J.Spin
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Saturday was E?s day to stay home and get work done, while Ty and I headed up to Lost Trail. Ty?s last day of skiing had been Monday, so this would be a shorter than usual interlude between sessions. Whether his progression was physical, or simply one of attitude, he was about to impress me with three new breakthroughs in his skiing.
From Monday?s exploration, I had learned much more about which trails were best suited to Ty?s current level of skiing, so to get to the bases of Chairs 3 & 4, we took North Bowl/Speedway/Candy Stick/Easy Street/Candy Stick which was actually a pretty nice combination. It turns out that opting out of part of Candy Stick and taking Easy Street (a broad, gently sloped boulevard that was perfect for Ty) made the run even better. So, a good route for Ty to the Chair 3 & 4 base has now been improved upon.
We headed up Chair 4, and unlike Monday, we unloaded at the mid-station. The mid station skips the top 400 or so vertical of the terrain, which is the steepest (and generally my favorite) part of the slope. In this case however, skipping the top was perfect for Ty, since it was too steep for him to ski anyway. All the lower parts of the trails on the main face under Chair 4 are labeled blue squares, but there are a few areas where the slope is more of what I?d call a dark green. These were the areas I hoped to ski with Ty, but my real motivation for hitting Chair 4 was to use the special trees in the mid elevations. The top third of the terrain on Chair 4?s main face if filled with sparse trees, with average spacing anywhere from 10 to 30 feet. The sparse growth is due in most part to the climate and elevation, but partly due to fire that spread through the area a few years back. The top part of the terrain has this tree spacing on relatively steep black diamond slopes, but just below that, these trees grow on green/mild blue terrain. It?s actually fantastic terrain for someone that wants to learn to ski in the trees, but I was going to use it for another reason? to force Ty to turn. I know that Ty is getting better and better at turning, because when he needs to or wants to, he can cut amazingly sharp turns. However, he often just likes to ?let ?em run?, and have me control his speed with the leash. I think this is fine, as he is constantly gaining confidence and stability on his skis, but I figured that getting him into the trees would give him the extra incentive he needed to keep turning.
Well, it worked. We unloaded at the mid-station and headed down into the trees. Ty had an absolute blast, and was giggling much of the time due to the novelty of skiing around with trees surrounding him. He made whatever turns he needed to in order to weave his way through the forest of obstacles. There were about 6 inches of medium-weight powder in the trees, and I had been concerned that Ty wouldn?t be able to handle such deep snow, but he skied it basically as if it was a groomed slope. It was nice to see that he wasn?t thrown off by his skis disappearing from sight or the lack of a firm snow surface, but he did have a tendency to stop looking ahead and simply stare at the way his ski tips cut through the powder. Unfortunately, the special trees only last for about ¼ of the slope, and we eventually had to head to the trails. Ty still enjoyed himself, and had obviously grown in his comfort level in the powder, because he would often head off to the side of the trail to areas that hadn?t been groomed. This was great for him, and while he took a few spills, he skied the deep snow with confidence and couldn?t seem to get enough. At times he was making his way through a foot of powder, or even chowder, and while he didn?t sink down too far since he?s pretty light, it was still quite impressive. The most difficult part of skiing the powder was actually for me. Holding a constant wedge on some of the relatively steep slopes, with and extra 30+ pounds of Ty and gear, was a challenge. Combine that with the inconsistency of a foot of cut up powder, and man, my knees were feeling it. My quads were also getting a workout, but at least that was a good thing. I?ve now learned that the level of exertion required to wedge through that stuff with Ty is multifold what it takes to simply ski it myself. At times, I would try to convince Ty to stop, just because my quads were screaming. Regular ski runs by myself will be a piece of cake after this training.
After our first run down from the Chair 4 mid-station (~1,400? of vertical) I was happy to find that Ty was ready for some lunch. So, to avoid carrying our skis over to the yurt, we stuck them in the snow at Chair 4 and walked over. About halfway there, patroller Mike Parnell rode up on a snowmobile and asked us if we wanted a ride. We obliged, and Ty was absolutely thrilled with the opportunity to ride on a snowmobile. He?d seen them around of course, and was always talking about them, but now he had actually ridden on one. It probably made his day, and I?m very thankful to Mike for offering the trip.
The yurt was really hopping on Saturday (as opposed to Monday when we had it to ourselves) and they had now started serving both hot and cold food. We met up with Patty Holmes and several members of her family, and Ty was happy to see her. Ty was entertained by everyone around, and had a good lunch. That was good, because he had more tree skiing to do. Dad also enjoyed the chance to recharge, because I knew that there would be a lot more wedging in the chowder to come.
