crucial time

In every race that I have ever run there is a emotional arc that I go through. From the pre-race excitement, to the “Oh shit here we go” and then the ups and downs of the race.

Right now I am sitting at 71.8% done. which seems like a lot until I look more closely at it and realize that it really is only just over 2/3’s done. Meaning that there is still a lot to go. The excitement of crossing the 50% line has come and gone and now I am in the stage of not quite being anywhere. Just needing to dig deep and keep going up. Soon I will be in the last 15%, which is when the end seems tangible. This is maybe the most important part of any race, where you have kept a great pace up till now and its digging deep time. Really believing that I can do this. Everything is tired, my legs, back, neck but most importantly psyche. my inner coach has been screaming himself hoarse for weeks now and his voice is getting a little low. I can’t hear him as well. This stage is just about keeping the desire and shredding.

The last three days were pretty damn fine. I headed up solo to Loop brook, in Rogers Pass, for a great powder session. It was one of those days where the weather was always in and out. A few runs I had some light on others I was skiing by braille. Luckily I know these runs very well and could almost ski them with my eyes closed, except for the pillows and drops, where I would need to peek a little.

The snow was incredible and I ran into a few people I knew. The social part of life that I need, a little bit of change in my otherwise relentless skinning. A great day with many laps and 14 000 feet of powder skiing.

The weather looked better on Friday so I found one of the stronger ski tourers in town and we went on a great mission. It started off with the Mt-Dickie ridge climb. I had forgotten how many little bumps are needed to go up and down before the final push, lots of them. But the ridge leads to the summit and an aesthetic finish.

Tip toeing to the summit on the rocks, weary of the cornice we made it. But as we stepped on the summit the cornice dropped off the north side. A huge mini bus size fell off. Always stick on the rocks if there is a cornice. That way it can’t reach back and pull you over. Eery anyways. The weather was cloudy on the south but clear and sunny on the north; so we went north.

I have skied this line a few times but it is always exciting, a small little couloir over to a huge ramp and then off playfully down the valley. I had to let Andrew go first since it was his first time up here and he had rights to it. Somehow all the new snow had fallen without any wind and was deep light and perfect. Steeper stuff had sloughed off but our line was prime. Andrew tore it up and I followed suit. In previous times after the ramp we skied right and out into some meadows and then 2000 ft later looked back up and realized that we could have continued the line down a couloir. This time I remembered the couloir and skied over to it. A 1300ft couloir finished our line down to the valley. SO psyched to ski somewhere I have never been.

From there we toured up to Coursier mountain and enjoyed our second summit of the day. and off and home we went.

With the family coming home from spring break in Vancouver I headed up West twin, an area I have sled skied in a few times but not often. I snowmobiled in 10 km and followed Andrews skin track from a few days before. I kept wondering if he was going to a good place, finally after 2500ft I had a glimpse and then a few hundred feet later I was pumped. A perfect solo ski area surrounded me. Small couloirs, faces and runs cascaded down to the valley, 800-1200 foot lines, beautiful and covered in light fluffy powder. The skin track wrapped up the back and soon enough I was standing on my first line. Bamm a descent east face shot. Then 30 minutes later I was on top of my next line.

For the next 4 hours I skied five lines in this area, fast and furious runs where my sloughs followed behind. Amazing runs, all different and shreddable.

Then today I had a little ski day with the kids, one run, lunch and then the rec centre. Now at this moment I am lying up at Mica Heliskiing about to fall asleep and wake up with a heli to drop me and Aaron off in the backcountry. No driving, no snowmobiling just easy heli access and then lots of hiking.

Crushed

I wondered at what point of this mission that I would wake up completely crushed. Sore, tired and not wanting to get out of bed. Walking down the stairs to let the cat out was painful, and I am intimidated by stairs today..

This last week was unique in that I used my snowmobile to access skiing each day. This adds in a whole slew of new things that can go wrong, or simply that take time away from skinning. Simply unloading the sled, going in 10-20km takes lots of time away from touring. Especially since I am not particularly skilled on the snowmobile.

The first day Chris Rubens and I had a wicked day on Begbie shoulder, he was showing me all sorts of great lines. Its such a great zone to play in, 2700ft climb with direct in your face great ski lines off the top, the lines are also all different. From pillow lines, to open bowls, treee skiing or little couloirs. Super fun day with great skiing.

