Folks started arriving at 7am in Kalamazoo for a pre-dawn cross country and snow boarding tour of a secret spot with in the city limits of Kalamazoo. It looks like a few more people know of this area for snow shoeing and cross country. As with super sweet skate spots, pots of gold, and other important partially fictional objects or locations- this will remain known only to those who get initiated.
The Pre-dawn light and the low snow conditions made many of the early runs an exercise on making things up as you go. As things got brighter and we skied, side stepped, boot packed and herringboned up the abandoned road to the summit area found some trouble, and some beautiful runs.
biggest problem was the low snow- many logs and stumps that could easily have become little pillows of fun were exposed and required anticipation and quick action to get over or around.
In order to keep it light and fast, i only brought the cell phone camera- here is what i got.
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| taking a breather. note snow on pack, and iced over hair sure signs of taking a few diggers. |
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| check against blog title photo for snow pack comparison. |
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| two hearty souls. |
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| Both wearing a normal nordic set up. |
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| fiddling with layers, getting ready to drop down a big tree covered hill on a snowboard...and watching it all unfold. |
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| This guy and his wife were featured in video I posted. Mitten backcountry, bombing with confidence down hills that would make me terrified. |
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| Peter arrives! much joy is had by all. |
i'd like to recall when said fearless leader took two hearty souls through gully of death and all survived! although one may have replaced slogan with "klutzy til death" when skis ended up higher than brain!
ReplyDeleteas the saying goes "if it were easy they'd call it snowboarding" much respect due to freeheelers everywhere, esp those who share their spots. (cheers to friends on a powder day)
ReplyDeleterock on - I can't wait until next time!
ReplyDelete