By: randosteve|Posted on: March 10, 2008|Posted in: Broken Link to Photo/Video, Inspire | 19 comments
I’ve had a few days off back in Jackson after getting home from Europe. I’m glad too because I’ve been having a bugger of a time getting my internal clock reset and have been waking up at 3 and 4am the past few days…though daylight savings time helped a bit yesterday. The weather has been pretty good here and I’ve been getting out skiing a bit, but while some Teton ski lines look to be in great shape, others have been hammered by lots of wind up high over the past few weeks.
Besides getting my sleeping habits back in order and dealing with some jet lag, I find I’m having a little trouble dealing with the transition from powder skier/rando racer to ski mountaineer. I know it’s really all in my head, but it’s nice to kind of progress from steep lines to even steeper, hairier lines, and I haven’t really skied anything very exciting this year yet. I’m also finding myself really looking to ski things when they are in prime shape, as opposed to hacking my way down some wind scoured, sustrugi laden couloir, or doing a 100′ rappel over a cliff that I know fills more under the right conditions. In the past, when I was younger, I probably would have skied these lines just to say that I skied them or to stay in shape, but it seems as though I’m getting pickier and pickier as I get older.
I went one for three (video tomorrow) in my objectives last week and unfortunately I had to ski some snow that wasn’t the greatest…and a line that I’ve skied a few times already. Buy hey…that’s ski mountaineering…right? Anyway, I think I need to just ski some more of the classic steeps to get my confidence back up before going for a line on my tick list. Hopefully conditions will continue to improve for some of these descents and I can get my mind right as well.
Steve – Relax, you’re maturing – that’s a good thing. Skiing steep ice is overrated – ask Doug Coombs.
Thanks Dave.
Sometimes I’m a head case. 😯
Steve,
On a totally unrelated subject…what do you think of the Zero 4 Carbon boots? I’m trying to figure out wheter to buy a pair or wait for the Garmont Radium’s (have you seen them…any idea what they weigh?
Dave
Sacramento
I’ve been skiing on them all year and they have held up well driving my big 190 Verdicts all the way down to my 174 Stigmas. They fit my foot well and are stiff and very light. I’m psyched to “Teton style” with them this spring for sure.
I put my foot in a Radium at OR and they seemed okay…no time on the snow with them. If you can get a deal on the Zzero’s…I’d go for them NOW! Why wait?
Rando Steve,
If it makes you feel any better, I just heard that Obama won Teton county with 80% of the vote. I attribute that all to your endorsement. He only won here (Albany County) with 75%. Go Rando Steve!
Dave’s comment, “ask Doug Coombs, has prompted my first comment. It is totally disrespectful and should be removed. It may seem like a flippant remark to someone in Sacremento, but in my opinion, this is completely uncalled for. I’d like to rant on a bit more about it, but I’ll just leave it at that and respectfully request that it be removed. Then you can remove my comment as well.
Hmmm…I didn’t get that vibe from Dave’s comment Chad. I thought it was just a reference to the idea that…”The Mountain Doesn’t Know We’re Experts”.
Not my intent, Chad. Maybe I’ve buried more friends than you.
Steve,
I guess you are entitled to your opinion but I strongly disagree with your take. Try this out as a test of your interpretation. Have two bumper stickers made, one that spells out your interpretation of the comment in question, and the other with the comment on it. Drive your van through town and see how far you make it before being run off the road. I didn’t pick up any “vibe”, I just can’t beleive someone could even write that phrase. Can you say it? Would you say it at work? Try it out. Let me know how it goes.
I’m sorry you feel so strongly about Dave’s comment and have interpreted it in a negative way. While his choice of words could have been better, personally, I see it as a way to question the merits of pushing the limit and maybe stirs us to take a step back and reevaluate things.
Doug has always been a hero of mine and if I thought there was even the slightest chance someone was tarnishing his image I would surely take strong action against them.
Peace!!!
“Skiing steep ice is overrated, ask DC”
This comment is over the top. DC skied plenty of “steep ice” and did so on a repeat basis. I’m pretty sure he enjoyed some aspects of it.
Your comment, in my opinion, is very insensitive and you come off as an asshole.
“Buring friends” is a bullshit excuse. Who hasn’t lost friends in the mountains? You think that makes you above it all?
Wow, you’ve lost friends in the mountains. You’re so Mark Twight. Can I touch you? So dark, so core, so brutally honest. But no tact.
You’ve got it right, Steve; at least my intent. That is, that motivated mountain athletes who push the limits often die and Steve need not be one of them. I apologize for using Doug Coombs name – I could have made the same point without it. Sorry; it was insensitive.
I certainly wasn’t planning to make a bumper sticker with the phrase, Chad. And I’m not sure where I live has anything to do with this.
And Derek, if I came across as an asshole you’re doing a good job of sounding like a condescending little jerk.
Dave,
Yes, condescension is exactly right. A knee jerk reflex to a comment I found to be gritty and abrasive.
Have a good and safe peak bagging season Steve.
Thanks Derek!
Plenty of FUN icy skiing today! Sorta.
Emphasis on the “jerk”, Derek. You rant about Dave’s admittedly inappropriate
use of DC’s name – then you mock his friend’s deaths with gritty and abrasive comments like “can I touch you?” and “Wow..”.
You don’t seem like someone who should be calling anyone else an asshole.
Okay okay…let’s please settle down now. It’s not anyones fault and we all get fired up about our passions.
This post was supposed to be about MY MIND anyway. Right? 🙄
Shane,
Call it like you see it. I’m ok with that. Guess I’m an asshole.
In my opinion, Dave’s comment saying….. “Maybe I’ve buried more friends than you.” is mocking everyone who has lost their life or lived with the loss of a friends life to the mountains.
Sorry Steve, for the ranting. But Dave’s initial comments set the fire and the stage.
Whoa, Derek, I think you’ve greatly overreacted. Let me see if I can put this “fire” out.
In randosteve’s post (remember that?) he was lamenting his lack of skiing hairy lines in favor of lines that are in prime shape. I was telling him – albeit poorly – that in my opinion that was okay; that the “if you fall, you die” mentally was overrated. Challenge yourself, pull back from the brink, have fun, stay alive; that’s my philosophy.
I wasn’t mocking anyone – not intentionally, Derek. Yeah, I’ve eulogized a few friends lost in mountain pursuits and, no, that doesn’t make me an expert or hero. Haven’t even read “Kiss or Kill”. But I have seen the effect that a person’s death has on his family members over time and it’s not pretty.
On that note, my new Zzero’s just came UPS and I’m headed to Squaw.