The second day of this shift was up Mt-English, I headed up early and was touring by 7:10 am, and I had a great lap in by the time Aaron and Mark showed up. Then we had a couple of great runs together. Its starting to become clear that the best way for me to ski with friends while also getting my vert goes like this. I arrive early and get in 2000ft, then I break trail for the first half of the climb, peel skins, get a quick fun run in, tour back up and meet at the top. Shred with friends, repeat, always getting extra runs to time it so that we can ski the run together. Then they go home and I pound out the necessary vert for the day. The skiing in the trees was pretty wicked but the alpine was a little windpressed, which still made for good skiing.

Then a group of us headed out for an overnighter in the Gold range south of Revelstoke. This place is off the hook but requires 25 km of sledding. We met at six and headed out. The sledding was going well until the powder started. And then I could not resist playing around a little. Getting face shots and carving turns on the sled is pretty fun, and when done properly its light and playful. All was going well until the sled decided to go right off the flat road, and with my little skill set I had no choice but to follow it. Within moments of having a great time I was in the ditch, in a tree well. Not a good way to get out and have a wicked powder filled touring day.

Part of avoiding “shit shows” is understanding what can go wrong and being prepared for it. Luckily I know that I am not a good sledder and that I have the propensity to get caught up in what I am doing and make spazzy mistakes. So I knew that I could quite possibly get my sled stuck. Within minutes of the sled being in the tree well, I started making a T-slot anchor with my skis, then set up my ropes so that we had a 6-1 ratio and could pull the sled.
Well not really pull it, instead put lots of pressure on it and then lift it. With each lift the sled would move 5 inches. We repeated this until finally Aaron came back, made fun of me, then helped by towing with his sled. Probably wasted 40 minutes with this mistake. But soon enough we were off and headed back into the range.

The snow was perfect and we toured up into a nice north facing bowl and had a couple of sweet runs. We then spotted a little couloir that could possibly lead us into the next bowl over. The couloir felt like California, white pine trees in it, rocky all around, really cool little key hole. Which brought us into another great bowl with a summit available. I busted trail for awhile, skied a great line, caught back up and went to the summit of Thor NE. Someone built a huge 9 foot tall rock cairn on the peak, i wanted to climb it but deemed it a little sketchy. I hope one day I am relaxed enough to stop and build something like this.

A great 4000ft plus descent and then I continued to hammer till I hit 13500ft. Bamm. tough day though I really had to run to get the vert in.

Yesterday we woke up to clear skis but we knew that the weather would not hold by the pm. We headed up to Kelly peak, which has a great glacial run, 4000ft of rolling fun. By the time we got near the top the weather was in and the visibility pretty poor. I toured up to the last roll and started to eek my way onto it. But the snow turned a little slabby and started cracking under my skis. The last roll looked daunting, with no way to avoid the hazard I realized we would probably not make this summit. A few more steps to test the snow and I managed to push a small slab out from under my skis. Small avalanche but with the potential of a bigger one above I turned around. We then snuck arounda bunch of crevasses in a whiteout and skied the line. Super fun except for the lack of visibility. Then a couple of laps on a cool treed shoulder, while we worked our way to the top and a rippin 2800ft run down to the valley. I was only at around 12grand but knew that we had lots to do to get us home, so I happily turned my back on the mountains and we worked our way home. No incidents on the sled and home by 9pm. Crushed.

Day off today…..

53%

Crushed and ready for the next 47%.. so far it is as hard as I hoped. Each day has its amazing moments, lots of great skiing and fun lines, but each day is also really gruelling. There are moments of screaming, swearing at the mountains, or myself for undertaking such a challenge.

Right now when I got out I try and ski tour 13000ft or 4000m. That is the goal each day. So I am guaranteed that each day will be absolutely crushing. Over 7 hours of uphill hiking, each day ends with stubbornness. I always dream of doing more but more often than not crossing the 13000ft line is ENOUGH.

Today was special because I was going past 50%, I tried to ignore it and slide my way on up. But inside I was psyched, I know I am on par and this is working out. There is still lots of unknowns and doubts but it is in the realm of the possible. I may be able to hike a 100km vertically in this month. As a reward for all that hiking the skiing has been well worth it. But there is still 15 days left and lots can happen…

Here is a little google earth shot with my track from today, in the Monashee range. Mt-English area. Gives you an idea of what I am doing for ten hours each day.

I am probably off the grid for the next two days, going to some remote skiing.