Wax track

Now that my foot's much better, I brought out the Asnes Combats (84-62-74) - the "white skis" - and took them up to the mountain for some practice turns in the leather boots and 3-pins. Whoa...what a FOOT workout! This setup makes you learn tele the right way. I can't say i'm an expert, but I felt much much better linking turns today than ever before. It was actually the first day I took these to the resort...something about bringing this setup to the resort just seemed wrong. But like a gym, ski resorts enable you to practice through repetition...so I dealt with the guilt. It ended up being seriously fun to ski the Intermediate slopes at Eldora on these skis and boots! It reminded me of riding a trail on a singlespeed that I've only ridden on gears before...technique is everything, although fitness definitely helps. That's why after two runs, I headed for the back gate. On my way to explore some new terrain. Something I've been eyeing for at least two years.

Wax Track. Those 2 words say a lot to me right now. I spent 4 hours in the side & backcountry and didn't put on any skins. It is a whole new way of touring, where the extra blue wax has to get you to where you want to go and the skins stay in the pack. Contouring is paramount, you just can't go where you want, you must contour and switchback. So I toured like I was creating a singletrack-on-the-go with the correct grade and picking a line through the trees - the path of least resistance. Summer trails mean nothing, except where likely NOT to go.

After thinking I was at the place I wanted to be, and not finding any good slope to ski, I decided to put in another 1/2 hour search to the south. I contoured around and around finding only wind blown alleys, wind slab, and flag trees....when finally there IT was. I was indeed NOT in the place I wanted to be before, but had found the place where I just KNEW there'd be a good slope to ski now. It's the place I call 411 hill (as there are 4 consecutive 1's and another # that make up the top of the hill's elevation...that, and you really have to KNOW how to get there to find this lil open gladed 22+ degree hillside - or search for awhile!).

As the sun glared down and the temps rose to over 30 degrees and hardly a trace of wind (no I wasn't high), I sat looking east over the flatlands and wondered how many others tried to find this hill and skied this slope. For all i know it's a main route for old locals - locals that stay up in the hills near here and purposely keep it out of the guidebooks. But today I pretended that that wasn't the case. Either way, I had a great tour to some great turns on a hill I call 411-Hill.

Here are some shots of the day:
http://picasaweb.google.com/whitcj/LocalTurns