Published in Backcountry Magazine
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| Skiing the dune i was sitting near when i composed this letter to the editor. |
Backcountry magazine-
I was just sweltering in the August heat of Michigan. Laid out like a lobster on the eastern shore of our namesake lake . When I got back home, sun baked sand encrusted , there was the Backcountry Gear issue. Woop! Almost time to wax the sticks, stitch the gloves, and lay in wait of the first lake effect snow warning.
The gear issue was nice and all but lacked any appeal to anyone short of those who live in the mountains. Let me tell you about a class of skier that lurks in the upper Midwest who bombs big hills, carves through the trees, and seeks out pow on glacial leftovers.
Our hills are steep, short, and generally wooded. We too seek the remoteness of the backcountry, we too travel the untracked, we too hike our ass up ridiculous slopes in search for long clear rides. We are conquerors of the diminutive, eschewing the groomed trail and the chairlift. We engage in urban assaults, dulling our edges on the pavement of streets, chasing the powder before the plows can steal it away from us. Street lights are often our only partner. We are what Nietzche called “ human beings who know how to be silent, lonely, resolute, content and constant in invisible activities”
I can’t be alone in living in a non-mountain state, not in need of 600 dollar plastic tele-boots for the vast majority of radness I encounter. Please test out Solomans ADX line and Karhu’s XCD skis and boots or others out there in a similar vein. These rigs are not for the spandex wearer- they are for those who go into the untracked spaces where ever they lie and ski the shit out of them.
We are your brothers. We are your Sisters. We pray to the same snow god you do and worship with knees bent carving amongst the towering oaks. We skip work, we search out slopes. Snot freezes to our faces. Please give us a little play.
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