On a backcountry ski trip into the Wasatch Mountains in Utah, two guides volunteered to take pictures of me, both posing against spectacular backdrops, but also skiing down a slope.
We skinned up hills, booted up mountain peaks, even helicoptered to distant chutes. The experience of touring outside the controlled confines of a ski resort pushes the sport to another level. It liberates a mind set accustomed to understanding skiing (or snowboarding) as what goes on within boundaries. The canvas for letting loose shifts to what's in between established resorts.
Dare I say it again: It is intoxicating.
The four ski areas in Little and Big Cottonwood canyons, less than a half hour from Salt Lake City, are staging areas for explorations into the wilderness. The potential to ski untracked slopes and navigate between resorts is limited only by avalanche danger.
All of these images were shot away from lift-serviced terrain or out of bounds, at elevations above 2,500 meters. The pictures of me without skis were shot after hiking to the summit of Mt. Wolverine at 3,288 meters.
As they say, you have to earn your turns to get to this place, a proposition considerably pain-free with the assitance of a helicopter. It was my first ride ever, and my New Zeelander pilot handled the craft quite delicately.
With my jacket on, I appear bulky. I have an avalanche beacon strapped to my chest and I keep my snow hat in there, too. I also carry a backpack with shovel, etc. The action photos do not give a sense of the pitch of the slopes or the speed. If you study the angle of my skis against the snow, where my hands are, and how trees appear, you will get a better idea.
I am not writing too much about this great trip as I hope to file a story on it next season...
No comments:
Post a Comment