Day 2 of Beartooth Trip: Welcome to Cooke City

We rolled out of Yellowstone Park and through the tiny town of Silver Gate on our way to Cooke City, excited for the possibility of good skiing and good snow. Kurt had read that Cooke City is the snowmobiling capital of the US, and we were eager to find a spot over 10,000 ft with good access to the snow. We scouted some lines as we drove in, unsure of access, and decided to go hit up the chamber of commerce for some local info.

Cooke City is a very cool little town, right near the border of the park, and because its not incorporated, there's really no law there. We wandered down the street, stopped in at a local watering hole, where some folks were already getting to it, and asked around a bit for info.

We eventually ended up at the new Super 8 Motel in town, Joy, the proprietress, was a real character, when we walked in, she was telling a government employee that she didn't care that he was a government employee, she still needed to see a credit card! Apparently ever since she got her economic stimulus check, she's been pretty pissed. "I don't care that you work for the federal government, I don't trust you guys, you sent us money in the mail when we are in debt and at war. That doesn't make any sense to me, so I'll need to see a credit card." Most excellent, we knew we'd found our place to stay.

We wandered back up the road, stopping in at the General Store in Cooke City for some groceries and other essentials (ie: trout slayer ale: Kurt: "Can we drink these while we are walking around town, or will we get hassled?" Proprietor: "Well, its against the law, but seeing as how there is no law here, you can do pretty much as you please." Kurt: "Excellent! Do you have a bottle opener?")

As we were walking down the street, craning our necks to try and find the snow line in the trees, we came across the Chamber of Commerce, which was now open. We asked her if she knew of anyone who had local knowledge for back country skiing in the area, and she immediately sent us up to Silver Gate, the little town up the road, to seek out Jay, owner and proprietor of the Log Cabin Inn and the SilverTip Mountain Center.

Happy for another adventure, we rolled into town and saw a terrific little shop, which was closed. Right across the street was the Log Cabin Inn, so we sat ourselves down to a terrific trout dinner, hoping for a word with Jay if he was around.

How happy were we to see this ridge hippie walk in the door? I felt just like I was back at Bridger Bowl. Jay, with full tele-man beard, and wild goggle/hat head hair walked in, smiling broadly and filled us in on the skiing to be had. Kurt pulled out our map (I'm working hard on my map and compass skills after this trip, believe me!) and we made a plan to ski the Beartooth Plateau outside Cooke City the next morning.

After dinner we were going to drive up the pass to see if it was open yet, our plan being to drive across the Beartooth Scenic Highway to get to the Red Lodge side the next day and ski Gardener and etc. over there. But rumors were flying: the pass is open, its only open to Wyoming, its closed again... we had no way of knowing what was really going on.

Due to a broken down truck, a six week old puppy and a lovely damsel in distress, we called it a night early, set the clocks for the crack of dawn and hit the hay.

I was excited to ski a new location with someone who really knows what they are doing in the back country, but this would be his first trip up this area as well. I felt like an explorer, adventurer... and I was nervous because this was going to be my first time back on skis since I was in the slide at Bridger.

Maps and Gear in the Cooke City Area:
Silvertip Mountain Center
115 Highway 212
Silver Gate, MT 59081
406-838-2125
800-863-0807
jay@silvertipmountaincenter.com
www.silvertipmountaincenter.com

Great Place to eat:
Log Cabin Café Bed & Breakfast
HC 84, Box 22
Silver Gate, MT 59081
406-838-2367
800-863-0807
logcabincafe@gmail.com

Terrific, large, clean rooms and a nice breakfast (just not open at 4am!)
Super 8 Motel of Cooke City
P.O. Box 1231
Cooke City, MT 59020
406-838-2070
877-338-2070

I know how Rocky felt...

This was a pretty good day. You know, Ice Cream and a hike with the boys, and then, tonight, I needed to get some exercise. I decided to go for a long hike, the Kirk Hill to Leverich Canyon trail that Liat and I used to do all the time last summer. Last year, we felt like intrepid explorers in the beginning of the season when we first topped out on the fire road. Then, there was one long day where Liat, Virginia and I decided to walk along the fire road and see where it would come out.

