Ready for a Stillwater Preserver Mission

Well, it seems that the last six or so weeks of my life have existed in that place between ‘holy shit, that was awesome!’ and ‘wait, what just happened?’, leaving me in a fluttering state of mind.  Going into it, I knew my time in Canada would pass quickly, but ninety days flashed right on by.  The last few weeks were chock full of new experiences and wild stories.  I had a chance to ski from the summit of Mt. McKenzie and cross Arrow Lake on an inland ferry with my van in the same day.  I drank a boilermaker shot with some Canadian Legion members and skinny-dipped with fellow ski bums Leah Evans and Dersh later that evening.  I swam in hot springs – commercial and natural, with tunnels and diving boards, hot and cold dips – all around the Kootenays , from Ainsworth to Fairmont, Halcyon to Radium.  I skinned a lap with legendary skier Kirk Jensen at his home resort of Whitewater and snowboarded the rail park in the same afternoon.  I thumbed a ride with three other ski bums from Nelson, BC to Revelstoke, BC (250km!) to perform a rap about ski bumming in Canada in front of a restaurant crowd at the Village Idiot.  My head is spinning from all the stories of places and people and slash turns; only some down time back in Aspen has allowed me to finally begin digesting the whole experience, and I am only now appreciating all that has transpired.

Where do we go from here?

My good friend Casey Vandenbroek , Dersh, and I crossed the border back to the States on April 5th, drove a few short hours to Missoula, Montana to grab a beer with our friend Ryan from the Warren Miller tour .  He was in town for an extended period, and with nothing more but the promise of more beer, good times, and the chance for him and Casey to go kayaking in the morning, he succeeded in convincing us to stay the night to get a feel for the college town .  We found ourselves so inclined, and had ourselves a wild night in that pioneer town just off the Lewis & Clark trail.  Little did we know, but that was a move that may have just saved our lives.

The next morning, while Ryan and Casey rounded up some kayak gear for their river mission, Dersh and I took the van in to get it tires rotated and aligned.  The tire clerk pointed out that our tires were near the point of shredding apart, and that there was a more serious issue going on in the front end of the van.  He pointed us down the street to a mechanic, where we found out that everything from the inner tie-rod to the wheel bearings were about to go.  Our timing was right and we avoided getting stranded in the Wyoming prairie 400 miles into the night if we had just kept on truckin’ through.  $800 and a day later, we were ready to hit the road back to Colorado, home for our weary threesome.

Cinco de Mayo?

Back now for about two weeks, things have finally slowed down.  With three closing weekends in a row out here in the Aspen/Snowmass area, parties were in full swing and mother nature even blessed us with a substantial snowfall.  My body keeps telling me that it’s summer now, and that spring was just a fleeting memory; but my mind is saying something different.  Amongst all the normal firings of the synapses in my brain, there are some free radicals that continue to toy with the part of my brain that determines season.  My brain can’t seem to differentiate between the snow on the mountains around me and the warmer temperatures pushing the nearby Roaring Fork River to swell.

‘Am I supposed to be skiing right now?’ or ‘Is it warm enough to paddleboard?’ are conflicting thoughts that battle it out in my head.  Recently, I’ve let the war wage while the internet has stolen my attention with its tweets about JOSS and videos of some sick POV spine skiing in AK.  I’ve found some interesting articles written by good friends about ski trips to Turkey and closing days at Whistler .  I’ve trolled the message boards and watched some awesome videos produced by people who just love skiing for the sake of skiing.  Really though, I’ve just found myself avoiding any new experiences outside the front door of my girlfriend’s apartment until I feel I’ve fully digested everything that has happened in my life since I left Aspen back in October for the Warren Miller tour.  But that is a cop-out, and I’ll admit it.  So, it’s time for me to put down this sick laptop that I hope POC will let me use for a while longer, and go outside.  Besides, I heard the weather’s supposed to be nice…who’ll join me?

Tags: Aspen, biglines.com, casey vandenbroek, crystal rose lee, jacqui edgerly, JOSS, kirk jensen, kootenays, leah evans, one5 media, POC, Powder Highway, Revelstoke, Snowmass, supergtv, TGR, Warren Miller, whistler, whitewater