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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Home in the Highcountry
    Posts
    477

    TR: COMING SOON: "Skate the 14ers"

    Disclaimer:
    (1) Do not attempt.
    (2) Featured snowskater was tripping on something, got lost on his way to the park.
    (3) Anyone hurting themselves on a poorly built rock-gap jump at the bottom of Box Creek Cirque, please accept our condolences.
    (4) I apologize.



    Who: KansasBoarder, Non-Mag Wade
    What: Ascent of Mt. Elbert (14,433) SE Ridge. Snowboard/snowskate descent via Box Creek Cirque/Humphrey's Drainage shitwack.
    When: May 1st, 2009
    Where: See Above
    Why: Because by-gones are by-gones, and so on and so on.





    While I have yet to fully comprehend my roomate's oft unique snowsports motivations, I feel obligated to bring you the following report. Perhaps a first descent needs be claimed, perhaps a first descent by snowskate is not worth claiming.

    But what I witnessed last Friday on the highest peak in Colorado was pretty darn incredible; a remarkable display of athleticism, coordination, determination, courage, and stupidity.

    Without further adue, I bring you the first documented snowskate descent of Mt. Elbert.




    Before you get to slide down, you gotta get up:















    Yup, the sun rose at some point during the day. Right behind a conveniently placed snowskating backcountry user:






    The guidebooks put this route at Class I, but shit got overhangy near the summit block:







    Future snowskating potential (La Plata):







    And then I realized I hadn't been to Mt. Elbert:







    Nothing like 4,000+ feet of the most variable, rotten, dust-affected, grossness to break one into backcountry snowskating....





















    Jokes aside, snowskating a 14er, especially one with the expected variation in terrain and conditions, is damn tough. There were several aspects that bordered on no-fall zones. Not deadly Capitol Peak no-fall zones. But mess up your day "french fry when you should have pizza-ed" high speed tumbles into exposed rock zones. Wade handled suck zones as any experienced rider would, with a focused commitment. At the bottom of his line, he collapsed; physically exaughsted from his less-than-efficient choice of equipment, mentally fatigued from the focus required to guide the skate down the Cirque safely.


    Wade, in disbelief:





    As any good partner would do, I decided to give Wade a rest before descending back to the TH. In other words, I hiked back up to the top of Box Creek for a second, NORTHERLY facing shot [photos Wade]:














    The snow in the NE facing couloir was buttery smooth, a nice inch or two of windblown deposited ontop of a firmer underlayer. This surface condition was a HUGE changeup from every other aspect, where the dust-layer rules the day...


    But I guess it's easy to let her loose on the apron with your feet strapped in:










    At this point, following several photo-ops with confused/interested hiking groups, the altitude must have gotten to us, as things got EXTREME.


    Rock-Gapper (see disclaimer):










    Surfer style in the rotting mank:







    A parting Lake County Scenic:






    PS - If anyone knows how to fix a Nikon Telephoto lens that refuses to focus past 15 feet at any zoom, please send me a PM. Taking pictures with this parameter sucks...


    Oh, and for those of you still wondering about Wade's abilities on a board...











    Yeah, I hit it too...


    An Evolutionary Rider

    www.PeaksforPeace.com

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Nov 2002
    Location
    Cloud City
    Posts
    8,768

    Thumbs up

    Bwa! Crazy! Cool!

    See you tomorrow, Wade! Eat your wheaties!
    Live each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each.
    Henry David Thoreau

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    West Shore
    Posts
    2,377
    awesome

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    Seattle
    Posts
    587
    awsome. and great photos.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
    Location
    funland
    Posts
    5,250
    this is friggin' awesome and hilarious. and your pics are freakin crisp, colorful, full of life. very nice!!!!!

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Wenatchee, WA
    Posts
    782
    That was sick! Check out http://starfishsnowskatemagazine.com for more non-binding silliness.
    "No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible" -Stanislaw Jerzy Lec

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    5th Switchback
    Posts
    394
    Sick pics and sick descent on that device! Believe it or not I saw a guy with one of those at 14,400 on Denali several years ago. Not sure about the utility but they certainly go with the aviator shades. Again, nice exposures.
    -You can't get hurt if you are in the air.

