Harnessing Hardpack of the Hellions – 03/08/08
Date:
March 8th, 2008
Location:
Fermented Firmpack, Tahoe, CA, Sidecountry, USA
Weather:
40’s on the Fahrenheit scale, sun, and moderate breeze on the ridges.
Hellions:
666, Zippy, Slim, Jrosen32, Mishap, Greydon Clark, Walter Sobchak, Steve from Boulder, MomentSkiEO, dookey67, Corky, Papa Skimoore, and others…
Still Slayage:
666, Zippy, and Jrosen32
<actual camera used>
Music: DJ FEXOMAT – "SLAYER tribute mix" (right click, save target as)
http://nsf.dnb-music.com/sounds/Fexo…TributeMix.mp3
Video: Courtesy of Mishap
Synopsis: Hardpack
Two weeks, and no snow. Warm weather, and no fluffly flow. Time to hit the sidecountry and see what’s happening on the northern aspects. Oh, and amazing early morning groomers. I’m still in awe that a ski 112mm underfoot can carve so well, but I digress.
WELCOME TO THE TERRORDOME:
A few things to do before departure…I guess we’ve hit that $4 threshold.
Cruised to Whole Wallet for a $32 burrito for the drive. Thank god for cellphone cameras, or you would have never believed me that I saw our finest president to date shopping for white asparagus…
Who knew 25 mph could look so fast…
I took my Segway to Kirkwood, and yep, it handles turns like a dream…
Papa Skimoore and I scored perfect corduroy due to our early arrival…
Jrosen32 gets some pockets of winter in Lower Cirque…
Zippy goes EXTREME SKIING!
By looking at the old tracks, I wonder who has been hitting this line everyday?
Zippy GOES FOR IT!
0 points for taking the same line….
Get ready for a fast exit…
Mishap SKIING THE THUNDER and RIDING THE LIGHTNING…
Greydon Clark came all the way from Seattle to make this turn…
Leaving the resort behind, the group starts walking toward Mammoth…
But first, we must make it to that hotel up on the ridge…
I think they’d rather build robots…sorry for promoting exercise <sigh>
Zippy waits for the ski shop to open to buy some sunscreen…
Here is a pic of Mt. Rose that I failed to crop….
Sierra Nevada Mountain Range of California…
When the shop failed to open, Zippy left in disgust….
This shot reminds of me of the Antarctic tundra…
How do I know? Well….I’ve got the shirt to prove it!
666 took a bid for the summit, but failed miserably.
This was my goal. It was going to be either glacier ice or winter wind packed powder. Yep, it was a little of both.
Mishap followed my lead…on some 2011 Volants.
Ski the Steel, Ski for Real!
Zippy also decides to go for a personal first descent up and above West Shore…
I think he’s eyeing something…
Perfect spot to land in shitty snow…
Doesn’t look too horrible…
He’s having fun now….
Slim and Jrosen32 decided to make us wait as they skied from the top of California Chute…
Slim slices the slim shady pickings…
Jrosen32 airs over George Bush…
….and gets rewarded with neck deep pow turns down to the bottom
After a quick slog up to West Shore proper, the cameraman deserves first tracks…
Zippy makes a pretty turn…
And proves that the snow is always good at Kirkwood…
and takes a Moment in Tahoe to show his new bases…
Slashing the blind rollover…
The snow is so good that Slim takes the casual approach…
…at this point, he was forced to get snow on his hoodie
Jrosen32 emulates skiing in the Sahara…
OMG *&^ LOOK HOW DEEP!, his TURN MAKES IT LOOK DEEP!!! LOL
Did you know that he had a yellow helmet?
I got a phone call on Friday evening…he told me West Shore was skiing surprisingly well….now I know why God called.
STEEP SKIING SESSION VOL 666
This shot is to prove that Slim skied the whole thing…
Mishap Volant’ing the shit out of this….
BEST SHOT EVER!!!!
666 was skiing too…gosh.
Hulk pants getting angry…tries to get me all SNOWY!
Crux’ing the crux…
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
Thank god they invented edges….
Over to the CASTLE OF DOOM!
Always fun to watch brotherly competition…
Next…TeH THUND3R of SADDLE!
Jrosen shows that jumping cliffs onto hardpack is SO much fun…
MomentSkiEO feels the peer pressure…
And with the wonders of technology, we have TWO angles OMG!
Papa Skimoore, Greydon, and Walter Sobchak took a few laps in and around West Shore while we dicked around by California Chute. On the third lap, Greydon hit Da Diagonal…
He was being such a sweetheart, that he even made a tele-turn for me…yay!
Its Walter’s turn….
I think he made 63 controlled GS turns down the whole thing…BADASS!
Steve from Boulder was having a rough day…so we decided to bring him along to make his day….
STOKED!
On my ride home, I always pass the gates to this property…and finally took a photo.
Happy Cows are from California…
Funny how good the pics come out when driving 80mph…
Got to love the backroads…
Sadly, not many backroad bridges…
But they do take you to Sushi Ran…
Where I found out that you can get 33 oz cans of Asahi
Bye for now…