After the snow had settled and the sun started shining, Matt Hammer joined up with our previous crew, and we headed out to a well-traveled, well-liked California hot spot. There were crews galore lining up their sleds outside the entrance, but there’s plenty of room for everyone, so we gave a few nods and ‘whats up’s and headed out.
It was a sunny day, the crew was super fun, and to top it off, we got to shoot a jump that, as far as we all could tell, was fresh and new. Greg guinea-pigged the jump (which featured a full-on boardercross style run-in) and came up inches shy of a super-stylie off axis 5-er. So close. But, the ice was broken, and the
PETER PEEKS BACK AT THE BOARDERCROSS RUN-IN AS HE THROWS DOWN
We had a blast over the next few days hitting some great spots, but one day led to a little frustration, and ultimately some pretty good laughs. Check this out…
After caching out this amazing rock face, we knew we were close to the trail we wanted, but faced the dilemma of either going back and around the way we came, or adventure up and over the peak we were in front of and catch the trail on the opposite side. We chose the latter.
First of all, Matt went to start his sled, but to no avail. We spent about twenty comical minutes trying to pull-start his clutch manually.
MATT WISHING HIS SLED WAS HAVING A BETTER DAY
Thanks to Peter’s mechanical wizardry, we got ‘er started and boondocked our way through trees, bushes, rocks, etc. and finally reached the highest point. We could see the trail below us, but the plethora of rocks, boulders, steep hills, creeks, and thick trees provided some intimidating barriers.
So, Peter took the first shot and disappeared to find a safe road. Matt followed suit about 10 minutes later. Brendan and I waited at the top, and about 20 minutes later, we spotted the two guys down on the trail at the bottom. They waved their arms back and forth to us, I told Brendan we had the signal, and so we shrugged and headed down.
Dumb.
It may quite literally have ranked top 3 scariest descents you might ever encounter. Exposed rock fields, steep hills, boulders, no real way to brake or slow down safely. Oh, and it ended sharply in a grove of dead trees. Not to mention Peter and Matts’ tracks had hardened into nice little ice chutes.
So we’re creeping down this hill, and Brendan is in front of me, moving a tad slower and dead even with a nice, big boulder. I had 2 choices… Hit my buddy, or hit this rock. I hit the rock.
No damage, but the skis were now straddled on either side of this dumb rock. Brendan had to hike back up and help me drag the sled uphill and turn it. We lifted, we pulled, and we loudly tried to figure out why on earth someone in their right mind would wave us to come down something so ridiculous.
I HATE THIS ROCK
VIEW FROM THE TOP
NEVER AGAIN. TRUST ME, IT’S EVEN MORE RIDICULOUS IN PERSON.
We get the sled pointed downhill, Brendan grabs a helmet, revs ‘er up, and heads down. I watch as he goes slowly, then faster, and faster, and faster, and faster, then supermans off the sled just as it dives into the forest grove and lodges under 4 interlocking dead trees. So I head down to the bottom, get my saw out and start slicing away as Peter and Matt make their way over to lend their assistance.
As they approach, I asked them if they had gone on a mission to find the scariest descent possible?
Matt replied “Oh man. I can’t believe you guys went down that! We were waving you to go back the other way!”
Crap. After we took a couple seconds to register what just happened, we laughed, shook our heads, drove the sleds to safety, and ended up having a really great rest of the day. We zipped out to a jump we built the day before, had some fun there, packed up the trucks and headed home, but not before saying ‘what’s up’ to our friends from Mack Dawg People and the Transworld crew, who we spotted amongst the mass exodus. Man, is it a party at that spot!
The rest of the week went smooth as ex-lax (thank you 80’s). A couple more jumps, a couple more shots, and a great week or so wrapped up nicely.
HAM’-MER
noun
def. 1. THIS RIDER 2. THIS SHOT
On to the next week. See you soon.
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