We were excited and nervous, but we had lots of water and food, and it took us five hours, but we found the Leverich Canyon trail head and connected them. Then, on wobbly, weary legs, we stumbled down the dirt road and called Tom for a pick up. We were so proud, happy, dusty, tired, we had worked so hard and gone so far...

Last summer, Liat and I did it as a shuttle, and it took 2 1/2 hours every time we did it, no matter how hard we pushed.

Tonight, I was tempted to run from my house to the Kirk Hill trail head (1.7 miles) then up Kirk Hill to the fire road (about 3 miles) then along the fire road to Leverich Canyon (about 2 miles, pretty flat) then down Leverich canyon (about 1.5 or 2 miles) then back over to my house (4 miles or so). But I am afraid of running on pavement, I am afraid of getting half way there and being pooped, I am afraid that on my own I wont' be enough motivation to keep moving. In other words, I have a lot of fear and doubt about myself.

So I decided to park at Kirk Hill and do the rest of it minus the run from my house, effectively shaving almost 4 miles off my adventure.

I had my Ipod, which I usually don't listen to while running, but lately, I've been trying it out. I was listening to a mix that I made for a friend, a lift me up mix of all the songs that fill my heart and make me feel good good good, and I was just powering up Kirk Hill! Every time I slowed down, I heard my new mantra, "If you want to be faster on the boot pack, you have to train to go faster. That means you need to practice going faster. That means if it hurts a little, because you are going faster, you are training. Keep going. Go Faster. If you want to go faster on the boot pack, you need to practice going faster..." Wash, rinse, repeat...

I wasn't sure if I was going faster, but I know that every time it flattened out, I ran, which is new for me, because I hate running, or I always have. I always used to feel like, "I could be walking..." but I ran a little yesterday and it felt really good to stretch out and feel the ground disappearing behind me, rolling under my feet like a wheel, and so I asked myself to go faster, and that meant that when it was flat, it was time to run.

I made it from the Kirk Hill trail head to the Leverich Canyon trail head in an hour flat. And I was talking on the phone all the way down Leverich Canyon, or it probably would have been faster! I was shocked. I shaved and HOUR AND A HALF off my time, and I felt really good. I ran and I ran and I ran, I ran on dirt, gravel, pavement, over streams and rocks, I ran and stretched and was singing along to my Ipod "Cause I'm willing... willing and able..." by Prince... and in this way, I watched the sun set, I felt my body alive and strong, I asked it to go faster and it did.

Now that I am home, I feel full, happy, rested, like I could run another ten miles. I feel like Rocky.

Longest Day of Trails

Greetings from Bridger Creek:

Tomorrow is the longest day of the year, or about 17 hours of daylight. We are about to begin the gradual change of seasons back to winter (unbelievable given the amount of snow in the mountains!). Last year local architect and cycling enthusiast Dan Harding created an event called the “Longest Day of Trails”, a promotional bike ride to showcase the amazing local trail system we all enjoy.

Dan and the GAS/Intrinsik cycling team (orange bike jerseys you see everywhere around Bozeman) rode their bikes from dawn to dusk completing seven 25 mile loops of the Main Street to the Mountains trail system during the day, or about 175 miles! The event was so successful it is back this year in a bigger and better way. A map of the route is on-line at http://www.longestdayoftrails.com/. The goal of the event is to raise money and membership for the Gallatin Valley Land Trust and their campaign to build the trails connecting the Bridger Mountains to the Gallatin Range south of town. Much progress has been made, yet much work remains.

On GVLT’s trail plate this year are several legacy trail projects: competing the Snowfill dog park and Hedvig’s Trail, facilitating the purchase of the Burke Park inholding, construction of the Drinking Horse Mountain Trail near the M, working toward a redesign of the Bozeman Creek trailhead parking lot, and installation of a pedestrian bridge at the Regional Park. We will all benefit from GVLT’s hard work, but we need to make sure GVLT has financial resources sufficient to compete these great projects. Tomorrow is a painless way to help out.

