Unlock the Key

When I was a kid I used to read this book called "Banner in the Sky" incessantly (a dozen times? maybe 20?). "Banner in the Sky" was a story about a 17-year old boy named Rudi Matt who lived Zermatt, Switzerland in the 1800's.  Rudi worked as a dishwasher, but his true calling was the mountains. The biggest mountain in this area is the Matterhorn, which at the time of the story had never been climbed. Through a series of events, this 17-year old kid gets to be part of the first climbing expedition ever up the Matterhorn, a boy alongside two climbing legends. The highlight of the book comes when Rudi, because of his small physical stature, is able slide through a rock chimney that the others could not, and then top rope his companions up the cliff face. The author refers to this move as "unlocking the key to the mountain." (Speaking of the Matterhorn...check this out. This guy has my dream job.)

I felt like I unlocked a key to a mountain today. There is a grand massif just north of my home that I have dabbed around with on skis, but never fully explored. Odd, because when I head home each day I look to the right and see a ton of snow up there. Problem was, I never really figured out how to get to the good stuff.

My solo mission today was to figure it out. Shunned the bike this morning in favor of the skis. As is often the case when one enters exploration mode, things were a little stupid in the beginning. Tons of slogging through dense old growth forest, followed by a completely unnecessary snow climb up a 47° slope. And then, a long ski that required me to remove my skis a half-dozen times because of long patches of snowless, wind scoured tundra. Don't get me wrong - it was fantastic and brilliant - but not the picture of pure efficiency. After a couple hours of this, I topped out on a non-descript, breezy peak simply labled on the map as point 13,038.

Great views, but where was the skiing? Scanning the mountainside, I spotted something. A long gully, heading due east, that was definitely snow-filled as far as I could see. Took a chance and followed it - who knew where it might end - and was rewarded with a 3,000 vertical foot uninterrupted run of pure spring skiing corn goodness. The snow up here - scoured by winds - was much more consolidated than Bancroft and the grade was such that the skiing was fun and mellow. Better yet, when I got to the bottom I found a lone set of snowshoe tracks that followed a fairly obvious trail that went right back to my car. No bushwhacking through soft slop...a simple glide home.

The key to this close-by area is now unlocked, and I'm excited about the possibilities it offers. The endless winter continues.

Comments

[jill]

That's awesome.