A little first descent!

I am always amazed at how many different lines there are to ski. I have spent days upon days skiing on Macpherson, exploring all aspect of it, always looking for something new. The last day that I skied the womb, I turned and looked up this chute and wondered how I could locate it and ski down it.It seemed impenetrable, surrounded by massive cliffs, yet there must be a way through it.Today Scott Newsome and I toured up the fingers and to the top of the womb, the upper slopes were looking windloaded and scary so we turned our tips down hill and shredded some great trees. Then we toured around and found the secret entrance into the aforementioned chute. Steep snowfields led to sketchy sideslip and we were in.
Great turns led us down and into the womb. Absolutely no complaints with snow quality.
I then toured up a couple of thousand more feet and turned my watch over 10 080 feet and headed home.
I threw in two shots of Scott because I could not decide which one was better. Scott is an amazing snowboarder who has been out on his splitboard for years, and last year he became the first snowboarder to pass the Association of Mountain Guides assistant ski guide exam. He is taking the splitboard to the next level.

Athleticism

One very large part of my goal is simply athelticism, get out and get some vertical. Today was simply about getting my vertical done and getting home to work on home improvements, and spend a little bit of family time.

So I went directly to the Macpherson Fingers and broke trail from 2200 feet to 4800 feet. At that point I was breaking trail through 30-40 cm of snow, deep and tiring all I wanted was some vertical. So I began lapping from 3750-4800, decent snow but not as exceptional as what was high above me.

Regardless I put my head down and pushed myself upwards and lapped it 8 times. I am trying to work on several techniques to make touring easier. I spent most of the day focused on taking smaller steps, generally I like to stretch my legs out and take huge steps. This technique is great in the short term but requires more power and eventually tires me out more quickly. So smaller steps and quicker breaths. While working on that I also continually focused on relaxing myself. Tense bodies tire quickly, so I relaxed and let my legs go. Keeping up with my mantra of ” Breathe and believe.”

Every day that I tour 10 000 feet, I am aiming to log them on my watch. Its great to have a log book of all my days but also in the case that anyone doubts me then I can show them each and every day graphed on my computer.5 hours 12min, 10070 feet
88 to go.

Mcgill Shoulder

When the avalanche danger rises I tend to go to several safe zones, where I know the runs and can avoid all start zones. Winds combined with new snow and rising temperatures have created warm windslabs with a tendancy to move. Since terrain is always the answer we went to Mcgill shoulder where I know the runs inherantly and can avoid all danger while still getting great skiing.

Ian, Frank and I toured up from 3300 feet to 7000 feet and had several runs down the treed slope. I have been working on this front roll/front flip combo that seems to be working. Fall forward off whatever and keep rolling. Hopefully you will get around enough to land on your butt/skis and pop up out of the powder cloud to resume skiing. All the while acting as if you had meant to do it. Great move, something to work towards.

The love of my life, Tracey is now 4 days away from her due date so I find myself touring with baited breathed, and not because of the extra laps I am trying to get in. I will have to stay closer to revelstoke till the birth day, I would hate to miss the birth simply because I was out skiing. Some things are more important than skiing!

10280 feet of uphill hiking and 10280 feet of great backcountry skiing.