swalker
Very helpful member
- Joined
- Dec 11, 2014
- Messages
- 1,580
- Reason
- DX MND
- Diagnosis
- 07/2014
- Country
- US
- State
- CO
- City
- Vail
Today was a powder day at Vail. For those who have never skied powder, you just can't imagine how blissful it is.
I went out with a different set of instructors today. Shue is from Japan and is an amazing skier with a well-developed sense of adventure. Wylie is from Washington DC and is also amazingly capable. We were a great match.
We loaded me into the biski and headed up Chair 6 with intentions of starting off on Northstar, a very wonderful black run. It was marked as having been groomed, but it had a heavy coating a snow and what appeared to be an even heavier coating of beginner skiers. That was no place for a biski.
So, we skied past that and headed to the Sourdough lift (chair 14). it is a beginner (green and blue) area, but is one of my favorite parts of the mountain because of the wonderful snow it seems to hold.
Today it lived up to its reputation. I estimate there were 8 to 10 inches of fresh snow with wind-drifted snow over 2 feet in many places. It was deep enough that the seat of the biski was often below the top of the snow!
I got wonderful face shots and full-body shots (which are a true joy for any skier) as we plowed through the magnificent powder.
I normally use the biski with the primary instructor holding onto tethers and skiing a bit back behind the chair. This requires me to use fixed outriggers that would catch in the powder and cause me to cartwheel. Shue suggested that we use a "seat skiing" technique instead. He was still attached to the tethers for my safety in case of an accident (I don't want to continue down the hill uncontrolled if my instructor goes down). With "seat skiing" the instructor has his hands on the back of the biski and initiates the turns.
This turned out to be a great idea. I have skied enough to be able to figure out the rhythm of the turns he was initiating and mostly lean in the appropriate direction at the appropriate time.
What an adventure. We did deep powder, powdered-covered bumps, and more deep powder. It was snowing, with low visibility and flat lighting, which added a bit to the sense of adventure. I absolutely love skiing in conditions like that and certainly enjoyed it today.
Wylie was kind enough to take a few pictures and videos with my phone. I have posted a few below so you can have a better idea of what it was like. You can check out the videos at Zenfolio | Steven A. Walker | 2016 03 23 Skiing. This is a non-commercial web site where I post pictures and videos of my adventures.
There are no words to describe how wonderful it was or what it did for my spirits. I am on cloud nine!
What a wonderful day!
Steve
I went out with a different set of instructors today. Shue is from Japan and is an amazing skier with a well-developed sense of adventure. Wylie is from Washington DC and is also amazingly capable. We were a great match.
We loaded me into the biski and headed up Chair 6 with intentions of starting off on Northstar, a very wonderful black run. It was marked as having been groomed, but it had a heavy coating a snow and what appeared to be an even heavier coating of beginner skiers. That was no place for a biski.
So, we skied past that and headed to the Sourdough lift (chair 14). it is a beginner (green and blue) area, but is one of my favorite parts of the mountain because of the wonderful snow it seems to hold.
Today it lived up to its reputation. I estimate there were 8 to 10 inches of fresh snow with wind-drifted snow over 2 feet in many places. It was deep enough that the seat of the biski was often below the top of the snow!
I got wonderful face shots and full-body shots (which are a true joy for any skier) as we plowed through the magnificent powder.
I normally use the biski with the primary instructor holding onto tethers and skiing a bit back behind the chair. This requires me to use fixed outriggers that would catch in the powder and cause me to cartwheel. Shue suggested that we use a "seat skiing" technique instead. He was still attached to the tethers for my safety in case of an accident (I don't want to continue down the hill uncontrolled if my instructor goes down). With "seat skiing" the instructor has his hands on the back of the biski and initiates the turns.
This turned out to be a great idea. I have skied enough to be able to figure out the rhythm of the turns he was initiating and mostly lean in the appropriate direction at the appropriate time.
What an adventure. We did deep powder, powdered-covered bumps, and more deep powder. It was snowing, with low visibility and flat lighting, which added a bit to the sense of adventure. I absolutely love skiing in conditions like that and certainly enjoyed it today.
Wylie was kind enough to take a few pictures and videos with my phone. I have posted a few below so you can have a better idea of what it was like. You can check out the videos at Zenfolio | Steven A. Walker | 2016 03 23 Skiing. This is a non-commercial web site where I post pictures and videos of my adventures.
There are no words to describe how wonderful it was or what it did for my spirits. I am on cloud nine!
What a wonderful day!
Steve