Best End of Season

So I went skiing with Hartz, Amy, Holm, Seth and a few others today after a pretty decent dump of powder of Ski Bowl in the backcountry.  It was a great day of skiing and I had several "firsts" for me.  

First off, I was about to follow Hartz after he guinea pigged the big 30+ foot drop in the backcountry when I put on my head

phones and heard Rage Against The Machine playing.  I had been debating throwing a trick off the drop for some time and after Hartz yelled back the landing was plush I pointed em' and went for it, throwing my first ever front flip 

on skis.  Chris was off to the side taking sequence shots of it and it came out pretty well.  I floated it a little like a lawn dart then tucked the rest to land on my feet in the powder.  The landing was a little harder than I expected and I think I slightly pinched a rib but I feel fine now hours later.  

After hiking back out to the backcountry the weather had turned and we decided to hit up the same chute that Emily filmed me on weeks before (picture above with my ski tips in it).  This time it was cover

ed in snow and I called first dibs right off the bat to drop into it.  Everywhere throughout the day the wet snow that had been falling 

was sliding on a lower layer of ice making for very bad avalanche conditions but since we were in the resort the danger wasn't life threatening.  As soon as I hooked a turn, and jumped a small cornice into the chute the snow was already sliding so that when I landed I was swept off my feet by the sliding 6-8" wall of snow.  My ski hit a rock and blew off (thankfully I had a powder leash on) and I was carried about 50-60 feet down the chute and was able to watch the rest of the slide barrel down the hill, stopping just shy of where Chri

s was standing below watching me (the 50 foot wide wall of snow apparently was unnerving to see coming at him, ha).   I was fine but it was the first time that I had ever been "swep

t" down a slope by that much snow in a real slide.  

The best part that I haven't mentioned yet is that I was trying out my new backcountry skis, boots and bindings and after an

 avalanche, a front flip off a 30+ drop and several others all my new gear rocked!  I was so happy to have worked up the balls to go for it that day and it really made a great end to the winter skiing season for me.  Now I look forward to ski mountaineering the Cascades, spring corn, and soft park jumps at the resorts!