty near the "Voice
of God" speaking. I know how old Noah felt when he was told to build a
boat, and I suspect that the same applies today when you are told to
get some time in the kayak. Question though, is it alright to wait for
the ice to thaw off of the lakes and streams. Most are pretty well
covered by hard water now.

Regarding wimpy Colorado ski runs, you may be right, and it seems that
I have heard this discussion before. I started skiing late, when 40,
and have skied about 100 days since then. My best ski buddy was Elmer
at Loveland who made the news every year since they reserved the number
one chair for him on opening day. At 70+ he was a great skier, and
skied most ever day. His attitude was that if he was having a good
time, what difference did it make what others thought of him, or how
tough Colorado runs were, though he did say it a little more
colorfully.

Having only skied here in Colorado, I can not compare the runs here to
anywhere else. Outhouse at Mary Jane is supposed to be pretty steep,
and a few others at MJ in the Railyard. Peak 10 at Brekenridge is
suppose to be pretty gnarly, and OutBack at Keystone. A-Basin is where
they hold the downhill speed trials, so if you want fast, that is the
place. Pavilcelli at A-Basin is nasty coming off the front side, often
times closed because not enough snow (too steep to hold it.) Crested
Butte holds some kind of extreme ski competition that has world class
skiers demonstrating ski carnage.

I can look forward to skiing some of the other areas such as Squaw Mtn,
Jackson Hole, or Utah, but for the time being, I definitly have a good
time in Colorado.

The back country skiing can be favorably compare to other areas. I saw
a guy jump off a cornice and land 150 ft down the mtn. and keep going.
So you may have to make your own Triple Diamond. One thing I learned
though is that snow conditions make a big difference. With the deep
powder we get here, the steepest slope could be easier than a nice
gentle green covered in ice. Back east where there is lots of ice,
skiing is a different experience altogether, and even the snow in
Sierras is different. I love the powder, the more the better!

As far as my story character rolling down the run, which was more of a
narrow gulch, with trees on each side. He had figured out that he did
not want to try going straight down. So he went side to side, and
occasionally took a header. His progress was slow, but his falls
dramatic. In the deep powder, he could not go fast, but he spent most
of his time digging skis out of the snow, after he had crawled back up
the hill to find them. Typical 2 steps forward, 1 or 1.5 back. Very
slow progress, and most of the time diving into the snow either as he
initially fell, or looking for his skis, and getting a thicker and
thicker coat of snow and ice as time went by.

I don't think that he had any food with him, and eventually he ran out
of energy and "hit the wall". That was when the hypothermia set in
because he could not generate enough heat to stay warm. He was pretty
incoherant the last time I saw him.

BTW, yes I have read Deep Trouble, and a lot of other books, and online
articles. A few years back when I started looking at kayaking as a way
to extend my fun, I was all excited about the prospects. That first
year, an aquaintance went WW kayaking, and caught a barbed wire fence
across his neck. Basically, took his head off, and sort of gave me a
wakeup call as to really think about what I was contemplating. Lots of
folks go kayaking, and have a good time, just don't lose your head over
it! TnT