End of season tree skiing stoke
Red Lodge Mountain closes this Sunday, April 10, so this is just about it. Conditions have deteriorated but Monday we did have some fresh snow that was pretty good skiing. So I headed for some tree runs. On a goofy note, I tried snowboarding for the first time ever last Friday. I cannot believe how many times I fell, mostly backwards but twice face first downhill. One or both of those falls has given me what is at least a bruised rib and possibly even cracked. On Saturday I tried it again and managed two runs on our magic carpet without falling. Enough for this year, but I will be back at it again next year so I can learn enough to also handle first time snowboard lessons.
But, here’s the videos. The first is too short for music, couldn’t find any tunes that were only 30 seconds.
Big Fred from GERRY RHOADES on Vimeo.
Lynn’s Run from GERRY RHOADES on Vimeo.
Little Forest from GERRY RHOADES on Vimeo.
April 6th, 2011 at 6:25 pm
Great stuff! You also got a lot more color intensity for the extra $ ($280 or so?) that you paid for your Hero , compared to my toy. (I love the spot where you push backwards out of the “dead end”!)
April 6th, 2011 at 7:37 pm
Part of that color intensity comes from it being high definition and part of it is the quality of the lens. But, I didn’t pay the kind of premium you suspect. I rarely pay anything even close to MSRP for my toys and it is strictly legal. The premium I did pay got me 5 resolution settings, a video camera that can also take stills, the availability of a wide range of mounts and it’s waterproof to 60 meters. My wife and I are going to Australia for 2 weeks the end of May and I will be using it when we go scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef, stills and video. I used it last Monday when I was teaching a delightful 7 year old girl, took a bunch of still images and emailed them to her dad. He was most appreciative. She’ll be back on Friday and I may well have a private request and if so I will do a video of her skiing.
I am convinced that wide twin tip skis are the only thing to use in powder because backing up from a dead end is really easy with them. I don’t seem to be able to go into the trees without encountering a dead end - probably not looking far enough ahead.
April 7th, 2011 at 7:07 pm
gerryr - those head mounted video cameras are something.
nice videos
April 16th, 2011 at 3:08 pm
Fantastic! I am definitely driving up next year for a (hopefully powder) day w/you next year. Very impressed that you didn’t edit out your tip-cross on Lynn’s. Was there a fire in the area of Little Forest or has someone cut off all the lower tree limbs? Great videos, thanks for sharing. Oh, yeah, had a great time @ Big Sky last month - tram runs were excellent. Days 4 and 5 were @ Bridger - we started the 5th day w/a hike on the Ridge from Schlasman’s lift. Talk about a knife-edge, wow!
April 16th, 2011 at 4:54 pm
Thanks Ron. Hope you can make it up here next year. My video editing skills are not up to removing part of a video and making it look anywhere near seamless. And what the heck, if you don’t fall you’re not pushing yourself enough and I fell more this season than I have in the past 3 or maybe even 4 seasons. But during that time I was skiing with someone who only skied groomers and was working on re-learning how to ski. I can’t answer your question about Little Forest because I don’t know the answer. Glad you had a good time at Big Sky and Bridger. Schlasman’s is a tough and sometimes dangerous area but I hear it’s really nice skiing.
June 16th, 2011 at 1:22 am
Gerry, You haven’t added to your blog for a while but I have read it with great interest. Your saga of infections must have been an ordeal but you remained so positive! I am currently in bed in week 24 post-tendon rupture. I have been through a very conservative management process (non-op, NWB for 9.5 weeks, boot for several more). I had just got back to 2 shoes when the tendon re-ruptured so this time I have had surgery and am currently in the middle of 2 weeks bed rest with leg elevated. Currently worst thing is self injecting anti-coagulant on a daily basis. My surgeon seems to favour early mobilisation which is a great relief so I am hoping to get into a boot pretty soon. Crossing my fingers I don’t get any infections as I certainly wouldn’t want a repeat of your experiences. However, you are living proof that it is possible to resume a very active life post-achilles tendon rupture. Good luck for the future!
June 16th, 2011 at 1:54 pm
Leodis, I’m glad you’re on an early-mobilization road. Those slow non-op protocols should be outlawed everywhere! I’m a big proponent of non-op, but it’s got to be done with a good modern protocol, or the re-rupture rate/risk is too high. 8 weeks of immobilization (boot or cast or both — but boot is best) is PLENTY, and TWO weeks of total NWB also seems to be enough, with FWB at 4 weeks.
Are you at some special high risk of Deep Vein Thrombosis? I assume the injection you are getting is something like Lovenox, a low molecular-weight form of Heparin? I had a few shots of that in the days after my semi-recent heart surgery, but I think it’s rare after ATR repair. DVT certainly can happen after ATR repair, though, so maybe it’s justified.