Thursday, March 15, 2007

Bluebird!

We got lucky today and the sun gods shined their sweetness down on us for an absolutely stunning day. Blue skies all around and the winds died down to make for some great conditions.


This is my cousin getting ready to drop in on our first run called Avery's Alley, which was named after on of our guide's daughters. It turned out to be great and the pow was top to bottom. The high winds have created a lot of wind buffed sections which are more firm so you have to be aware of what you are riding in.
That's me all smiles before dropping into little Kiwi, which was high angle up top and pow glades out on to the glacier...good times.
This picture was taken for the LZ (landing Zone) of Avery's Alley. The heli is typically landing on something that is no smaller than the size of a car and then we strap on and go. Here we strapped on our boards and cut down the ridge before heading into the big bowl in the background...great run with two big windlips for a little boost-a-fonte (air) into pow field. You can see one of the guides ointhe background digging a pit at the top of the pow field.

We got very lucky today and were the only clients so we rode in two groups with 4 guides. It was like having our own ski patrol out with us. These guys are constantly gathering information and assessing their current situation. This reminded me of a navigator making his/her way through an adventure race. It was amazing to watch them constantly taking the temps of the snow, punching in hand pits, ski cutting and analyzing snow in every which way. The guides seem to be an all star line up of individuals from Montana, Jackson-WY, Tahoe, and Alaska.

Clouds began to move in fast after our last run (5:00pm) so now we are hoping for some snow tonight and more blue bird tomorrow. Not sure that will happen but our fingers are crossed again.

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