Not having much to do with riding...

External Since: Jul 11, 2003 Posts: 379

My schedule has kept me off of my bikes for a little while now and
though life is full of good stuff, I was missing a bit of adventure. On
a flight to CO a couple of weeks ago, I was looking out the window as we
flew over the Sierra and I saw a lot of snow in the high country. It
made me wonder when the passes would be open.

I then remembered a mountain called Crater Crest that I've had my eye on
for a couple of years as a possible climb/ski descent. Suddenly I had
to do it. Never mind that I've been doing little more than driving a
desk for the last few months and that it's a 4,000' climb to the
11,250' summit.

So, last Friday, I left work at 8:00pm and drove 5 hours to the area at
the base of Crater Crest. Saturday I did a few odds and ends in the
area and then early Sunday morning, I set out to climb one of the
gullies on the north face of the mountain.

A trail took me near the drainage from the gully I wanted to climb, then
I headed up the talus to where the first snow was. Once on the snow, I
put on my skis and skinned [1] up the hill, gaining maybe 1000 feet.
The angle finally got too steep for the skins, so I strapped the skis on
my pack and started kicking steps in the icy snow. For about the next
2500' each step took two or three kicks and by the time I got to the
top, my legs were like rubber bands.

After a ten minute rest, I saw there was a front coming from the west
about four miles away, so I figured it was time to start skiing. There
was a bowl to my left that gave me a couple hundred yards of lower angle
skiing to get reacquainted with my skis. Then I dropped into the next
chute and found a nice layer of windpack on the left-hand side, where
the right side was icy. The chute led all the way back down the
drainage I'd come up, so I continued as far as the snow went. I took my
skis off right where the water was flowing out from under the snow and
bushwhacked back to my car. The round trip had been seven hours.

Another five hour drive lay ahead, so I had dinner, tanked up on coffee
and hit the road. The drive gave me plenty of time to replay the
highlights and to remember in general how important it is to be outside
living life. I'm looking forward to the high passes opening early in
the summer. Some of the most enjoyable riding I've ever done has been
right up there.

ab

[1] Climbing skins are long strips of a bristly material like mohair
that adhere to the ski base, allowing the ski to slide forward but grip
when taking a step.

External Since: Sep 17, 2003 Posts: 710

"Andy Burnett" <tzrider.DeleteThis@DONTEVENTHINKABOUTSPAMMINGyahoo.com> wrote in
message news:Xns94D66920F75ECtzrideryahoocom@216.148.227.77...
> My schedule has kept me off of my bikes for a little while now and
> though life is full of good stuff, I was missing a bit of adventure. On
> a flight to CO a couple of weeks ago, I was looking out the window as we
> flew over the Sierra and I saw a lot of snow in the high country. It
> made me wonder when the passes would be open.
>
> I then remembered a mountain called Crater Crest that I've had my eye on
> for a couple of years as a possible climb/ski descent. Suddenly I had
> to do it. Never mind that I've been doing little more than driving a
> desk for the last few months and that it's a 4,000' climb to the
> 11,250' summit.
>
> So, last Friday, I left work at 8:00pm and drove 5 hours to the area at
> the base of Crater Crest. Saturday I did a few odds and ends in the
> area and then early Sunday morning, I set out to climb one of the
> gullies on the north face of the mountain.
>
> A trail took me near the drainage from the gully I wanted to climb, then
> I headed up the talus to where the first snow was. Once on the snow, I
> put on my skis and skinned [1] up the hill, gaining maybe 1000 feet.
> The angle finally got too steep for the skins, so I strapped the skis on
> my pack and started kicking steps in the icy snow. For about the next
> 2500' each step took two or three kicks and by the time I got to the
> top, my legs were like rubber bands.
>
> After a ten minute rest, I saw there was a front coming from the west
> about four miles away, so I figured it was time to start skiing. There
> was a bowl to my left that gave me a couple hundred yards of lower angle
> skiing to get reacquainted with my skis. Then I dropped into the next
> chute and found a nice layer of windpack on the left-hand side, where
> the right side was icy. The chute led all the way back down the
> drainage I'd come up, so I continued as far as the snow went. I took my
> skis off right where the water was flowing out from under the snow and
> bushwhacked back to my car. The round trip had been seven hours.
>
> Another five hour drive lay ahead, so I had dinner, tanked up on coffee
> and hit the road. The drive gave me plenty of time to replay the
> highlights and to remember in general how important it is to be outside
> living life. I'm looking forward to the high passes opening early in
> the summer. Some of the most enjoyable riding I've ever done has been
> right up there.
>
> ab
>
>
> [1] Climbing skins are long strips of a bristly material like mohair
> that adhere to the ski base, allowing the ski to slide forward but grip
> when taking a step.

Did you take a camera Andy? those would be some killer pictures....I hope
you post some links...it sounds like a 15 degree slope to start and maybe
25-30 degrees when you had to side step up the mountain is that right?.
Did the forest service know you were up there, or could you have been lost
or hit a tree like Sonny Bono and no one would have known... and then I
would be posting that maybe the cult got you.

(That mess btw is hitting the skids badly in Clearwater these days, Davie
Miscavige chopped all the upper management off at the pockets and did the
last event solo, real terse like... we think the rest of em are at "happy"
valley running around a pole in the desert now, stats are off 30% from last
year... the natives have gotten terminally restless....

Davey has NO charisma you know, that was the problem...all vicious and lies
and no charisma ...and that just keeps on keeping going south.)

Bob posted the photo's of his colonoscopy a while back...sort of the
opposite of scientology PR......those were interesting... inflamed colon.
Did you SEE those Andy? All red and stringy looking inside. My heart
went out to Bob.

I myself was getting a little ragged, but [1]combination enzymes (now in
great moderation fixed that mess right up... it took a year though.. the
purple pill doesnt handle the root causes but is better than nothing..

You should be able to post some ski adventure photo's...

Phil Scott

[1] the bodys natural enzyme production drops drastically with age...so
that one cannot digest food properly and produces too much acid to
compensate...the stomach lining and gut wall become toast... a person needs
an enzyme suppliment thats good for all foods, grease, sugars, starch,
protiens, vegitables etc in order to fix that mess... over doing it can
cause problems though. Take one *after each of two meals per day max,
then as you improve take less, in the end almost the less you take the
better...it appears cumulative....Im taking one a week these days max...all
is wonderful. Half a quart of kiefer a day during the healing stage is
also important... and light on the protien at first...also...small meals...
later when you are healed you can stuff yourself.