Night Riding
posted by on January 29 at 10:27 AM
Nights at Stevens Pass are magical—spotlights on flocked trees, long shadows, and empty lifts make it feel like a movie set. Last night was extra spectacular. It snowed all day yesterday and most of last night, dry, tiny flakes that made an extra-fast, smooth carpet. A moderate wind wrapped clouds around us and gathered snow into mini twisters. Lift ops trundled out of their huts to load us—that’s how empty the hills were.
There are valid reasons not to go to the mountains: It’s expensive. But Shell is offering a two-for-one coupon with 10 gallons of gas, good for Monday nights at Stevens (and other days at other resorts). That makes a lift ticket $16. And it’s a long drive. Thankfully, the women I ride with banter about sex and politics, laugh, and picnic on the way, which makes the two hours fly by. And it’s a hassle. It is: donning three layers and digging out wool socks, tightening bindings, applying Chapstick, goggles, gloves… but flying downhill, alone save for trees and moonlight, makes me grateful for the Northwest, for the strength in my legs, for my lungs and heart. On the mountain I am temporarily but completely unburdened.
Photo by Jack Brauer, this and other fine prints for sale on his website.
that shell deal is the best thing ever. my friend and I have been filling our tanks in 10 gallon increments to build up a reserve of those passes.
night skiing is where it's at. towards the end of the night, you have the whole damn place to yourself!
In college we used to ski the pass for 10 bucks on Friday nights and it was awesome. Since then the hips have failed me and i will probably never strap on the skis again. I would give anything for just a couple more turns on a night like that.
Jack Bauer- WHAT ARE YOU TAKING PICTURES OF!!!!!
heh.
Night skiing is great when it comes to the beauty factor...
Until you are 15 minutes into the chair lift ride and you realize that hypothermia and frostbite are setting in. After that it fucking SUCKS! Now completely frozen, you know you must get down the hill as fast as humanly possible so you can get as drunk as humanly possible so as not to feel the blood literally freezing in your veins. Then halfway though your next ride up, when you come terrifyingly close to falling to your death, you realize your drunk ass has absolutely no business being on a metal chair/deathtrap suspended from a 3/4" thick wire 30 feet above a goddamn mountain side. And when you actually make it to the top without dying you now realize you must now descend said mountain side without breaking your neck (and every other bone in your body). And when, by some miracle, you actually reach the bottom of that mountain, you are so traumatized and still so drunk that have to pass out in your car until you are physically and mentally able to drive back down the ice-covered, cliff-bordered roads...
FUCK night skiing!
Suck it up, pansies. Night skiing ain't for dilettantes.
Honestly, it's surprising how comfortable you can actually be in 60 mph blizzard conditions and subzero temps without having to resort to any exotic gear.
@4 - Or you can just add another layer of clothing so you're not cold.
I suppose in the end I really don't give a shit what time of day it is. Because no matter how cold it is and no matter how many layers of clothing I put on, chair lifts are still terrifying instruments of mental torture and I am positive that they will someday lead to my untimely demise.
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