Montana Aleworks is the event headquarters and by buying a minimum $35 GVLT membership you will receive a $20 discount at Aleworks and an additional $20 incentive from a local business. Spend $35, get $40 in return; easy math. In addition, local bike artisan Carl Strong is donating a custom made bike frame measured for your body dimensions and built in Bozeman to your specifications. My friend Stewart Mitchell of Mitchell construction is donating the components, to make for a $3200 bike build. Raffle tickets will be available with a drawing at sunset tomorrow. This is a good excuse to pump up your bike tires and ride down to Aleworks to support GVLT on the longest day of trails. You can follow the event all day long on FM 95.1 the Moose radio.

Happy Trails,
Stuart

P.S. Thanks to all of you who came out to help with my National Trails Day fence removal project at the Snowfill/Hedvig’s Trail. We are getting close to completing that project and starting to build the Drinking Horse Mountain Trail. More on that later.

Forwarded message from GVLT:
Gallatin Valley Land Trust and the GAS/Intrinsik cycling team invite the public to participate in the second annual Longest Day of Trails on Friday, June 20th. Headquartered at Montana Ale Works, Longest Day of Trails is a dawn-to-dusk celebration of Bozeman’s extraordinary trail system and a membership drive for GVLT.

Dan Harding and members of the GAS/Intrinsik team will ride a 25-mile loop from sunrise to sunset. Harding and company welcome everyone to join the spin around town – be for a few miles, a single loop, or the entire day. There will even be a loop for kids at 3 pm! As always, there are never any fees to use our trail system.
The best way to learn about Gallatin Valley Land Trust and to support their efforts is to stop by the Longest Day of Trails headquarters at Montana Ale Works from sunrise to sunset on Friday, June 20th. Incentive gifts packages from local businesses will be provided to individuals who make a $35+ donation to GVLT. Additionally, Montana Ale Works will host the post-event party where a custom-built Carl Strong bicycle worth over $3,200 will be raffled (Need not be present to win; tickets one for $5; six for $25).

For more information on the Longest Day of Trails log onto http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif or www.gvlt.org.

Bodhi Dreams of Skiing Steeps

I was sharing the movie Steep with my family last night, and Bodhi brought in his white board and started drawing steep mountains and himself skiing in them. Then he started drawing himself parachuting off the cliffs, and crashing down the hill. It was awesome to see. My favorite part is when he looks at the mountain and says, "Maybe one day I should climb up that and ski down it." Heaven.

Sponsored by POC!

Oh, oh, oh, happiness! After drooling over POC protective gear since I first heard about them last year, I am so gratified and excited to say that today, they contacted me and are going to be a sponsor for me.

Huge heaps of happiness and joy! Thank you, POC, and I look forward to working with you! YAY!

A little about POC:
POC is a Swedish company that designs, engineers and markets protective gear for ski, bike, skate, and motocross.

With a strong focus on R&D and medical aspects, POC's mission is to revolutionize the degree of protection in protective gear and thereby to prevent injuries and save lives.

PS. Did I put up enough links, do ya think? Go ahead, click one, the stuff is coooool.

Two Epiphanies on Being in the Mountains...

The last four days in Jackson have been truly transformative for me. I was trying to explain myself, my feeling, my understanding of my life and my place and my insane desire to turn my skis over and over again to Tom when I got home, and while he looked a bit like "Sudden movements may set her off, back slowly out of the room..." There was also some understanding there, which was exciting, and prompted me to write it down for real.

I had two sort of major epiphanies while I was out wandering around in the Tetons that I'd like to share with you.

The first being that skiing is for certain the most meditative activity I have yet to be involved in, and I think that this is one of the reasons I am so drawn to it.

In every other sport, the court is the constant, and what you do with your body within the confines of the arena is where you succeed or fail. In tennis, you learn a forehand, back hand, down the line on both sides, drop shots, lobs... In boxing you learn jabs, crosses, uppercuts, blocks... in basketball there are jump shots, and layups and passes, defense, patterns, offense...

In skiing, there is a turn.

