I hucked all of Bad News today...

**Bum Z** · 12-31-2003, 08:02 PM

Originally posted by Particle
Damn you Dan, now you guys have me thinkin about hucking when I realllllly shouldn't be hucking. Grrrr.

This is why I hate Dan, also. He always makes you want to go bigger. Usually you do. Then you thank him for it.

**frozenwater** · 12-31-2003, 08:06 PM

z - how about a little update on this cornice dropping out from under you business? bored guys at work want to know.

**Dantheman** · 12-31-2003, 08:38 PM

Now that it's 24 hours later, I can actually talk about yesterday. The adrenaline had me so jacked up that even though I skied bell-to-bell and was dog tired, I couldn't fall asleep until about 2:00am last night.

First, huge thanks to Xover and UTDave for helping me prep the in-run, spotting for me, and doing crowd control to keep gapers from destroying the in-run we so meticulously prepared. I couldn't have done it without you guys.

Now, onto the actual hucking. I wanted this huck ever since I saw people hitting it one day last year, and phUnk and I had done a lot of talking about it when we were interlodged at the Peruvian on Friday. After warm-up hucks on Backside, my air presence was feeling really solid. Hucking the point confirmed that the landing was as perfect as I thought it was going to be. I told Xover I wanted it and it was on. Mentally I was more solid than I have ever been. I was definitely nervous when I first slid up to the lip and looked at my LZ, but a lot of that was coming from the fact that there was no in-run and the lip looked like crap and had a sizeable compression. As the in-run and lip came together, I just seemed to get calmer and calmer. I knew the landing was perfect and I all had to do trust myself and everything would come together. Also, I think it helped that we had a window of just enough light that could shut down at any moment. I knew that if I hesitated and dicked around the window could close and I would have to go home wondering what-if. So, once everything was tits, I started side-stepping up the in-run. Definitely some butterflies doing that, I wanted to get up there and get ready but I also didn't want to rush it and have to spend a lot of time catching my breath at the top. Once I got there, I started my usual pre-huck routine. Took a nervous piss, buckled the boots, put on my goggles, and popped in my mouthguard. At this point I just looked around for a few seconds. Not at my take-off, just around. Looked at Germ, Superior, the clouds, whatever. I don't know why, but it was calming. I was ready and the light was good, so I yelled to Dave, "Clear?" He relayed the question to Xover and I was told that it was good to go. So I yelled to dave again, "10 seconds!" Took a couple deep breaths, counted down mentally, and pointed. As soon as I left the lip I knew it was all good. I was balanced exactly how I wanted to be and got the grab. I held the grab for as long as I dared, the let go and just tried to stay tight. I just remember thinking, "Wow, I'm still falling...still falling...still falling...there's the landing...BOOOMF!" The impact was softer than expected (no shit, there was 70 inches of pow in the landing). As soon as I realized I was totally fine, all I wanted to do was go get it again. Looked uphill for my ski, and there it was right on top of the snow five feet from me. Clicked in, skied down, and looked back up. Most incredible feeling ever looking back at my bombhole and realizing how far I had really fallen. Second time around wasn't as tense, the prep work was done and I really had to do was hit it. But the light wasn't as good and I had to wait around for awhile at the top of the in-run. After what felt like ten minutes, the light got about 10% better and Xover screamed up from the bottom that it was good to go. I trust my bro, so I looked around a little again, popped in the mouthguard, and gave Dave the 10-second warning. When I came off the lip the landing was "fuzzy", I couldn't see any detail in the snow wasn't totally sure where I was going to land. Thus, no grab this time. I just had to focus on keeping tight until the landing came into view, which happened about 40 feet through the huck. This landing was a whole lot firmer, partly due to a few more ski tracks through this LZ and the fact that I went for the stick a little more than on the first one, where I side-slapped a bit. There were a few minor pains, but once I realized that nothing was broken and both my skis were still on I tried to stand up and ski away as fast as I could before the powder cloud dissapated. Holding on to one pole just be the strap, I skied down to a whole lot of pole clanking from a crew that was larger than I realized. Unbelievable feeling, I didn't stop smiling for hours and hours, and it still hasn't stopped replaying in my head.

Moral of the story; when the conditions are right and you are feeling it, push your limits. You won't regret it

**Xover** · 12-31-2003, 08:48 PM

^ Outta HUGE respect; EOT (End of Thread). I call it!! Will only accept ^ from here forward to keep this thread up high where it should be.

**meatdrink9** · 12-31-2003, 08:48 PM

Cool to hear the thoughts before hitting the air. There are days when things will work and days when they won't. Trust the conditions. Wish I could've been there with you.

I'm sure phUnk feels the same way.

**meatdrink9** · 12-31-2003, 08:49 PM

Originally posted by Xover
^ Outta HUGE respect; EOT (End of Thread). I call it!!

Too bad we posted at the same time. I would've respected your wishes.

**Xover** · 01-01-2004, 09:14 AM

daily ^

**Samwich** · 01-01-2004, 12:32 PM

bump for sickness.

**natty dread** · 01-01-2004, 03:42 PM

^bizzump ^

Blurred Elevens · 01-01-2004, 07:40 PM

I think respect would be to tell him not only how sick he is, but also what an AWESOME report he gave us.

btw-Is that the cliff Rob Holmes lawn darts off in The Flying Circus?

**Dantheman** · 01-02-2004, 12:04 AM

Originally posted by Blurred Elevens
btw-Is that the cliff Rob Holmes lawn darts off in The Flying Circus?

No, that cliff is in Glory Hole.

**seldon** · 01-02-2004, 03:45 PM

wow....

ultimate post.

thanks for the piece. its refreshing to hear, especially as some of us just skiied our last day of xmas break before heading back to the hellhole aka school aka the man aka the bitch. and what makes it all worse is no chance of skiing for another 2 weeks.

3rd saturday in jan at sugarbowl anyone?

**pollard** · 01-02-2004, 09:23 PM

if I wear a mouth gaurd will I rip like you? that looked huge. too bad you didn't get any pics.

**Dantheman** · 01-02-2004, 11:26 PM

Originally posted by Tap
Dan - who the fuck skis with a mouthguard?

People who go big on a regular basis and like to keep their teeth intact

Thanks for the props.

**shamrockpow** · 01-03-2004, 12:52 AM

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
One of the top 10 things I've ever seen on Powder/TGR!!!

**Lone Star** · 04-21-2004, 08:13 PM

bump. great stuff.

**Endlessseason** · 05-11-2004, 09:20 AM

Holy ! ! !

First time reading this. You rule, DTM! I just passed Bad News a couple of days ago with Bum Z. ColdSmoke and I were heading out to another area, but Z stopped to look for a ski he tossed during the season under the Bad News cliffs. Huge huck.
Ninja-chop-your-head-off huge.

**gonzo** · 05-11-2004, 03:29 PM

i'm all jittery...

**char** · 05-11-2004, 09:59 PM

^

**warthog** · 05-11-2004, 10:30 PM

After reading this, I now know why people heart DanTheMan.

I too am named Dan, and I have been called"The Man" before. From this day forward, I will inform anyone that calls me"TheMan" that I am not, in fact, "TheMan". I will tell them that I have heard he lives in Utah, and he owns a mouthguard.

**gonzo** · 05-11-2004, 10:40 PM

Originally posted by warthog
I too am named Dan, and I have been called"The Man" before. From this day forward, I will inform anyone that calls me"TheMan" that I am not, in fact, "TheMan". I will tell them that I have heard he lives in Utah, and he owns a mouthguard.

POTD! Ha!