COMP - What the heck am I doing here.(Backcountry Skiing Cowboy Ridge)
Sometimes you have that feeling you don’t know what is wrong. You think you’re in a bad mood, but you re examine you’re yourself and realize that what you are about to do is risky. Backcountry skiing in an area you hardly know, far from any help with a huge amount energy spent to get to where I want to go, let alone to get myself out of there. I wish the avalanche bulletin wasn’t in the high risk factor. So I convince myself I will stick to low angle slopes trying to quiet the uneasiness deep inside of me. It has been snowing the last 24 hours and it is the weekend with sunny brakes in the forecast. Working all weak I can’t let this weekend slip by. I am 51 now and how much time do I have left. Why can I not just be content with normal skiing?
Getting off the Peak chairlift the wind is howling at the summit of Whistler. My hands are already cold. Why am I here? Just keep moving I talk to myself. I am not really sure where to go but I have plotted some waypoints in my GPS and it says to head towards the sun that is hiding behind the early morning clouds. At least the cloud cover is above the mountain tops. With a slow traversing decent Gary and I end up just on the NE side of Piccolo Summit. The wind is worse now my feet are cold. We skin up with the wind just screaming now. Not a word is said between us, we just know we have to keep moving. Ascending up over Flute Summit the snow is as hard as can be and my feet have not warmed up yet.
Down the SE side of Flute another long traverse no skiing here just pushing trying to keep moving. Again the skins back on but at least this time I can stand behind some small trees to brake the wind. The sun is now shinning in full strength with no clouds to dull its intensity. It has been 3 months sense I have last seen the sun like this living here on the west coast.
With easy skinning to the Summit of Oboe the snow is changing it is not that hard wind packed stuff now it is light and fluffy. I feel the change in my hart. I feel alive, like something good is about to happen.
Another long slow decent down the SE side of Oboe with the wind gone into Sinning Pass but this time the last part of the slope yields some easy turns in the powder. I feel energized. No time wasted skins on again up the W side of Cowboy ridge with my heart pounding. How can anyone stop me. My feet are warm my hands are warm. This is where I should be. This is why I am here. From the top of the ridge, look at that powder, look at the view, and look at that sky. I am miles from anywhere and no one around. Thank God for I am alive and able to be here in this magical place.
Heading to the top of Oboe Summit.
Cowboy ridge.
Cowboy ridge in the background.
Our route from the GPS with Cowboy ridge on the top left.