And, as Jonathan remarked with a giant grin on his face, skiing is the quest for the perfect turn. And by the perfect turn, you could see from the look of far off bliss as he gazed at the very steep peak in the distance, he isn't talking about the reward being a technically perfect turn. There is this amazing blissfully place that is past the technically correct turn, where those movements are ingrained and belong to your body, which allows your body to belong in this insane environment, some ridiculously steep terrain covered in snow, in which your job is to do one thing: turn, and then turn again.

Because there is only one thing we are doing, whether its powder, bumps, steeps, slough, mank, just turning, and its the same turn, just with the Emphasis on a different syllable of the movement.

In this way, to quote Doug Commbs, "You are moving through the mountains...", viscerally connected with this host organism that we all crawl on and sleep on, and play on, and when that turn, those movements that live in your body come together in conversation with the snow, there is bliss to be found.

I think another thing that skiing teaches me, which I am grateful for, is patience, and a willingness to listen to what the mountain needs, rather than just to go out and play ON her, to take from her, to really, seamlessly exist with her, you have to listen with every one of your senses to the snow, the sun, the wind, all of it paints a picture which minutely changes how hard you push, how hard you steer, how far you drop, and whether you even choose to venture out there, or whether you are listening well enough to know that she needs some alone time today, and today, you ride a bike along the foothills and appreciate it from afar, because she's obviously cranky and shedding layers, continually changing and morphing.

This leads me to the second little epiphany I had whilst climbing for the fourth day out into Avalanche Bowl, that I have always felt very connected at a visceral level to "mother earth" as it were, but lately, I have felt more tuned into the sounds and feelings of her breathing, and living, and struggling with the cankers that are all of the creatures claiming home on her skin. I wondered why this was for a while, and then I realized that many of the people I am spending time with out there are feeling the same way.

I took some time this morning to lay in the long grass and watch the dandelion fluff waft by in the breeze, and I asked myself why? Why do you feel so alive when you are out there, and even just here? And I think part of the answer is that when I am hiking up something, feeling the snow and listening to the mountain, wondering what the conclusion to the conversation will be: okay, go ski, but ski over here... or bail out route, or you can do it, but you are going to have to pay it... while I am hiking up in that place, everything makes sense in a vital, basic way.

I think you get a much clearer perspective that the world is not a built environment, but an organism that contains many built environments, that are a fiction we perpetrate all over the surface of the planet. And most of our time, we spend time trying to prop up, patch, fix and make those fictional built environments function, so that we can feel safe, secure, and protected, as well has have life be easy, and happier somehow.

And I love visiting a city just for that reason. The ability of man to imagine and produce is fantastic, and the bizarre sense of community and culture come together to produce an amazing tapestry of humanity and the human condition, with the volume turned all the way up.

But to step away from the enclave and wander away from the pavement and realize that it runs out, and that the earth is awfully tolerant with all these insane little bundles of ego running all over her, insisting on the size and importance of our beings, sometimes I feel, while I am hiking, the sigh of the tolerant mother, who sometimes has to be firm to get her kids in line, and who sometimes looses her temper, as we all do when we feel trapped and bound and taken for granted...

I am rambling in circles here trying to catch this little thread of a thought, that the WHY, the why of why I never want to leave, and I always want to hike, and I can't stop wanting to turn... is because when I am out there, I feel at my most basically, alive. And while adrenaline is fun and excellent, that's not the quest I feel. It's certainly a nice side bonus, but its more leaving the fiction and entering reality, and turning down the insanity of human existence and struggle, and just listening, feeling where I am, the vast reality of the surface of this planet, and the tiny microscopic portion that I am struggling to mount so that I may look across the horizon in the sun, and then fall, flying and turning over and over in rhythm and harmony and gratitude to the mother who lets me play.

And when I come home, I look at my children, and I feel I've learned a valuable lesson about patience.

The Top Ten Signs YOU might need a new Meniscus...

I just got this email from this very excellent clinic who has helped me just via email with tons and tons of questions on dryland training and PT, check it out!!

