Webmaster
01-04-2007, 09:48 AM
One time I rode up Rex with a guy who said he wanted to go for a speed run from the top of Rex, down through Iceberg Gulch and back to the lift. I said “What do you mean by a speed run?”
He said “I wanna point the skis downhill and head straight down.”
“No turns?”
“Nah.”
“Are you going to do it this run?”
“This time I'm gonna pick my line. I’ll do it next lap.”
“Best of luck,” I said as the chair approached the landing area. We got off the chair together and he traversed to the nearest point and dropped in. The resort had groomed the steep line just off the chair to perfection and he took a very fast pace down. Faster than I like to go. I followed his line but dropped steadily behind. By the time I was at the bottom of the valley he disappeared over the ridge that becomes Iceberg Gulch, and that was the last I saw of him. I headed toward Iceberg and found it to be beautifully conditioned corduroy and only lightly tracked so took the opportunity for a fast ride to the base of Rex. It was a high speed nirvana kind of morning.
Well anyway about 40 minutes had gone by and I’d done 2 laps down Sunnyside and wanted a groomer run so I headed back to Iceberg. I was about 50 yards down Iceberg and a skier came by pretty quick shouting “Clear the run! Clear the run!”
I stopped and looked to see what was up. And whadda you know, seconds later there was my recent chair companion in a tuck just coming over the knoll that drops into Iceberg. He barely twitched from his tuck as he crested over the top and into Iceberg and he headed straight down the fall line. About 2/3rds of the way down he came out of his tuck and was being tossed around by the terrain, but kept it together through the narrow funnel like base and onto the cat track leading to Rex. He didn’t make a single turn and accelerated the whole time. The guy had to be going over 80 mph by the time he got to bottom. Maybe faster.
I thought this one of the most daring thing’s I’d seen done on skis. He did it with skill and excellent control.
Many times our will takes us beyond our abilities. Skiing lets you find where your skills are, and also find a way to go beyond.
He said “I wanna point the skis downhill and head straight down.”
“No turns?”
“Nah.”
“Are you going to do it this run?”
“This time I'm gonna pick my line. I’ll do it next lap.”
“Best of luck,” I said as the chair approached the landing area. We got off the chair together and he traversed to the nearest point and dropped in. The resort had groomed the steep line just off the chair to perfection and he took a very fast pace down. Faster than I like to go. I followed his line but dropped steadily behind. By the time I was at the bottom of the valley he disappeared over the ridge that becomes Iceberg Gulch, and that was the last I saw of him. I headed toward Iceberg and found it to be beautifully conditioned corduroy and only lightly tracked so took the opportunity for a fast ride to the base of Rex. It was a high speed nirvana kind of morning.
Well anyway about 40 minutes had gone by and I’d done 2 laps down Sunnyside and wanted a groomer run so I headed back to Iceberg. I was about 50 yards down Iceberg and a skier came by pretty quick shouting “Clear the run! Clear the run!”
I stopped and looked to see what was up. And whadda you know, seconds later there was my recent chair companion in a tuck just coming over the knoll that drops into Iceberg. He barely twitched from his tuck as he crested over the top and into Iceberg and he headed straight down the fall line. About 2/3rds of the way down he came out of his tuck and was being tossed around by the terrain, but kept it together through the narrow funnel like base and onto the cat track leading to Rex. He didn’t make a single turn and accelerated the whole time. The guy had to be going over 80 mph by the time he got to bottom. Maybe faster.
I thought this one of the most daring thing’s I’d seen done on skis. He did it with skill and excellent control.
Many times our will takes us beyond our abilities. Skiing lets you find where your skills are, and also find a way to go beyond.