    Caleb Wray Photography

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Posts
    227
    Wonderful photos. Glad to see folks having fun in the snow.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Location
    Bottom feeding
    Posts
    10,827
    That's just awesome.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    Out There
    Posts
    1,748
    Clearly the future of big mountain BC touring. You know, people used to post TR's like this about snowboarding. Nice pics.
    "We need sometimes to escape into open solitudes, into aimlessness, into the moral holiday of running some pure hazard, in order to sharpen the edge of life, to taste hardship, and to be compelled to work desperately for a moment at no matter what. -George Santayana, The Philosophy of Travel

    ...it would probably bother me more if I wasn't quite so heavily sedated. -David St. Hubbins, This Is Spinal Tap

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    9,300ft
    Posts
    21,938
    hahahha awesome!
    Quote Originally Posted by blurred
    skiing is hiking all day so that you can ski on shitty gear for 5 minutes.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    Golden
    Posts
    225
    Wade seems like an interesting character
    www.skiwisp.com
    Home sweet home.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Zurich, Switzerland
    Posts
    1,322
    crazy guys!

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    the backcountry
    Posts
    3,500
    Man your pic quality is so money!!!
    so many mountains...so little time

    www.splitboard.com

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Posts
    12,609
    Raising or lowering the bar? Can't decide

    Nice TR, Funny shit

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
    Location
    Sea Level
    Posts
    3,709
    You're pushing the sport, man.
    The trumpet scatters its awful sound Over the graves of all lands Summoning all before the throne

    Death and mankind shall be stunned When Nature arises To give account before the Judge

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    NOYFB
    Posts
    258
    Damnit! Skiing the 14'ers just got less cool. Nice work guys. Highlarious.

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    SLT
    Posts
    715
    Quote Originally Posted by cascadianwarrior View Post
    That was sick! Check out http://starfishsnowskatemagazine.com for more non-binding silliness.
    Also try www.snowskatetv.com it's got some good video of some tahoe backcountry.
    Snow Flake Killer

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    The Ranch
    Posts
    3,792
    We're blessed to have such visionaries on TGR.

  20. #20
    Join Date
    Nov 2002
    Location
    Cloud City
    Posts
    8,768

    Thumbs up

    These pics are so beautiful. Worth looking at over and over...

    Thank you for the loaner beacon today, Brennan.
    Live each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each.
    Henry David Thoreau

  21. #21
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    AKeveryday
    Posts
    588
    awesome pics... wish i had some better pics of my BF's snowskating adventures! now we've got some inspiration!
    sweet trip!

  22. #22
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    Minturn
    Posts
    732
    if the shoe fits....

    i really like the pictures this year KB. you gotta capture the brightness of the beach on a sunny party day with those camera skills (CO mini??)

    keep the colorful stoke coming
    o--/\
    --/(. \
    -/ .) ' \ go with respect, get to know your mountains
    /' (. ' |'\
    ' ' .) ' ,'

  23. #23
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Home in the Highcountry
    Posts
    477
    Quote Originally Posted by Goatski View Post
    i really like the pictures this year KB. you gotta capture the brightness of the beach on a sunny party day with those camera skills (CO mini??)

    Thanks man! You just might see me poking around up there, gathering blackmail for gearswap....I mean party picks, yes.

    It's going to be a shitshow, hopefully with some fun spring riding as well. Nice priorities we have...
    An Evolutionary Rider

    www.PeaksforPeace.com

  24. #24
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    Near Perimetr.
    Posts
    3,857
    Pfft. No bindings,thats where itīs at.

    Hehheh.. Pure awesomeness there!
    And having painfully experienced the finnickness of those damn snowskates,well,letīs say that I wouldnt drag them to the mountains...

    The floggings will continue until morale improves.

  25. #25
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    8,290'
    Posts
    5,357
    Here's what's getting ready to go down soon...




    www.freeridesystems.com
    ski & ride jackets made in colorado
    maggot discount code TGR20
    ok we'll come up with a solution by then makers....

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