Kate


Top Ten Signs That You Might Need a New Meniscus:

10. You had all or part of your meniscus removed when you played sports.
9. You walk so bowlegged that people ask if you just got off a horse.
8. You've been told you need a knee replacement.
7. You've been told you need a partial knee replacement.
6. Your knees make noise when you walk.
5. The side of your knee hurts.
4. Your doctor says that you have the knees of an 80-year-old.
3. Your last three knee surgeries didn't relieve the pain.
2. Joint lubrication and glucosamine are no longer quite enough.
And the #1 sign you might need a new meniscus is...
Your knee hurts and you're missing cartilage, but you just can't bear to give up sports!

The old technology: "Go home and rest your knee, wait until you are older to have artificial joint replacement," has been replaced by the new technology:

- Exercise your knee with supervision to increase the range of motion.
- Use gait training, physical therapy, and soft tissue mobilization to improve joint mechanics.
- Strengthen the muscles around the joint.
- Lubricate the joint with glucosamine and joint lubrication injections.
- Clean out the arthritic spurs and torn tissue and replace the missing cartilage.

We have published peer-reviewed studies that demonstrate that the meniscus can be replaced even in an arthritic knee and provide pain relief with return to sports. We have now developed a program of Biologic Joint Replacement that is helping people to delay or avoid artificial joint replacement.

Best wishes,



Kevin R. Stone, M.D. and the Team at The Stone Clinic

To see published data on our results, please visit this link.

To learn more about The Stone Clinic and our services, please visit this link.

©2008 The Stone Clinic. Phone: (415) 563-3110 - Fax: (415) 563-3301. www.stoneclinic.com - info@stoneclinic.com

Good Bye Jackson Hole!

bye bye jackson, originally uploaded by KateHowe.

What an AMAZING four days! The drive back was truly spectacular, I'll post photos of that and our windsurfing adventure shortly. On the way between Jonathan's house and mine, I went through a total of three towns, the tiny town of Moose, West Yellowstone, and finally the town of Big Sky. Not a bad way to end a fantastic week!

A blog for Wallace

Click here to visit the Wallace Briggs Westfeldt memorial blog, its beautiful.



Remembering Wallace Briggs Westfeldt
Below is a collection of material to remind us about the amazing and wonderful life of Wallace Briggs Westfeldt

We thank our local and extended community, friends and family for your beautiful support to us. We are deeply humbled and gratified by your kindness...

Epic Ski article on Skiing in Jackson

Bob wrote the most amazing article on our little back country adventure yesterday! Click here to read all about it and see some fantastic photos.

Bob took this shot of me dropping in off the cornice into the bowl.

The Best Movie I've Ever Seen, and A Truly Amazing Day on the Snow

Click here to watch the trailer.
One of the funny things about being totally new to skiing is that I have SO much to learn! Its pretty amazing, every single day I learn a HEAP of stuff that I didn't know before. And I understand skiing in a totally different way at the end of almost every day. I am so totally enthralled by this, and here in Jackson, I am just steeped in skiing history.

For the last few days I've been skiing with Jonathan Selkowitz, who I met at Demo Team Tryouts this year. As we've been touring around in the Teetons, he's been telling me the incredible history of Jackson Hole and the people who have really shaped skiing here. One of Jonathan's good friends was a man named Doug Coombs. now, because I am a total neophyte here, I had no idea who Doug was.

Over the last three days, I feel like I've actually gotten to know Doug a little bit through Jonathan's stories. Then, last night, we watched the movie STEEP for the first time, which features Doug and his wife, who pioneered Big Mountain Skiing in Valdez, Alaska in the 1990s. I am just barely beginning to realize how beholden I am to this amazing man for being so giving with his love of skiing out of the resorts.

Most sports are very elitist at their highest level, and for Doug to have been so excited about how he felt when he was skiing, that he wanted to share it with anyone who wanted to try it is just truly giving and pioneering. I think it shows a tremendous example of the fact that the mountains don't "belong" to anyone in particular. That if you love them, you should come and play with other people who love them, too.

This has been my experience so far learning to ski. Everywhere I go, people seem excited to share their favorite experiences, to help me and teach me and show me how to do it better, and safer, and to have more fun. There is no exclusion, just new friends, good friends, and skiing. And I thank Doug for that.

