Well it was cold and windy and we had some kind of light freezing rain going for the first part of the day, so that was not fun. That's the Cascades for you, it's 25 degrees yet you still can get rained on. So we went out to our new spot which takes a while, but that was the plan. At first there was super smooth groom with about 6 inches of fresh on top and we were flying, but then we had to do about six miles on the bumps. Then in the last stretch where nobody had ridden, breaking trail in very deep powder, my wife got stuck and then because I stopped I got stuck and then when we finally got to the spot the first thing I did was run into a bush and get my skis hung up.
It was at least 3 feet of fresh with a ten foot base, so these things happen. But by the time all that was done I was too tired to ride. What a disappointment. I mean, I rode a little but my arms were just killing me. I could just barely turn the sled. And of course, being soaked with sweat and freezing rain, I started getting miserably cold. If we hadn't gotten stuck so bad it would have been a pretty good day but all that extra work, which was avoidable (I should not have stopped, I should have gone all the way up the road and then turned around, and if I wasn't so dead tired from digging I probably wouldn't have hit the bush), just totally wrecked it for me.
That said, we got some partial sunbreaks and a couple decent video shots. The batteries were really dying so we missed a lot of good stuff, but there are some highlights in there. I had a few moments of glory and a couple of them did get on the video so the day wasn't a total loss. The crash (last shot) is my favorite even though it is out of focus. I hit that wall so much harder than I imagined was possible (I thought it would be soft) and it sent me straight up in the air with a little bit of roll. I couldn't see a thing and I knew I was off axis so I just bailed. It was a soft landing so I was actually pretty happy about it.
Great Stuff as usual... and an excellent fall I might add..
Snow4[/b]
Thanks I think that was the first time I intentionally bailed while in the air. You can't tell from the clip but there was a good 6 feet of untouched snow that I cleared on that one, it wasn't just a tail ride. I've hit that spot before but apparently something happened since last time and underneath the powder it was rock hard and vertical. At any rate the mountain bar kind of hit me in the stomach when I crashed into the jump, not really hard but it threw me unexpectedly off balance. Of course I could see nothing, all I knew was I was in the air and off axis. So I just pushed and kicked off backward as hard as possible and rolled away to safety. That's why I'm nodding in approval there afterward, it was such a successful bail I had to admire it.
My arms are still really sore...I was a zombie all day Friday and I'm still nowhere near recovered from the last two riding days. And those days were 1/30 and 2/6, we're not talking about consecutive days here. I mean 2 riding days in the last 2 weeks and I literally feel like I'm dying! Pretty sad. Okay I've done some boarding too, but at any rate what I'm saying is my body wants a vacation from riding but my brain can't allow it.
So stay tuned, this week we are going to an all new video spot which means finally some new locations for you. I don't know *how* awesome it's going to be but it should be at least pretty nice. And there is one last secret spot that I really want to get to in the next month but it is a long ride to get there and you already know about my gas mileage woes with the piped RMK. I needed over 11 gallons AGAIN after our last ride. Are you kidding me???
I think that was the first time I intentionally bailed while in the air. You can't tell from the clip but there was a good 6 feet of untouched snow that I cleared on that one, it wasn't just a tail ride. I've hit that spot before but apparently something happened since last time and underneath the powder it was rock hard and vertical. At any rate the mountain bar kind of hit me in the stomach when I crashed into the jump, not really hard but it threw me unexpectedly off balance. Of course I could see nothing, all I knew was I was in the air and off axis. So I just pushed and kicked off backward as hard as possible and rolled away to safety. That's why I'm nodding in approval there afterward, it was such a successful bail I had to admire it. 
