Beware the Ides of March
Yesterday was a snow day shutting down work at the Santa Fe Institute. It snowed about a foot in town. So with a friend, Alex, we decided to go to Taos for a great day of powder skiing.
First run of the day, starting about 10:15, we hiked up the ridgeline above the chair lift to get some nice fresh powder. We went beyond the turn off to the first shoots, but when we got to the top of the hill above this, the wind was too strong and so we strapped on on our skis and headed back to the first shoots. Alex was above me and he told me we had to cut very strongly to the skiers right to get back to the runs. Well, I thought I was traversing pretty hard. A few hundred feet down, I noticed that I didn’t know where Alex had gone to. But taking his advice, I kept trying to traverse to my right. About a 1500 feet later, I realized that I must have gone into a drainage basin on the backside of the mountain. Mistake. Big mistake. Deadly mistake.
I won’t describe for you the details of the next few hours as I realized I was lost, had no idea where I was, had only an apple in my pocket for food, and was faced with trying to climb out of where I was in conditions where I was postholing up to my waist and chest. By around noon my voice was hoarse from yelling for help.
Then a little before one o’clock, following my tracks, appeared my saviors, two ski partrollers, Michael and Rick. Alex had seen me take the wrong turn into the drainage basin, and had almost immediately contacted the ski patrol. If it wasn’t for Alex noticing my wrong turn, immediately contacting ski patrol, and the two brave souls Michael and Rick, well, I don’t really want to think about it. Stupid, David. Stupid, David.
We spent the next five hours making our way down the drainage basin through some astoundingly bad terrain. Here is what the terrain did to my ski:
Let’s just say that yesterday was one of the scariest days of my short life. Please, don’t be an idiot like me. Always ski with someone and if you don’t know the terrain but your buddy does, always stay in contact with your friend. If you don’t know where you’re going, don’t ski there. Always carry extra food and water with you. Dress warmly. Carry a pack with a medical kit, extra layers, matches, etc.
Oh God! David! I am so glad you are okay! Please tell me you haven’t shared this story with your mom! We’ll never hear the end of it! 🙂 Be safe, darn it! That’s an order. Love you.
Sounds like it was pretty harry! Never done that myself but have stood on many a ridgeline and wondered how much it would suck to accidentally go that way. Glad only your ski suffered serious dammage!
Wow, the worst that’s ever happened to me was ending up on a logging road in the middle of nowhere and having to walk back to town (which was bad enough).
Holy crap Dave! That all sounds pretty scary. Good to hear that you walked away.
On the other hand, it seems pretty idyllic to pass away in the middle of the snow.
Pretty impressive/terrifying! (I’ve mixed feelings!) Now that you’ve survived it, though, think about what a great story it will make for your grandkids! 🙂