It was Mid-November, the time that began the shred season at Lost Trail Powder Mountain. With only one board track down the mountain, elk and deer tracks outnumbering it by hundreds, I began my ascent. Trusty hand-split NeverSummer T5 underfoot, and CamelBak hydrating the day, so it started. The snow was shin to knee deep in places, and drifting deeper. Skins gripped the snow tightly, and apprehension gripped my mentality. Just a few days earlier Eric Poole, shop rookie, was chased by 3 wolves while working on Chair 2, so that prompted my new splitboard accessory. A Sig Sauer 45 A.C.P.
He he!! Loaded for bear, and gunning for powder turns, the track got deeper, and steeper. As I left Charlie Brown and the flats behind, and climbed South Face, memories of past hikes come to mind. Last year’s first skin ever at Teton Pass, up Edelveiss Bowl, and Christmas Bowl, with RJ and Will, the 5 mile gulag march up Disappointment Peak in Teton National Park, and many, many forays into the Backyard Backside Backcountry of LT’s Chair 4 … Ahh, good times!!
Rounding the last kick-turn as the top of Chair 1, victory was at hand. Breathing in fresh mountain air, drinking in the Anaconda-Pintlars one direction, Ajax, the Beaverheads and Idaho in the other, and the potential of Powdery Chair 4 in the background, the ski-to-board transition began. But not without 4 warning shots into the woods to just let the aggressive K-9s know who was packing!
As I strapped into my shredstick, I wondered, “Sooo, can I still do this?”
Ha, of course I could, and did!
First turn: faceshot. BLAM! Point it straight, wind rushing, pow blowing, heelside turn, overhead white room, point it again, toeside slash, then the thrill of pointing it through the bony flats, and ripping down to the parking lot… 45 minutes of skinning, 5 minutes of shred. Not a bad ratio, and great pre-season exercise! Welcome to the 2011/2012 Season at Lost Trail and LTPARK.COM! We will be opening December 1st, with the Tanner Olson Hopin to be Open Rail Jam.
Free for all entrants, skiers and boarders. Registration from 9 to Noon. Rail jam starts a 1-1:30.
Come on down and celebrate life, and remember why we shred, and who we shred with. RIP Tanner, gone, but not forgotten! Cheers AS
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