Another Keystone Ski Day: Sastrugi and Goons

Jan 06, 2007  ·  09:04 AM  ·  permalink

On New Year’s Eve Day a gang of us ventured to Keystone—with very little new snow around Colorado, it was as good a gamble as any.

Like Breckenridge a few days before, Keystone was a zoo, and we hurried to the Outback in hopes of getting away. After a few laps through the bumps on Elk Run, our unofficial guide—and undisputed instigator, Jason—convinced us to take a Cat ride and hike the ridge. With marginal skiing on piste, a nice walk seemed a fine idea.

Thus we arrived at the top of North Bowl, and Jason proceeded to lead us on a death march up to the ridge and then east toward Keystone peak.

30 minutes of hiking in ski boots in variable crust is exhausting work, and by the time we made it to our destination, the troops were becoming restless. This was not helped by the sight that greeted us: crusty, windblown sastrugi* with exposed rocks and grass. Mutiny was imminent, but Jason held our Corp of Discovery together with assurances of powder below.

It only took a few minutes of collective wheezing to revive our spirits and we dropped in to the eastern most part of north bowl where Jason was vindicated. There we found deep, still untracked powder stashes among the trees that we manage to turn into 20 minutes-worth of turns. Was it worth it? Probably not. Would I do it again? Absolutely.

Don’t Be That Guy

At the end of the day we made our way to Ruby Express, which, coming from the Outback, includes a long, flat, icy, and crowded run out—a perfect place to work on carving. So, I got out of traffic and started carving big S-curves to see if I could optimize my edging—getting the fats skis way up on edge is not a skill I’ve mastered yet.

About a dozen turns in, a snowboarder flew by within in a couple inches of my left shoulder, interrupting the apex of my turn. Apart from being obnoxious and startling, it was also profoundly unsafe—on an icy surface, you can lose an edge very suddenly and had he miscalculated just a little, I’d have had a separated shoulder to show for it.

I watched him make a few awkward turns while zooming to the lift base and finally come to a wild stop in a cloud of snow—demonstrating that he had no business taking risks. No harm no foul? I didn’t think so at the time, so I confronted him—and the goon confirmed it when he demonstrated that he knew what he had done—“What are you doing making turns when it’s flat?” he demanded. I explained that turns are allowed, essential even, and that better skiers and riders often use uninteresting terrain to work on skills.

A word to novice and intermediate boarders and skiers: you do not earn any cred playing “intimidate the beginner”—especially when that beginner is a lifelong skier. You earn cred by working hard, improving, and eventually becoming a skillful and controlled skier or rider who shows his fellows respect. If you’re currently an insecure poseur acting like an asshole for your friends, you can stop it. Take some lessons, ride with better skiers, and let them take you out of your safety zone. Stop worrying about what others think and start worrying about how to improve today.

*A five-dollar word I learned this week thanks to Lou Dawson.