Timberline, WV 3/19/00

Denis · Apr 18, 2000

(Note from the Administrator: This report was originally posted on 3/20/00. Due to our move to new servers, the date and time attributed to this post is incorrect.) The first annual Teen Winter Sports Telemark Fest was held yesterday 3/19 at Timberline WV. Participants were Joltin' Joe Jennings, Rapid Rob Simms (upholding the honor of Snowshoe), and yours truly (Dangerous Denis?). The afternoon bumps were big, beautiful and soft. Moguls were mashed and bodies were trashed in a freeheel frenzy. Knees were tweaked, faces were planted, elbows were scraped. It was a blast!!! I got out of bed a little slower this morning and I am going to feel bad if those guys say they didn't. Last time I counted there were approximately 7 months per year in which one can heal up from skiing. The plan was hatched on Thurs., ripened on Fri. and launched at 7 AM on Sat. secure in the knowledge that an alpine start would just mean skiing ice for a couple hours in the morning. Joe & I hit the slopes at 10:30; Al Harvey and his scout group were there. Al reported that it never softened up on Sat. and The Drop, where the bumps are, had been deadly. It was to be different this day; the bottom half of the mountain was well on its way but the top was still frozen. The sun was warm and with each lift ride the line where the good corn snow began rose another 100 feet. At noon we broke for lunch, found Rob, gulped some gruesome hamburgers and pronounced the mountain ready for us. Although there was a good crowd, there were few who went to the Drop. It had 20 ft. wide groomed swaths on both sides, then one line of mild bumps, then the big nasty ones in the middle calling our names. An instuctor was stopped at the start leading a bump clinic, they were just conversing and we heard some of the conversation. We did 4 or 5 laps while they remained in the same place talking. "What are those guys doing?" "It's called Telemark." "Looks dangerous, why are they doing it?" "Because they're crazy." "They're back again" "They're crazy." "How can they keep on doing that?" "They're crazy." "They seem to like it." "They're (------)" Joe actually had a guy stop and ask him, "How did you manage to break both your bindings?" Joe explained and the guy said, "Well, gollee I ain't never seen nothin' like that". I wonder how Joe found that guy. I haven't fielded that question for years. Half a binding, half a brain, twice the fun. Al had to leave at noon and never got over to the Drop. Since there were no TWS witnesses nobody can call our stories lies. Rob had to leave at 2:30. Alpine friends Jeff and Tom did the late afternoon skiing with me. Lifts close at 4:30. "Hey it's 4:20, we can get 3 more runs." And so we did. I counted 15 Drop runs for me. Afterward we headed for the local pizza & pasta palace in Davis and ate huge spaghetti dinners served up by a cheerful and perky waitress who is going to be breaking WV hearts for years, not to mention 4 old fart flatlanders looking out of the corners of their eyes while dribbling marinara sauce on their chins. Be there next year if you want to say it ain't so.

Timberline, WV 3/19/00

Denis

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