Opening Day Take Two; Or How SC was saved by Snowboarders, not quite….

Well for those of you still paying attention to this supposed winter, you knew that Saturday once again heralded the opening of Mt Hood Meadows, and yours truly was there to witness it. By 9:30 am, the lot was almost half full. Daisy and Buttercup were running, while they were just getting the chairs out on Vista, with Cascade not even running. It was snowing off and on, but windy. Seeing the lack of lifts running, SC wisely grabbed his pack, skins, and avy gear and headed off into to BackCountry. OK not really the back country as I initially just skinned over to vista as got some first tracks on slopes there. It was nice ankle-calf deep powder, and light. After a few laps SC noticed that vista chair was running, hence time to boogey out of bounds. So off I went to some nice little slopes I know of just outside the rope. A SC secret if you will. I spent the rest of the day touring around there doing laps up and down a few slopes. Nice fun powder. A pretty darn good day, all things considered. As the day wore down it was time to head back to the car. I decided to take a run down the trees that I like that usually takes me out right behind Vista. When I came to an opening and couldn’t see meadows, I realized I had missed my intended trail. Back came the skins, and a traversing of some circumspect conditions (brush logs, a few cliffs) As SC wondered how far away he was a noise was heard in the distance….obnoxious music, ahhh the lot was close. So down I went, through the woods, a leap over a creek (I had to throw the skis ahead of me) and as I came out into the clearing what do you think I saw? The annex lot, completely empty save one Chevy Bronco, tailgate open, some loud rock blasting and two snow boarders sitting on the tailgate. As I come out of the trees one of them yells over to me and flashes the “hang loose” hand sign, or maybe it was the Texas long horns sign, which is also the sign of the Devil in some European Country, coincidence? I think not!

So you may imagine the experience changed SC’s opinions on Snowboarders, and allowed him to see some usefulness in the world, if for nothing else than a beacon upon which to guide others back to civilization. Well you imagine wrong, if that is civilization or salvation I would prefer to die a cold and lonely death (sounds like my nightlife no?).

Stay tuned for part two: Face shots and core shots; Snow Curmudgeon takes a sick day.