These Are A Few of My Favorite Runs

Today, I finally realised what it is about both skiing and triathlon racing that attracts me so. People who know me probably already figured this out, but I’d always treated the two activities as quite separate, having nothing really in common, except that they both require gobs of cash and burdensome amounts of equipment to schlepp to out-of-the-way venues.

No, I’m talking about internal sensations. I’d been looking at triathlon as an aerobic, endurance sport, like XC skiing, and downhill skiing as a strength event, more like mountain biking. Just not the same kind of physical effort at all.

But what IS the same is the internal sensation I get.

My family abandoned me today to my own devices on the slopes. Cheryl grabbed her snowshoes, heading uphill for a 50 minutes trek to the top of Burlingame. Cody and Angela were prostrate back at their apartment, bedeviled by a particularly nasty rhinovirus which leaves one literally speechless. Leigh and Craig never get out before 11 AM, especially after driving 900 miles the day before to get here.

So I was left to plot my own route on the mountain. I’d actually put it together the night before, while going to sleep. I’d just coast along on all my favorite runs, smoothly shifting from one section of the mountain to another. I even planned which side of some of the runs I would take – some parts have become an ingrained habit for me, and I retreat back to that side whenever I stray.

First up – to the top of Sam’e Knob. This is the original part of the Snowmass ski area, the nubbin rising 2200’ above the village, and now served by a high speed six person lift. From there, the pure north-facing slope is carved up with the runs basically getting tougher as one winds around from east to west: Max Park, which is the beginner’s route, down in the valley between the Knob and the Big Burn; Banzai Ridge, a straight shot down to Coney Glade, from which the east side runs drop to skier’s left – Coney Glade, Moonshine, Ute Chute (these three are groomed regularly), Fast Draw, Promenade (so named because under the lift). Then, the west side runs drop from the Knob itself: Zugspitze; Slot, groomed to an unskiable ice rink; Wildcat, Campground, Bearclaw; and, finally, starting down the Knob at the top of Max Park, but going in the opposite direction, Powderhorn.

I had chosen for my “warm-up”, Promenade to the bottom of Zugspitze. The bumps and snow on Promenade are very mellow right now, probably because fewer people will ski this steep slope under the lift. Fluffy powder at the bottom, early morning light. I took the exact some route down these runs I’ve been doing all week – always seeking the best snow, which was hiding first under the lift, then in a line leading to and from a little grove of pines half way down, over the cat track to Zugs with a meander from their through the right-side woods on the edge of the run.

Back up the Sam’s Knob lift, the most efficient uphill transport on the mountain. 1400 vertical feet in four minutes; it takes longer than that to ski back down on these black diamonds. This time, a few turns on Campground, then slide straight into the old Campground lift line (the chair was taken out a few years back), and onto the left side of Wildcat. This was a variation on my usual route; I’d discovered the bumps and snow on the right side were craggy and full of gravel. The left side proved MUCH better, just as I’d assumed. Again, the bottom featured mellow softly skied snow all the way to the lift.

Back up the Knob lift to Powderhorn. This is a nasty 2400’ drop which is never groomed, and not often skied, so the snow, at least on the top two thirds, is often soft and comforting, despite the wildly variable terrain of gullies, sharp drops and turns, ridges and dips – nothing normal about any part of this baby. Yesterday, I had turned the notch up a bit on the speed of my turns over on the right side (where I ALWAYS ski Powderhorn), leading to my Epiphany.

The reason I had chose all these runs was the feeling of Power I get when navigating them in the fall line, through chopped up fresh powder and careening around curling mogul barricades. The exact same feeling of power I get when running fast and not letting up. Except, the ski runs are 1-2 minutes bursts of effort, not the 1-2 hours I’ll spend running.

I was quite tired at the bottom, which features a loooong run-out to the lift, requiring either a full-on tuck for over a minute, or five minutes of skate skiing. So I was grateful for the chance to spread out on the slow double chair, and take in the scenery

The view from the Campground lift (which now only goes half way up, to the base of the Knob lift) is reason enough to ski there. Ten miles up Snowmass Creek, all wilderness area, smack into the imposing pyramidal wall of Mt. Daly, with his brother Capitol off to the left.

Next, an easy trip down Sunnyside to the Sheer Bliss lift, then on to the Cirque Poma. Now, here I had to make an alteration from my desired route. The Cirque headwall, leading into the Dikes, is still closed, so I had to enter the area from the other side, lower down, via AMF Gully. The snow there was blasted junk, filled with grey speckles of gunpowder from charges the Patrol had tossed in to stabilize the avalanche prone slope. I inched my way down, and at the base, shot into KT gully and its powder fields off to the right. The Gully narrows into an hourglass one mogul wide, then drops off a cliff into a roly poly section not unlike a Cascade creek. Filled with off-kilter bumps and piles of still fresh powder, I pinballed down, and aimed for Skateboard (also know as Pinball) alley, and on to the creek bed dumping into the run-up to the Sheer Bliss lift.

I bypassed that, heading down to the Alpine Springs area for a trip on Reidar’s, first the mellow bumps/powder on top, then into the woods on the left. I had intended to try the left side all the way down – I ALWAYS do the right – but the snow was basically untracked over on my favorite side (that must be the reason I usually go there?), so I went over to my usual stomping grounds.

And it was awesome. Even at 11:30, there were still fresh tracks to be had. In the woods – which are dense and steep – my new BBR’s from Salomon let me maneuver without fear in the tightest spots.

Back up High Alpine, and the climb to Roberto’s into the Hanging Valley Wall. It was tough – a long version of AMF – but, again, the snow in the bottom half was heavenly.

It’s not expected to snow again while I’m here, but I did accomplish today what i strive for every day on the slopes: enjoy yourself as if this were the last day you will get to ski.

Here’s a video from my helmet cam on the top third of Powderhorn this morning.

Powderhorn