I have to tell you, quite to my total shock, I cried through most of the movie. Like, bawled uncontrollably. We had to pause it so I could find something to wipe my face on so I could see the screen. GOOBER. But here's the thing: something about the way these people talk about living in the mountains, and what its like to feel alive, and to know the mountains are alive, and what it feels like to make a turn, and another, and to ski something steep and challenging that requires so much individual focus...

I felt like someone understood me. I felt this overwhelming feeling of calmness, like other people could describe what it was that I was feeling, and I felt so very happy to know that there were more people out there who feel the same way, I'm not strange or different.

I dreamt about skiing all night, fell asleep skiing the lines from the movie in my head and woke up understanding something about movement on steep terrain in a fundamentally different way. I feel like something is happening to me. I woke up excited and still skiing, and knew, just felt that it would be a phenomenal day.

I woke up this morning at 5:45, rolled out of bed and straight into my ski pants and a tank top. I stood up and the first thing I put on was my avalanche beacon and checked the batteries. I grabbed my backpack and headed down the stairs, pulling my hair back on the way. I was eager eager eager to eat well, look at the mountains in the early morning light from the dining room table, and get hiking. It felt like a rhythem, the third day in a row, familiar with what the peaks looked like around me, excited to put my feet on them where they haven't been yet, excited to feel the skis turn under me, excited to ski in the sunshine with new friends.

The morning felt easily methodical, calm and happy, and we all piled our gear in the truck and headed up the pass. There wasn't a car in the parking lot, and I feared that it was just too warm, we wouldn't be able to do it. But we made the call to go up and look, with some bale out options, and sure enough the snow was firm all the way to the top.

I hiked much faster than I usually do, and it was all bootpacking today, up Glory Mountain again, then across the ridge a ways out to the Great White Hump.

I felt full of energy, just like I could hike all day long, and I felt so strong on my skis, solid, happy, present, focused, and I skied over my feet rather than behind them, and it was easy, fun, light... and I had so much fun playing in the variable snow...

It was a really magical day, with great company: Bob Peterson, who I met on Epic Ski, and his wife Ruthi, who rips, Mike Maples a ski instructor from Jackson, Jonathan and I. The snow was just firm enough to make some amazing turns in the sunshine, Ruthie and I sang out "WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS" from the top of the Great White Hump, it was such a great day and the group had such great energy that Jonathan couldn't help but ski around in circles on the corn snow.

This leads me to Perfect Moments, which are a post of their very own, but that will have to come AFTER our windsurfing adventure this afternoon!!

If you have to talk on the phone...

THIS is the way to do it. Took a beautiful walk down the bike path, then poached the long grass on the golf course, laid down under the Osprey nest and answered my phone calls. Ahhhh... Jackson is magnificent! Time to go cook a batch of most excellent vegi spaghetti, watch STEEP for the first time ever (the education of Kate continues) and then make a plan for the ski tomorrow. The current thought is that the snow in Corbett's will be too funky, so all KINDS of options are being floated now. Depends on how much it freezes.

Skied Avalanche Bowl out to Telemark Bowl in Jackson Hole area on the Teeton Pass this morning!

What an incredible day. Warm, bluebird day, sparkling crystal snow... We got up early (not quite as early as we meant to... oops), and headed up to the pass again today. We skinned out to the top of Mt. Ellis, and skied a few laps in Avalanche Bowl, and then skied two more beautiful pitches all the way down to the gully at the bottom.

Then we packed up our skis and bootpacked out across the dirt to the Telemark Bowl side, and on our way over there, Selko spotted SUPER FRESH bear tracks! We hung around making some photos of the tracks, and then had a beautiful skin out. We considered a lap in Telemark, but the snow was getting really sloppy, so we decided to leave it for tomorrow!

Back at the parking lot, a cycling club had just made the top of the Pass, they are cycling from Logan, Utah to Alpine Wyoming! Wow!

