Things don’t always go as planned. That’s the theme of skiing in February 2019. Month 88 of Turns All Year had everything:
- The Good: My first skimo race; an unbelievable snowstorm; a “we were published” celebration; a ride up a 17mph rope tow.
- The Bad: Massive blisters. Malfunctioning boots.
- The Ugly: Truck Meets Tree – A Story of Black Ice.
Saturday, February 2, 2019 | Loup Loup Skimo Race (and Theresa’s 100th Month of TAY!)
I’ve written a LOT about my heterosexual ski partner Theresa and her passion for all things uphill, and it was only fitting that we celebrate her 100th month of Turns All Year with a skimo (ski mountaineering) race. Her friend Jen (and now my friend Jen), who skis and runs much more than me, came too.
Prior to arrival, I had skied uphill a grand total of three time in the season. That doesn’t bode well for a 4-hour race using regular, heavy backcountry gear while racing against semi-professionals in spandex using skis than weigh less than my poles, but, hey, this was going to be “fun”!
Each lap was roughly 1,100 vertical feet, and our goal was to do 5 laps each in the 4 hours allotted. I started out in the rear and maintained my ‘caboose’ status throughout, proud to be able to do a lap in a consistent 45-minutes roundtrip. The pros? They did it in 23 minutes!
But I kept trugging along, as did Jen and Theresa, and in four hours it was over and we had done it – whatever ‘it’ is! Theresa, the beast, completed 6 laps in 4 hours. Jen, lady speedy-pants, completed 5 laps in 3:30, and me? I finished 5 laps in 4:10, and felt great about it!
We were rewarded with quesadillas and beer, then went to a local pizza joint where we each ordered our own. (As our friend Nick would say, “Any pizza is personal size if you believe in yourself and try hard enough”.) Bonus: we got to meet a few friends we only know through Instagram!
Sunday & Monday, February 10-11, 2019 | Whittier Heights Neighborhood
I wrote a special post about Urban Ski Touring describing these two magical days. I encourage you to read it for nothing other than the incredible video of me “skiing” down my stairs. To put it in perspective, we broke a 70-year record for snowfall. Verdict: if it dumps snow and you don’t normally get the white stuff, go out and PLAY!
Friday, February 15, 2019 | The Ski Day That Wasn’t
I took comp time to hang with J off after missing each other for most of the month. The snow looked good, so we loaded up the truck to head to Crystal on a Friday morning.
The temps were cold and we were excitedly talking about where we wanted to ski as we passed through Greenwater on Hwy 410. About 3 miles east, we came around a corner that turned roughly 60-degrees to the right. The corner wasn’t particularly sharp, and we weren’t going all that fast, but we hit a patch of black ice and lost the back-end. Steering into the turn J was able to keep us from spinning, but we went into a slow-motion diagonal slide into the other lane and toward the opposing ditch. A tree – a big, sturdy tree – grew larger through our windshield. Despite all the snow piled up, we slid into the ditch and about eighteen feet (through snow five feet deep) and hit the tree.
The impact was startling. “Did we really just hit a tree?”, I thought. We had, and thank goodness we were okay. The truck, on the other hand, was not. Despite the fact that we didn’t hit hard enough for the airbags to go off, the impact was still enough to result in a totaled truck. *Wah wah*. Unable to drive out despite much digging with an avalanche shovel, we called for help and were towed back to Seattle to await our fate. All told we spent six hours dealing with the truck, and then I took an emergency siesta.
Word of caution: when we went into the ditch there was already another car further up the road which had spun out and was stuck. Good samaritans pulled them out, and tried to get us out too, but due to our position and the fact that the truck wouldn’t start, we abort. We spent most of the time hiding behind a tree because, as we were waiting, two more cars spun out and had to be pulled out of the ditch. That black ice is no joke.
Ugh, all this reliving of the truck situation has worn me out, so I’ll tell you about the rest of the adventures in a Part II post! A big thanks to everyone who helped us with the truck or send words of encouragement! It truly takes a village and we appreciate you!
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