"OOOOOORRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHRRRGHHH!!!!"
"WHOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!"
"yyyyyyyyYYYYEAAAAAHHHHH!!!"
"FUCKIN' SWEEEEEET!!!!!!"
Screams of joy echoed throughout the parking lot. It was Kirkweed's opening day with midwinter powpow conditions.
Big fat light dry flakes were falling, chairs were turning and crowds were nonexistent. My longest wait for a chair today took all of 2 seconds.
The maggots were everywhere at first- some in the office stuck in the pass line, others getting some- no, make that a lot off Sentinel Bowl and Monty's. Pow pow was untracked, rocks clearly visible and legs were burning after two runs.
10am- a squirm of maggots met up at chair 6. Me, Sobchak, Arty, Spatters, Tyrone, skier666, Legoskier, OffAxis, the new guy (Brad- forgot his maggot name) , lph, Britney and BC-FLOW, with some random appearances by tcohee, SSSDave, NSANA and Ahnold. Shit, did I leave anyone out? First few runs were asshauling pow speed runs down Sentinel, exploring through the trees for knee deep fresh, trying to gauge the rock situation.
2nd run as a group- skier 666 steps it up a notch and drops a sweet line through ski school chute by little Jims. Perfect runout, more exploration in the trees...found a shitload of good light knee deep stashes OOORRRGGGGHHHHHH!!!!! down to the gullies and trees, back to 6.
Next run everyone's hitting the chute. Drop in, turn, mach at the bottom and speed burn thru the powder. With a crew of 10+ maggots shit got tracked up pretty fast,. 666 billygoats a hairy line, then once again everyone disappears in the trees, heard yet unseen. Hoots of stoke and maniacal laughter echoed down chamoix, oops and poops and the gullies and tree runs, punctuated by "ROCK!!!", "AH SHIT! CORE SHOT!!" , "*crunch* FUUUUUCK!!!"
http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic15269.jpg
(Pic: Shoe laughs at Arty as Arty looks for his ski. Meanwhile 666 and Spatters look from above. 666 billygoated the rockline.
All the runs blurred together. The powder was eaten up and we'd meet at 6 to do it all over again. The best stashes were the ones that had hungry sharks lurking beneath the surface, eagerly waiting the chance to chomp a bite out of your skis, but it was totally worth it.
As with opening days, the crew dispersed around lunchtime. some off to the bar, others on a food mission. The breakaway crew who insisted on skiing were me, skier666 and spatters- the Three Stooges, if you will, with an unhealthy disregard for the base of their skis. After a final speed run through the tracked-out ski school chute we decided to go exploring.
(You maggots who had lunch then spent the day lapping up 5- you may want to stop reading now)
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2pm-4pm All-you-can-ski Powder Buffet
Skier666 led the way, ducking through trees and sniffing out the untracked.
We found an untracked steep face at [CENSORED]. He drops in, then I traverse to the untouched section, and ripped the shit out of a steep pow line, billowing smoke, face shots. Spatters went off to the trees and scored good shit too. At the bottom we're all salivating for more. It was after lunch and the mountain was all ours. OURS! Did you hear me? OURS!!! ALL OURSS!!! MOO-HOOOHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic15270.jpg
(Pic: Kirkweed Chair 6 after lunchtime)
Each run was more adventurous than before. We'd recon different lines, get whole runs of untracked knee deep light fresh without any rocks then do it all over again.
http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic15271.jpg
(Pic: Skier666 takes us to the goods)
I lost count of how many perfect runs we've had. It felt like we were the only 3 people left in the entire planet and all that mattered was getting our fix.
Each run was better than the one before as we discovered longer better stashes. What surprised me is that having skied Kirkwood for 8 years, I didn't know this stash existed. It was like finding buried treasure. The entry was totally sketch with narrow tree lines, sharp turns and rocks. That was the hardest part. It was well hidden, and we're going to hit that up again tomorrow.
666 found a huck, spatters and I chose a sharktooth infested entry, straightlined the first part then arced pow pow through the tree section.
We were tired, but we tapped into our untapped energy saved for powder days. Spatters said it the best: "It's like eating- you have a food stomach and a dessert stomacn...you always have energy for powder!"
3 o'clock went by. Each run brought us further out as we milked every last bit of fresh. 666 bailed. Me and Spatter hit it up again, but fatigue was setting in. The gnar access trail should not be skied tired. I ended up tucking through some sections, slamming into rocks and trees...but fuck it...must....ski....POW!
http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic15273.jpg
(Pic: Our stash)
3:45. Spatters is out. I am ready to collapse, but the lifts are still turning, and I know I can milk just one more....just one more. Like a junkie waiting for his next hit, I got on the chair one more time.
Last bit of energy for my last run. shoulder check...no one. Ducked a rope to ski the other side of the forbidden zone, hit the trees then straightlined the last section, maching through the trees trying to make as least amount of turns as possible and got more face shots and untracked. Raced the last bottom half against closing time but I got to 6 as Patrol closed it. "Sorry man! We'll see you tomorrow"
Found the guys at the bar. The shit eating grin on my face must have said it all, since they all looked at me with facial expressions that said "Shut up man! We don't want to hear about it!". Looks like Spatters already beat me to it.
http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic15272.jpg
(Pic: The scary looking author)
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