BY THE WAY, let me just give a huge shout out to Bozeman Family Clinic, Dr. Barton and crea, and Bridger Orthopedic and the Freestone PT clinic in Bozeman, MT who managed to get a terrific brace for me to put my broken (who knows HOW broken) ulna in so I could ski on this trip! You guys ROCK!

Selko's photos from yesterday on 2nd Turn in Jackson Hole area, Teeton Pass, Glory Mtn

Click on a photo to see it larger!

YAY! Finally someone else has the camera and I have action photos! Aren't these great? The skiing was terrific, and the turns just get better and better every pitch we ski. The skiing I was doing for the last week in the Beartooths did something great, and today, I stayed over my feet, even in the slop, and made some nice turns, finally! I'll post on that in a minute, but first, here is me skiing!

First Day Skiing in Jackson Hole - Powder Day June 12!

When I finally got in last night, there was this baby bird asleep on Johnathan's doorstep. My mom is a big birder and bird rescuer/tracker, and from what she's told me, I figured that this one had fledged, in the middle of the snowstorm, and gotten wet or tired and couldn't get back to the nest.

We caught him in a towel and put him in a box for the night, the poor little dude was totally pooped! In the morning, I opened the box and he flew right up into this tree!

We got all possed up and met up with Mark Eakin, a Jackson Hole backcountry skier, and one of Doug Coomb's old Corbit's Coular skiing buddies. Jonathan, Mark and I headed up into the snowstorm to the top of the Teeton Pass, and then hiked up to the top of Glory Mountain, getting more and more excited with every step we took, as the snow was accumulating deep, and it was light and fluffy for this time of year! It felt like it might ski like winter snow. After the deep, difficult, thick goo we've been skiing, I was getting pretty excited to make some turns!

I'm still pretty slow on the boot pack, and Mark was great, singing U2, (he saw them in concert 37 times on their last tour! WOW) and talking Opera, from Pavorati to Caruso, and after about an hour, we reached the top.

We ran into Jeff Burke at the top, who was wearing one of the New Black Diamond boots, and one of the new Dynafit boots, because hes working on a boot review! I guess he didn't have enough time for two laps? Wow, that's dedication. It was great to meet him and fun to hear he and Johnathan catching up.

After a teeny tiny tour in the fog, and a teeny tiny bit of bushwhacking, we found 2nd Turn, and just as we were ready to go, the sun came out. Jonathan skied down and set up to make some pictures, and Mark and I skied down, making beautiful, fun, BOUNCY powder turns in about a foot and a half of fresh. Ahhhh...

I felt really free in my turns, and was very flattered to hear both Jonathan and Mark comment on my good footwork (!!! can I have that in writing !!!) wow, what a change to feel confident in this snow, no wasted turns, no wonky weirdness after getting done hiking, although I am pretty sure that part of that had to do with the new technique I learned in the Beartooths of sort of bouncing, and making mini turns, and flexing onto your edges on whatever traverse there is once you are locked down. That, and our accidental mini tour, plus the easy snow after a month of skiing in molasses, all combined for an amazing run!!

I was really thrilled to be out skiing, to be "Soul Skiing" as Kurt likes to say, and it felt amazing to be able to let go and just ski. The deep, manky goo has been such a good teacher for me, that strong, slow steering and soft retraction set me up to suddenly ski this easy, ego powder just like Squatty showed me in Aspen on the Powder Posse day. I had been worried that ALL the amazing instruction Squatty had given me would just fly out of my mind, because I only had one day to work on it with him, and no time to cement it. But it was right there, reach and steer, reach and steer, and the bounce just happened as my skis dove and then rebounded and ejected me back to the top.

After hanging out in the snow, celebrating our awesome morning, we hiked back up the road to the car. Johnathan ran into an old buddy, Tommy Moe, and they decided to race to the top for another lap. Knowing I could NEVER keep up on this crazy bootpack, I opted to come home and make lunch. But now I have even MORE incentive to get faster on the boot pack!!

Im sitting in Selko world headquarters, here, listening to these guys talk about shooting in Chile, on Denali, all over the world, and I realize that I have just barely peeked in the door of skiing. Let the Education of Kate Begin!!