Though it’s easy to find solitude in the early season, the ski touring is all about dulling the edges, jake-braking, globing up your ski poles with dirt blobs accumulated from the base-less snowpack (Anyone got a name for this phenomenon?) and pulling grass and twigs out from your Dynafits. Luckily, the gear is so bomber these days that it can handle all the abuse that we throw at it daily. Oh what fun it is…looking forward to LOTS more!
Steve,
The official name for that phenomenon is “Turd Skewering.”
Hehehehehe….good one!!
the past few days i’ve returned home from early season touring with those clumps on my ski poles, and they’ve looked a leeeeetle too similar to dog sh!t for my comfort. i know in my head it’s mud…but i confess to giving it a quick sniff just to make sure.
having been up on the pass where *ahem* nobody seems to ever clean up after their dogs (“why clean up when i’m not going to be around in late spring when it all melts out?” and/or “doesn’t it just disappear the next time it snows?” seems to be the prevailing attitude), it really is a fine line between mud and, uh, that other stuff.
[yes, i am a dog owner, and yes, i keep my dog on a leash and pick up after it.]
“Tip turds”.
-R