I had no intentions skiing this particular day. We were supposed to be packing to head to The SkiTalk Gathering in Utah and the previous day at Mt. Rose was the best snow day of the year, so why not leave well enough alone leave on a high note? So, by leaving Tahoe to go to Utah I was breaking my cardinal rule, "Don't leave good snow to find good snow". So, by doing so I was going against the best laid plans of mice and men but the webcams from Mt. Rose suggested otherwise: another foot of new snow over two storm cycles of previously good snow plus no lift lines. Tricia strongly suggested that I get myself up to Rose. So much for the best laid plans and leaving on an established high note.
Backstory: A few days before, a long rectangular box from Bozeman had arrived and I thought this would be the perfect morning to mount up these new Peak 110s. So, as Tricia cleaned off the SS Skitalk, I grabbed a box of 115mm Strive 13 Demos and mounted up and waxed the new Peak 110's.
Driving to Rose was "sporty" but uneventful; the conga line up Mt. Rose highway moved smooth and steady and the usual 40 minute drive door-to-door only took 60, which was not too bad considering what the traffic up to Truckee and the other areas could be.
So, why this title? Well, I will get to that. I parked over on the Slide side of Rose and booted up at the Winterscreek Lodge. As I exited the lodge there was a fellow skier also with some Peak Skis (98's) with a group of skiers around him, asking him about them. I added a few thoughts to his conversationand headed to the lift...ok off to the lifts.
My first two runs were on the Slide side in areas I know that tend to hold snow well and get tracked up last, no I won't share. Even with the 10AM late-ish start I was still getting mid body shots. After these two runs, I headed over to the main area. As I skied past some of my favorite lines, I went over to a stash I rarely hit which is the trail formally known as Lower Lakeview, and now we get to the title.
Skiers' left on Sunset trail usually features a wind pattern through it which creates a snow whale, a feature that adds character to the trail, making it my favorite trail at Mt. Rose. On this run I went past Sunset to these trees between that and the trailformally known as Lakeview and now called Lone Tree which is a tree section I rarely ski. This skier forgot to realize that that swale whale that was on Sunset would also be in the woods there too and in the flat light/bizzard condtions, I could not see.
We have been blessed with the best snow I have experienced in Tahoe and Mt. Rose. It was still coming down in massive amounts, which is why I headed to the trees for more contrast. Again, best laid plans. With snow as deep as it was, I entered the woods with some momentum. This is usually good, but in this case it was a detriment. As I see the swale in front of me, I think, "How bad can it be? I am on some wide skis, [sponsor plug] Peak Skis 110 by Bode Miller[/sponsor plug]" which will give me something to land on, again best laid plans, and as I crest the swale is when I see them.
It was straight out of one of my favorite Gary Larson cartoons, the one in the airplane where one pilot says to the other, 'What would a mountain goat being doing way up here in a cloud bank?" As I came over said large swale, I thought "What would a large boulder and a tree stump be doing right where I was going to land when we have had almost 500" of snow?" But there they were.
Changing direction on skis is tough in mid air but I did the best I could to try to land between the rock and stump. According to the East German judge, I scored OK with a 6.6 out of 10, but I did hit rock ... hard. When skis hit rock they tend to stop quickly. At that point all turned white as I was launched really fast forward from my skis into the snow and rocks.
Before After
If you notice the before headshot, there is a GoPro adaptor on my Tor MIPS Spherical helmet and after, it is not there (note: the GoPro was not attached at time of crash). I hit something, I assume one of the boulders hard enough to not only rip that off but activate the Mips Spherical which can be noticed in the second image. Which brings me to the second part of the title, "how I learned how to love my Giro Tor and MIPS Spherical". First of all, helmets are cheap insurance, especially in today's age of some folks' insurance deductables hitting 5 figures. Why someone is not wearing a helmet today is mind-boggling. It is up there with not having fire insurance on a home. Have you used it? Probably not, but you sure as hell aren't going to cancel it. The fall I took was sheer happenstance, but as they say shit happens. And if I wasn't wearing a helmet, and seeing how the MIPS Spherical worked as completely designed, there is a very good chance my brain matter would not have been intact enough for me to write this ... let alone Tricia needing a lot of consoling.
Yes, the helmet has been retired and no, a helmet cannot prevent all head injuries. Let's face it, quality helmets are not inexpensive, but the cost of not wearing one can be astronomically more costly; not just for you, but for the people around you. Don't be selfish, leave the ego in the car when you arrive at the ski area/resort and wear a &^%$ing helmet.
Driving to Rose was "sporty" but uneventful; the conga line up Mt. Rose highway moved smooth and steady and the usual 40 minute drive door-to-door only took 60, which was not too bad considering what the traffic up to Truckee and the other areas could be.
So, why this title? Well, I will get to that. I parked over on the Slide side of Rose and booted up at the Winterscreek Lodge. As I exited the lodge there was a fellow skier also with some Peak Skis (98's) with a group of skiers around him, asking him about them. I added a few thoughts to his conversationand headed to the lift...ok off to the lifts.
My first two runs were on the Slide side in areas I know that tend to hold snow well and get tracked up last, no I won't share. Even with the 10AM late-ish start I was still getting mid body shots. After these two runs, I headed over to the main area. As I skied past some of my favorite lines, I went over to a stash I rarely hit which is the trail formally known as Lower Lakeview, and now we get to the title.
Skiers' left on Sunset trail usually features a wind pattern through it which creates a snow whale, a feature that adds character to the trail, making it my favorite trail at Mt. Rose. On this run I went past Sunset to these trees between that and the trailformally known as Lakeview and now called Lone Tree which is a tree section I rarely ski. This skier forgot to realize that that swale whale that was on Sunset would also be in the woods there too and in the flat light/bizzard condtions, I could not see.
It was straight out of one of my favorite Gary Larson cartoons, the one in the airplane where one pilot says to the other, 'What would a mountain goat being doing way up here in a cloud bank?" As I came over said large swale, I thought "What would a large boulder and a tree stump be doing right where I was going to land when we have had almost 500" of snow?" But there they were.
Changing direction on skis is tough in mid air but I did the best I could to try to land between the rock and stump. According to the East German judge, I scored OK with a 6.6 out of 10, but I did hit rock ... hard. When skis hit rock they tend to stop quickly. At that point all turned white as I was launched really fast forward from my skis into the snow and rocks.
Before After
If you notice the before headshot, there is a GoPro adaptor on my Tor MIPS Spherical helmet and after, it is not there (note: the GoPro was not attached at time of crash). I hit something, I assume one of the boulders hard enough to not only rip that off but activate the Mips Spherical which can be noticed in the second image. Which brings me to the second part of the title, "how I learned how to love my Giro Tor and MIPS Spherical". First of all, helmets are cheap insurance, especially in today's age of some folks' insurance deductables hitting 5 figures. Why someone is not wearing a helmet today is mind-boggling. It is up there with not having fire insurance on a home. Have you used it? Probably not, but you sure as hell aren't going to cancel it. The fall I took was sheer happenstance, but as they say shit happens. And if I wasn't wearing a helmet, and seeing how the MIPS Spherical worked as completely designed, there is a very good chance my brain matter would not have been intact enough for me to write this ... let alone Tricia needing a lot of consoling.
Yes, the helmet has been retired and no, a helmet cannot prevent all head injuries. Let's face it, quality helmets are not inexpensive, but the cost of not wearing one can be astronomically more costly; not just for you, but for the people around you. Don't be selfish, leave the ego in the car when you arrive at the ski area/resort and wear a &^%$ing helmet.