Some People are Just Crazy

[Nelson Atwell]

I have no idea how this skiier got to the peak of this mountain, but I'd say this is pretty extreme.



(click the link)

 

[Frank Marano]

helicoptor......and he is snowboarding......

 

[Andy G]

I live in the Utah mountains and my wife works for the local EMS department. She gets to see what happens when things go wrong:wacko:

 

[ChrisW Vincent]

Outch.

 

[Kerry Matthews]

Yes, he was 'helied' up there, and I've got several tapes of people doing just those kinds of things on skis and snowboards. (thanks to many years of 'Powder' magazine subscriptions.) In fact, last night I showed some of my valley friends here in Sacto a tape from REAL TV of my friend Paul Ruff's last jump near Kirkwood. He was an awesome skier with great talent. He went for 160 feet of air one day, and came up about 10 feet short. He died.

(We miss ya, my brother!)



That's what I used to do all day, on a more 'junior' level... skiing stuff that looked real hard to ski, scaring the hell out of myself, and enjoying the rush I got from it! Then going back to do it again!!!

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We're just adrenaline junkies...

 

[Dale Carter]

heading for Heavenly in three days, they have 30" in the last 48 hrs and more on the way....yahoooo!





Krash - ever been there? any tips? I am a boarder and wondering how difficult the terrain (especially Milky Way Bowl) is compared to Winter Park, Aspen, Snowmass, Keystone, Butter, Whistler?

 

[Kerry Matthews]

Dale,



Gonna be up there on Wednesday? I'll be in town to shovel, as there's a storm rolling in Tuesday night.

As far as terrain, yeah, I've been there, but not recently. At $73 for a lift ticket, it'll be long time before I'm back on their hill, as I can only ski an hour or so at the most these days. And, 'The Heave' is highly overrated! Most of the mountain is flat, especially the California side, up top. (Then again, I've always considered Northstar to be a 'flat' mountain too, but now that I'm a 'cripple' and can only cruise the groomed all day, it's a fine place!) The best terrain is on the Nevada side. Not sure how hard Milky Way bowl is to access from the Nevada side these days, as there's new chairs over there. Milky Way Bowl is sweet... You'll have fun over there. As for comparing it to the resorts listed above, I've only been to Keystone, which isn't a real hard mountain either... If you've skied Squaw or Kirkwood, and have hit the harder sections of those hills, you'll not find anything that difficult at Heavenly. The hardest run is Gunbarrel, a long steep run under the tram, filled with icy Volkswagen sized moguls... Stay outta there on a board!!!



And have fun up there!!!

 

[Bill Ellis]

Tried skiing once and sprained my knee. Long time ago. For the next 10 days I'll be going the other direction........157 deg W, 21 deg N.

 

[Nelson Atwell]

Enjoy Hawaii, Bill E.



Last time I skiied in 1990, I sprained my knee as well. After a couple of months of physical therapy and a lot of pain, I decided not to ski anymore. It has popped out twice since then, but never as bad as the first injury.

 

[Kerry Matthews]

No sprained knees here, just missing some vital parts outta 'em!



I've had my share of 'bad days' skiing...

This is from one of my 6 trips down in a sled over my skiing career. Sorry it's kinda blurry, but I wasn't the photographer this day...

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[Dale Carter]

Krash - thanks for the info. I goofed the date, my first day on the mountain is Friday. I saw the news that storm coming in is expected to dump over 30"!!



I have heard that Heavenly isn't very board friendly because of a lot flat traverses. To read some writeups, Gunbarrel is self-inflicted torture, while others seem to think the mountain is overrated for difficulty. Anytime I see a mountian with so little greens, I figured it is a feel good rated mountian so that people can say "I skied a black diamond!" I thought Aspen was pretty challenging and Keystone a cakewalk.



If it were just me, I would be in Steamboat, but my GF wants some fun at night, so Tahoe it is. She worked a season at Whisltler and I thought it was pretty good, just too hard to get to from Atlanta.



I am a strong Intermediate and am very comfortable on steep blacks if there is enough snow. I am really looking forward to the bowl.

 

[Kerry Matthews]

Dale,



You should have fun up there, I just came down the hill. LOTS of new snow!

Yeah, the most honest review of the mountain comes from when I used to bartend up there, and would talk to people at night...

Most would say that they've been to Squaw, Alpine, Kirkwood, Sierra, Heavenly, and so forth...

When you'd ask 'em what they thought of the various mountains around the lake, almost to a person, they would reply, "Heavenly! What an overrated mountain THAT is!!! The best thing it's got going for it is the views!"

Stay on the Nevada side all day and you'll have a great time! Milky Way bowl's way at the top of the Nevada side. The backcountry gates might be open to Mott's & Killebrew canyons... Fun, fun, fun!!!!



I've heard nothing but good things about Blackcomb/Whistler but my knees gave out before I made it up there. Lot's of good steeps!

 

[Dale Carter]

Heavanly is not a good boarder mountian, unless you are a terrain park fiend. Looking for a big dump of snow in the next day or two. As soon as I get some fresh, I am heading to the milky way bowl . The only pow is in the tight trees, even the big glades are wind packed and crusty.

 

[Kerry Matthews]

Sorry to hear that the snow's gone crusty already, but the weather report says there's no snow forecast until Friday and Saturday. The last time I skied the Heave, it was in the early 90's and I paid $5 for a 'packer' ticket, which meant I was supposed to go help pack the snow with my skis for a freestyle event on Gunbarrel. I didn't, and I spent the day skiing. It was a waste of $5. I think that maybe it was a weekend, and I had to deal with stuff like liftlines and foodlines and the like... things I can't stand! But I did get to ski some 'private powder stashes' with some of my friends that worked & skied there! I remember that I was still getting an 'upper body workout' (having to use my poles) to get around the mountain. On a board, that would suck even more.