Birdman was on an avalanche detail with Sully, the head of the avalanche program with the Telluride Ski Patrol. Sully had made the first winter ascent of Mooses Tooth in Alaska, and the first winter ascent of Lizard Head Mountain and Needle Rock near Telluride Colorado. He was the real deal, a true old time mountain adventurer, who taught everyone on the Telluride Ski Patrol, an amazing list of survival techniques and the art of control of high alpine avalanche chutes.
Sully would bellow loudly in the morning and shouted, "After we bomb the Mammoth Slide, lets hit the narrow chutes to the left, they will have more powder snow." Three bombs exploded, and Birdman got first tracks on the narrow chutes. It was the largest rush of powder, and the adrenaline that results, Birdman had ever experienced from the Big Burn at Snowmass, Aspen, to the wild peaks of Telluride Mountain. The first rush of powder, felt like he had dropped out of an airplane into the clouds, the powder blasted over his head, and the powder joy continued even as he launched out of the trees, into the main part of the wide Mammoth Slide, the legendary powder run of the old timers who hiked up the mountain before the lifts went in. What a day to remember, it will never be forgotten.
The Big Burn, at Snowmass Colorado, was the first experience that Birdman had with powder skiing. Sixteen inches of fresh snow on the Burn was known by locals and tourists to be powder heaven. The small pine trees interspersed in a near perfect glade, kept the snow in fluffy piles of white, with no wind, and cruising through the glades was a delight for the ski patrol and tourists from all parts of the US. Snowmass has opened up many new above timberline bowls since then, and the powder days are unusually skier free, of locals and tourists. Everyone wants to ski Aspen Mountain, so they can brag about their adventure in saloons from Aspen to Boston.
The early days working on the Telluride Ski Patrol, keeping records for the US Forest Service, bombing the avalanche areas all around the top of Telluride Ski Mountain, was high adventure and a unique opportunity to ski the steep and the deep snow. The first year in Telluride, on April 22, 1972, it snowed 66 inches in one night on the top of the mountain. Birdman dropped into Apex Glade, after walking from the top of lift 4, with snow as high as his neck. He felt a great rush of joy, then could not see due to the blinding blasts of unusually deep powder. Later he put a bandana over his face, as a breathing technique. Birdman will never forget his first ride up lift 6 to the top of the mountain, that day. He saw a short stumpy patrolman, nichnamed "Stump" coming down the lift line doing jet turns in the powder over the moguls. The snow was so deep all you could see occasionally, was his hat and gloves, and a snorkel sticking above, for breathing. When Stump got to the patrol room at the top, everyone examined his snorkel. It was declared an ingenious idea, and talked about in the saloons downtown for years. Stump was the first person to hang glide off of Smuggler ski trail, on Telluride Mountain, which had never been seen before. He was one of the pioneers of hang gliding.
You have to be tough, daring, and have a tiny element of crazy in your soul to be a skier. Birdman always admired the tourists who came to the mountains, to brave the Big Burn, and the Telluride Plunge, a drop of 3000 feet, non stop to the town of Telluride. It takes guts and true grit, just to ride a lift to the top of the mountain. The chairs sway in the wind over deep chasms, rock and roll, and skiers have fallen off in the most peculiar places, one dangling from the top of a tree until the ski patrol showed up with ropes to get them back to Mother Earth. The Snow Gods from Norway watch over most skiers, in their constant test of gravity, balance, speed , control, and at times a crazy maneuver, best left to a gymnastics arena. Birdman watched a crazed skier once, bounce off the tops of two moguls on a high ridge at Telluride, do a half flip, land on his back, shoot towards the trees, get up to brush off the snow and smile with joy. Children from 4 to 15 sometimes look like pros on the circuit, with amazing balance, speed, and grace.
You have to admire the Ski Giants of American Sports, the every day common skier who has the guts to challenge the wild mountains. Once in awhile the White Hawk from the sky, comes down and takes a skier to the Skiers Elysium, the Great Ski Area In The Sky, with no cost for a lift ticket.
Sully would bellow loudly in the morning and shouted, "After we bomb the Mammoth Slide, lets hit the narrow chutes to the left, they will have more powder snow." Three bombs exploded, and Birdman got first tracks on the narrow chutes. It was the largest rush of powder, and the adrenaline that results, Birdman had ever experienced from the Big Burn at Snowmass, Aspen, to the wild peaks of Telluride Mountain. The first rush of powder, felt like he had dropped out of an airplane into the clouds, the powder blasted over his head, and the powder joy continued even as he launched out of the trees, into the main part of the wide Mammoth Slide, the legendary powder run of the old timers who hiked up the mountain before the lifts went in. What a day to remember, it will never be forgotten.
The Big Burn, at Snowmass Colorado, was the first experience that Birdman had with powder skiing. Sixteen inches of fresh snow on the Burn was known by locals and tourists to be powder heaven. The small pine trees interspersed in a near perfect glade, kept the snow in fluffy piles of white, with no wind, and cruising through the glades was a delight for the ski patrol and tourists from all parts of the US. Snowmass has opened up many new above timberline bowls since then, and the powder days are unusually skier free, of locals and tourists. Everyone wants to ski Aspen Mountain, so they can brag about their adventure in saloons from Aspen to Boston.
The early days working on the Telluride Ski Patrol, keeping records for the US Forest Service, bombing the avalanche areas all around the top of Telluride Ski Mountain, was high adventure and a unique opportunity to ski the steep and the deep snow. The first year in Telluride, on April 22, 1972, it snowed 66 inches in one night on the top of the mountain. Birdman dropped into Apex Glade, after walking from the top of lift 4, with snow as high as his neck. He felt a great rush of joy, then could not see due to the blinding blasts of unusually deep powder. Later he put a bandana over his face, as a breathing technique. Birdman will never forget his first ride up lift 6 to the top of the mountain, that day. He saw a short stumpy patrolman, nichnamed "Stump" coming down the lift line doing jet turns in the powder over the moguls. The snow was so deep all you could see occasionally, was his hat and gloves, and a snorkel sticking above, for breathing. When Stump got to the patrol room at the top, everyone examined his snorkel. It was declared an ingenious idea, and talked about in the saloons downtown for years. Stump was the first person to hang glide off of Smuggler ski trail, on Telluride Mountain, which had never been seen before. He was one of the pioneers of hang gliding.
You have to be tough, daring, and have a tiny element of crazy in your soul to be a skier. Birdman always admired the tourists who came to the mountains, to brave the Big Burn, and the Telluride Plunge, a drop of 3000 feet, non stop to the town of Telluride. It takes guts and true grit, just to ride a lift to the top of the mountain. The chairs sway in the wind over deep chasms, rock and roll, and skiers have fallen off in the most peculiar places, one dangling from the top of a tree until the ski patrol showed up with ropes to get them back to Mother Earth. The Snow Gods from Norway watch over most skiers, in their constant test of gravity, balance, speed , control, and at times a crazy maneuver, best left to a gymnastics arena. Birdman watched a crazed skier once, bounce off the tops of two moguls on a high ridge at Telluride, do a half flip, land on his back, shoot towards the trees, get up to brush off the snow and smile with joy. Children from 4 to 15 sometimes look like pros on the circuit, with amazing balance, speed, and grace.
You have to admire the Ski Giants of American Sports, the every day common skier who has the guts to challenge the wild mountains. Once in awhile the White Hawk from the sky, comes down and takes a skier to the Skiers Elysium, the Great Ski Area In The Sky, with no cost for a lift ticket.
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