We did two more runs of unloading at the Chair 4 mid-station, with variations in the trees and on the trails. On the last run we skied part of Lewis and Clark with Patty and her family, and since Patty is an instructor at the mountain, she gave Ty a few tips. The best one was telling him to say hi to the trees on each side of the trail (getting him to traverse across the whole trail between his turns). He still didn?t do it (tending for much shorter turns in the fall line) but at least he?s heard about it now. I actually think it?s great that he can do shorter turns, but he?s not fully controlling his own speed on those, using support from the leash to slow him down. When he does more traversing across the fall line, he can control his own speed much better, and my quads and knees appreciate it because it?s much easier on me. Ty actually enjoyed having other people around while we were with Patty and her family, and turned more than usual to show them how he was doing. That was fine with me, because the more he turns, the more practice he gets, and the easier it is on me if I don?t have to keep as much pressure on the leash. Ty was pretty cooked (and so was I) after that third run on Chair 4, so I convinced him to head to Chair 3 and we would make our way back to the main base. At the top of Chair 3, we headed over to Chair 5. I wasn?t sure how much more skiing Ty could handle, but he seemed to be hanging in there. I also discovered (I?m not sure when) that pulling Ty by his leash is one of the easiest ways to get him through the flats. I love it, although he gets mad when a bit of downhill comes and he wants to slide on his own power, so he orders you to stop pulling.
From Chair 5, we skied the Raven trail, and then rode the rope tow below Femur Ridge to get back to the base. I was ready to call it a day, but Ty wasn?t. He insisted on going over to the Bunny Hill for a run, but what really floored me was that he insisted I had to put the leash away and he was going to ski by himself. I kept trying to tell him that we had to use the leash, because he would go too fast and have a bad crash, but he said, ?No, I?ll turn!? I didn?t really believe him, but he was getting angrier the longer I left the leash out, so I put it away and figured I would follow right along beside him and stop him when he got going too fast. Well, wouldn?t you know it, he went right down the Bunny Hill on his own, turning all the way and then he headed over to load on the rope tow. I was blown away. I guess he knew exactly what he was capable of.
Ty insisted on a trip to the lodge, where he got some french fries and picked a table. I guess he deserved a little food after skiing his biggest day ever (the Avocet said 5 runs for 5,835 feet of vertical), and making huge strides by 1) skiing in the trees, 2) skiing powder comfortably, and 3) skiing on his own without a leash. As I loaded Ty into the car, he was getting really grumpy so I knew he was tired. I ran to get the skis and bring them back to the car, and by the time I?d returned, he was already asleep.
Since Ty kept me pretty occupied throughout the day, I only got a couple of pictures:
http://www.JandEproductions.com/2006/07JAN06.html
J.Spin
From Monday?s exploration, I had learned much more about which trails were best suited to Ty?s current level of skiing, so to get to the bases of Chairs 3 & 4, we took North Bowl/Speedway/Candy Stick/Easy Street/Candy Stick which was actually a pretty nice combination. It turns out that opting out of part of Candy Stick and taking Easy Street (a broad, gently sloped boulevard that was perfect for Ty) made the run even better. So, a good route for Ty to the Chair 3 & 4 base has now been improved upon.
We headed up Chair 4, and unlike Monday, we unloaded at the mid-station. The mid station skips the top 400 or so vertical of the terrain, which is the steepest (and generally my favorite) part of the slope. In this case however, skipping the top was perfect for Ty, since it was too steep for him to ski anyway. All the lower parts of the trails on the main face under Chair 4 are labeled blue squares, but there are a few areas where the slope is more of what I?d call a dark green. These were the areas I hoped to ski with Ty, but my real motivation for hitting Chair 4 was to use the special trees in the mid elevations. The top third of the terrain on Chair 4?s main face if filled with sparse trees, with average spacing anywhere from 10 to 30 feet. The sparse growth is due in most part to the climate and elevation, but partly due to fire that spread through the area a few years back. The top part of the terrain has this tree spacing on relatively steep black diamond slopes, but just below that, these trees grow on green/mild blue terrain. It?s actually fantastic terrain for someone that wants to learn to ski in the trees, but I was going to use it for another reason? to force Ty to turn. I know that Ty is getting better and better at turning, because when he needs to or wants to, he can cut amazingly sharp turns. However, he often just likes to ?let ?em run?, and have me control his speed with the leash. I think this is fine, as he is constantly gaining confidence and stability on his skis, but I figured that getting him into the trees would give him the extra incentive he needed to keep turning.
