One of the first days out with the new camera, and what a day it was…..

 

 Jeff had been out on a somewhat similar aspect the day before in good condition, so today we opted for the Grizzly Couloir, a striking line off Grizzly Mountain.  Directly above the Rogers Pass Center, the initial views we had of the run looked promising,  and an icy track brought us up into the alpine and the astounding 360 degrees of peaks that  is “the Pass”. 

 

Having only skied the Griz couloir once before to familiarize myself with a “new” rando race setup a couple of years ago in less than optimum conditions (the video below shows the top couple of turns, which where OK, the rest was wind#%$&ed), I was looking forward to shreddin it on some real gear…   

It was not to be, however, for when we got to the top and looked down the barrel, it was evident that what looked like wind riffled powder from afar was actually wind HAMMERED solid slab.  

Jeff droppping in, Troy gathering his Chi....

Making the best of a bad situation.

Note the tree island in the center of the bowl below,  which was where we stopped to recuperate from what Troy likened to a rodeo bull ride.  I somehow managed to ski away from this break spot with the side zip of my pack wide open, unnoticed until I pulled up to the truck at the Pass center.  That moment of panic/realization instantly set me to emptying out the bag, and sure enough, my new purchase, coveted for 3 years, the very piece of technology that brings you these images, was nowhere to be found.  After a minute of verbal self-abuse, Jeff and I re-skinned and raced against the waning daylight in the search.  Successful, as you see, unfortunately the cold temps froze the battery and I was unable to photograph a most amazing sunset.  Fortunately, the skiing in the half of the run which we repeated was much better than the junk above….   

Note to self:  check zippers ALWAYS.

P.S.  Jan 15 2010,  Just watched the excellent avalanche education flick The Fine Line  again last night, and noticed a snippet from the Griz couloir footage above near the end.  Thanks to Frank Desrosiers and Ian Bissonette!