Ski Bug

The best ski day so far - looking out over Ghost Basin and The Crags

I skied a few times when I was a kid at Alpine Valley in Elkhorn, WI - a stunning hill with 388 feet of vertical. I remember getting really into the notion of skiing around my 14th birthday after a class trip took us up for the first time, but then I also remember the ensuing horror of falling hard and nearly tearing my meniscus. The pain goes down as on of the few really painful experiences I can remember (and this comes from me - concussed multiple times with too many stiches to count). The result of this experience was that I never wanted to ski again and was massively weary. Ever since I've tagged along on winter trips to ski resorts with my family, as skiing is one of my grandpa's favorite pastime; I opted to snowboard after the knee scare and was pretty horrible at it so the experience was always rather mediocre. On top of that, dealing with crowds of people isn't exactly my forte and the price tag that came with just a single day of semi-misery was hardly worth my while. If given the opportunity I'd stay home and hang out with any injured or exhausted parties. In short, the highlight of these trips was family time, not resort time.

All this changed just about a year ago when my roommates Erick and Ashley, got me a backcountry ski rental for my birthday, insisting I give it a go. With an ever growing fascination with any form of mountain travel, the idea of backcountry skiing sounded way more up my alley - no crowds, pristine snow, and the majority of your time skiing UP rather than DOWN. I knew I'd be fine skinning up; but was nervous about the down. I convinced my self it was just another form of snowshoeing, just a little faster on the way down. 


Badass - Ashley (in wedding dress) and Erick bombing down
mountain after getting hitched

My gift of a rental sat unused at first, but after watching Erick and Ashley tie the knot on the mountain at Steamboat Resort I started to feel a little itch. Riding the gondola back down after their ceremony and watching Ashley, a former nationally ranked snowboard racer, absolutely fly down the mountain in a wedding dress sealed the deal: it was time to ask Erick about a backcountry ski outing.

My first skin into a winter camping trip a weeks later set the perfect tone. I arrived at the trailhead with a guy named Dan and we started our trek in to meet the remainder of our party at 11pm. The sky was perfectly clear, the moon so bright that using a headlamp would have been a joke and the trees had a stillness that that didn't make you think twice why the area was called "The Sacred Trees". Even with reservations about having to actually ski down the following day I knew I was in trouble - I had taken the bait hook, line and sinker.

I rented skis once more last spring right as the ski season came to an end and went out with my friend Brady and our pups to confirm my decision that backcountry skiing was god's gift to those desiring winter play in the mountains.

I managed to piece together a relatively cheap backcountry set up by early December and have now been out skiing with a whole lot of friends and dogs several times this year. Each time I go the love grows a little more and the shape of my skis leans more and more towards French Fries rather than Pizza. Its beginning to feel like months between each weekend as my excitement to get back to the top of Cameron Pass grows. Its Tuesday... only 4 more sleeps until a Saturday ski tour!