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Bear Mountain Classics

The fun all started right after the Mammoth trip. Because as much fun and snowboarding that we were able to put-in, it is never enough. Of course we're talking "selectively" here...

Collectively we shall always lament Adrian's decision on an early January Trip 2009. Not the worse of all conditions, because, well, Mammoth Mountain is never entirely bad especially if you can venture out where it matters most. But by my quasi decree (if there is one lol) his date-picking privileges shall forever be revoked... Plans for a True Half-Day trip was unveiled soon after the Mammoth Trip ended. And let me just quickly tell you what a Tru Half-Day trip is all about, at least as far as we Veterans are concerned. First thing and perhaps the most important thing is being prompt. That means that you arrive at the rendezvous right at 5 am. Because being prompt dictates how the day is going to unfold. Breakfast is at 7'ish or depending on how traffic goes on Highway 18, and we hit the slopes as early as possible and run for 4 1/2 hours straight, all without any real breaks...

But because it is an El Nina year, we have basically conceded to the fact that the Season would not bring any significant rain and in turn any substantial snow (although that Storm last December was pretty remarkable. I suppose that wasn't El Nina yet?). So when i saw chance-of-snow conditions over the next several days and a promising 48 straight hours of snow-blowing, I thought it might be a good idea to hit the slopes... Of course I began to Spam everyone whom i thought would potentially be interested instead of my usual Text or IM to my core snowboarding friends. Perhaps I was hoping that for once there would be more people than just Stan and myself or Kris and myself (and on some cases just by myself... yes i have done many trips by myself. What can I say I love snowboarding!). And this time it seemed a lot of us were interested. I think even Michelle was a smidgen interested... (but i think she might have gotten annoyed by me because i called her Bluff on the "25 minutes away" to Big Bear thing... lol). I gotta love these guys because for the most part they live their snowboarding life by my creed and share my enthusiasm for the snow (well until they get married, I presume lol)...

Mori called me on Monday night almost in a panic. Apparently he hadn't been reading his emails and was worried there would be no more room for him in the car. And apparently he didn't bother reading all of them either because he really thought it was going to be on a Tuesday (the emails clearly stated Wednesday).... Then the fun really really kicked up! He asked if he would need a fresh wax on his snowboard, and well, it would turn out to be his lucky night because I had just started waxing mine... He arrives a few minutes later enthusiastically ready to learn this rather cumbersome aspect of the sport. He seemed to enjoy it too telling stories as he scrapped along, although it wouldn't last too long. I was outside when I suddenly hear a ruckus... I rush in to inquire and found his snowboard laced with an alarming amount of blood and a blood trail leading up to the restroom. I'm not entirely sure what happened but the next few minutes basically comprised of Mori worrying about passing out in my restroom and calling his Nurse friend for help or possibly calling 9-1-1 because his hand would not stop bleeding profusely ("I'm bleeding like a faucet" he said in amazement... lol). And somehow he was sort of bouncing on his feet as he watched himself bleed. Perhaps his way of dealing with anxiety? And all along I was curiously amused as to how it all happened! And even more so when he couldn't tell me exactly how hahaha....

Five minutes later he was still bleeding profusely... At this point i started to worry myself because in my estimation he had lost at least 1 1/2 cups of blood and he was beginning to look pale lol. "Mori we gotta stop the bleeding..." I suggested, my face austere. "Okay..." he responded rather calmly... Somehow i was successful in stopping the bleeding, thanks in part to movies like "Platoon", "Full Metal Jacket", and "Hamburger Hill" i guess. I was actually quite impressed with myself. It was just like the movies, except without all of the exorbitant Morphine of course... The morning after Mori texted me saying his finger had turned aptly green.

Invariably I could not sleep on the eve of the trip. It seems the only nights I ever ever have any trouble sleeping either... And of course I would also wake up almost an hour ahead of my alarm clock. Sigh...

The rest of my morning however was perfect... Mori was ready at his door as i expected at 4:50 am while Stan and Brynner arrived precisely at 5:00 am in front of my house. I couldn't ask for a better start! The drive up as i like it was quite uneventful. Well at least until we hopped on Highway 18 when I decided to carve the canyon roads a little (yes in my old SUV. But she's got some excellent tires!). You see Stan and Brynner went to sleep and while Mori was up, he wasn't really sayin' much (perhaps afraid for his life? lol). I was racing against time and promised Mori we would arrive in front of McDonalds no later 7 am... At breakfast Stan did say he noticed i was "hauling ass" but apparently wasn't so concerned because he wedged his head some place to keep it from swaying and then went back to sleep...

We have been doing this a while and ordinarily it's all about putting as many runs in as we can before 1 pm. This day however was a little different. We would finally take Mori under our wings and show him what it would be like to hang with the Big Boys. He has pretty good potential and we seem to share a lot of the characteristics of someone who might yearn to become proficient ... That said we didn't really expect much from him on this particular day and in fact we were quite a bit patient. Although I'll have to admit I did suggest ditching him on a few occasions haha. Mori should really thank Stan because apparently he is more patient than I am. The trouble, of course, with these new guys trying to break into what Stan refers to as the "Elite Group" is the potential for injury. And knowing Mori, he would try to prove he is worth his salt...

And so how did Mori do? Well he started off inauspiciously, getting kicked out of the lifts right on the first run for "Improper Lift Ticket" lol. And finally right before 11 am he twisted his knee pretty badly and basically called it a day... But don't despair my friend, you are doing just fine. Just slow down a bit will ya? There's plenty to snow to be had...



The snow was perfect today. Like a beautiful smile :)

Posted by: Marc Gabay
Wednesday, January 28, 2009