Well, it worked. We unloaded at the mid-station and headed down into the trees. Ty had an absolute blast, and was giggling much of the time due to the novelty of skiing around with trees surrounding him. He made whatever turns he needed to in order to weave his way through the forest of obstacles. There were about 6 inches of medium-weight powder in the trees, and I had been concerned that Ty wouldn?t be able to handle such deep snow, but he skied it basically as if it was a groomed slope. It was nice to see that he wasn?t thrown off by his skis disappearing from sight or the lack of a firm snow surface, but he did have a tendency to stop looking ahead and simply stare at the way his ski tips cut through the powder. Unfortunately, the special trees only last for about ¼ of the slope, and we eventually had to head to the trails. Ty still enjoyed himself, and had obviously grown in his comfort level in the powder, because he would often head off to the side of the trail to areas that hadn?t been groomed. This was great for him, and while he took a few spills, he skied the deep snow with confidence and couldn?t seem to get enough. At times he was making his way through a foot of powder, or even chowder, and while he didn?t sink down too far since he?s pretty light, it was still quite impressive. The most difficult part of skiing the powder was actually for me. Holding a constant wedge on some of the relatively steep slopes, with and extra 30+ pounds of Ty and gear, was a challenge. Combine that with the inconsistency of a foot of cut up powder, and man, my knees were feeling it. My quads were also getting a workout, but at least that was a good thing. I?ve now learned that the level of exertion required to wedge through that stuff with Ty is multifold what it takes to simply ski it myself. At times, I would try to convince Ty to stop, just because my quads were screaming. Regular ski runs by myself will be a piece of cake after this training.
After our first run down from the Chair 4 mid-station (~1,400? of vertical) I was happy to find that Ty was ready for some lunch. So, to avoid carrying our skis over to the yurt, we stuck them in the snow at Chair 4 and walked over. About halfway there, patroller Mike Parnell rode up on a snowmobile and asked us if we wanted a ride. We obliged, and Ty was absolutely thrilled with the opportunity to ride on a snowmobile. He?d seen them around of course, and was always talking about them, but now he had actually ridden on one. It probably made his day, and I?m very thankful to Mike for offering the trip.
The yurt was really hopping on Saturday (as opposed to Monday when we had it to ourselves) and they had now started serving both hot and cold food. We met up with Patty Holmes and several members of her family, and Ty was happy to see her. Ty was entertained by everyone around, and had a good lunch. That was good, because he had more tree skiing to do. Dad also enjoyed the chance to recharge, because I knew that there would be a lot more wedging in the chowder to come.
We did two more runs of unloading at the Chair 4 mid-station, with variations in the trees and on the trails. On the last run we skied part of Lewis and Clark with Patty and her family, and since Patty is an instructor at the mountain, she gave Ty a few tips. The best one was telling him to say hi to the trees on each side of the trail (getting him to traverse across the whole trail between his turns). He still didn?t do it (tending for much shorter turns in the fall line) but at least he?s heard about it now. I actually think it?s great that he can do shorter turns, but he?s not fully controlling his own speed on those, using support from the leash to slow him down. When he does more traversing across the fall line, he can control his own speed much better, and my quads and knees appreciate it because it?s much easier on me. Ty actually enjoyed having other people around while we were with Patty and her family, and turned more than usual to show them how he was doing. That was fine with me, because the more he turns, the more practice he gets, and the easier it is on me if I don?t have to keep as much pressure on the leash. Ty was pretty cooked (and so was I) after that third run on Chair 4, so I convinced him to head to Chair 3 and we would make our way back to the main base. At the top of Chair 3, we headed over to Chair 5. I wasn?t sure how much more skiing Ty could handle, but he seemed to be hanging in there. I also discovered (I?m not sure when) that pulling Ty by his leash is one of the easiest ways to get him through the flats. I love it, although he gets mad when a bit of downhill comes and he wants to slide on his own power, so he orders you to stop pulling.
From Chair 5, we skied the Raven trail, and then rode the rope tow below Femur Ridge to get back to the base. I was ready to call it a day, but Ty wasn?t. He insisted on going over to the Bunny Hill for a run, but what really floored me was that he insisted I had to put the leash away and he was going to ski by himself. I kept trying to tell him that we had to use the leash, because he would go too fast and have a bad crash, but he said, ?No, I?ll turn!? I didn?t really believe him, but he was getting angrier the longer I left the leash out, so I put it away and figured I would follow right along beside him and stop him when he got going too fast. Well, wouldn?t you know it, he went right down the Bunny Hill on his own, turning all the way and then he headed over to load on the rope tow. I was blown away. I guess he knew exactly what he was capable of.
Ty insisted on a trip to the lodge, where he got some french fries and picked a table. I guess he deserved a little food after skiing his biggest day ever (the Avocet said 5 runs for 5,835 feet of vertical), and making huge strides by 1) skiing in the trees, 2) skiing powder comfortably, and 3) skiing on his own without a leash. As I loaded Ty into the car, he was getting really grumpy so I knew he was tired. I ran to get the skis and bring them back to the car, and by the time I?d returned, he was already asleep.
Since Ty kept me pretty occupied throughout the day, I only got a couple of pictures:
http://www.JandEproductions.com/2006/07JAN06.html
J.Spin
