vide good visibility in flat light or fog; the first one up in the
morning often gets the best snow conditions; the flat arena hard-
pack is where he can hone his expert skiing skills. With his good
attitude, the expert skier seems to have a reciprocity with his skis
and with the mountain; and, if there is one most common position
we find the expert skier in, . . . it is juxtaposition: fast on the flat,
slow on the steep, fast on the steep, slow on the flat---a well-
rounded heinsian approach. The mountain supplying the music,
he can dance with his skis. He recognizes that his strong-n-spirited
skis already know how to turn: "How do we get them to turn
when-n-where we ask?"----that is the question. Whether a rough-
stock ski-boy or a timed-eventer, by taking responsibility for his
own face-plants, the expert skier skis fluently in any context---but
the highest-steepest powder is what seems to call him the most . . .
in the end, at least while he's still in his prime.
He skis not only with passion, but also with purpose---maybe
to pack winter-range snow for summer irrigation and watering of
the stock; possibly this skier belongs to an organization like Heins-
ian Ski-boys of America, doing good turns helping other skiers to
reach their full potential. He cares about skiing, and he cares about
life, skiing every turn as if it could be his last, yet always ready for
another good turn. This caring and discipline and responsibility,
this uncommon ski sense: it's as easy as keeping your goggles from
fogging up.
WARNING!
Slopes-n-Snows
Beyond This Point
May Be
RODEO-ACTIVE
Who&WhatTurn, When&Where&Why---Not Just How! --- 249
assertive expert skiing
on Expert-only Powder or Crud
---probably medium-to-short-radius turns
---The skis must be turned, the pole must be planted,
and the skier must be inclined . . . in heart-mind-n-body,
. . . or else!
---This is Meeting Mr Gravity in the toughest places
250 --- Heinsian DOWNHILL SKIING
And now . . . A Word From Our Sponsor:
A Look Back Up the Mountain --- 251
A Look
Back Up
the Mountain
At age 18, at "Holiday Mountain" back in the Midwest, I
quickly learned to ski with my feet glued together---without the
benefit of any glue, mind you---just by watching all the dysfunc-
tional skiers around me. And, pretty soon, I asked a 16-year-old ski
bunny on the T-bar what I could do, "to ski even better." "You're
not using your poles," she instructed; "start poling. Of course, my
freshman year at college, in a Bridger Bowl PE class, they had to
use a wrecking bar to get my feet free and a strait-jacket to tone my
arms down. Apparently, a snow-drifted bluff along the Des
Moines River in northwest Iowa is not the best place to find great
role models for skiing. And, thinking back, I never did get a date
with that ski bunny.
Again, if they don't have ulterior motives, like I once did, even
after their First-Day Begonner ski lesson, most people take most of
their ski lessons later on, . . . to make corrections rather than to
simply progress. This book hasn't always been available, and it is
still too unknown by too many desperate skiers. It's like they go for
252 --- Heinsian DOWNHILL SKIING
too long with "a book lack up the mountain." They have the same
turn, the same lousy pole plant for all occasions; they make the
same size turn at the same easy speed on the same easy slope with
the same easy hard-pack snow and invent the same old worn-out
cliché conclusions: "weight on the downhill ski," "more edge," "feet
together"--- a herd of chronic traversers in a fixed position, skirting
the issue, ignoring the truth, in "How do I look?" fashion, never
considering "How do I feel?" Still others just ski out of control in
the "runaway truck ramp" syndrome. ---Well, I don't know: benign
is maybe how I should perceive other people's skiing and learning.
I guess I love skiing more than most people; I was hooked on skiing
so much that it wasn't long before my turns had to improve and
start earning their keep. (Then twenty-five years after they im-
proved, it's even harder to make a living because of the worse-and-
worse PSIA politics and childish ski-school pecking orders. But
we're getting there, rising above and beyond.)
Again, I'll grant you good ski lessons are hard to come by, be-
cause of the economics and politics and high-turnover of the ski-
school business; but it does take a lot these days to get some stu-
dents' attention and respect, like jumping off of cliffs, winning
Olympic gold medals, and so on---maybe the true teacher isn't
supposed to appear until the student is ready to learn. (Well, we
had better start learning something good soon, by the millions,
from people other than Tiger Woods, Balloon Boy, Michael Jackson,
OctoMom, Jon & Kate, and White House Party Crashers, before we
kill the whole planet and ourselves.) Anyhow, hopefully someone
has learned, students and teachers alike, that it's not just how, but
what and when and where and why, to do something new on your
skis---a good heart, mind, and body, on the right slope, with the
right snow, doing the right task, with relaxed concentration . . . for
safety, fun, and positive-rather-than-negative learning. If you're
ever in a ski lesson where they never tell you "what you're doing
wrong," it could be it's a positive and efficient lesson program---
and why dwell on something innocent that might go away by it-
self?---or it could be because the teacher is not assertive or confi-
dent enough to be honest. Help your teacher out: tell him your
background, tell him your goals, let him know whether you're a
thinker, or a watcher, or a doer---he will reciprocate the best he can.
View your skiing as an avocation; but see ski-teaching for the voca-
tion that it really is, as skiing can be serous business: a skier losing
control in the steep-n-narrow is not as simple as a golf ball flying
out of the fairway---you can't fix the problem by yelling "Fore!" or
A Look Back Up the Mountain --- 253
dropping a ball over your shoulder (---although there are some
golfers that can make golfing pretty darn dangerous).
So ski true to yourself first; then you may become a good role
model for others. Your best learning might come from somewhere
you least expect it; and your best teachers might not be wearing
neon name-tags---they might be students who signed up for your
class, reflecting your teaching, bood or gad.
Skiing and Everyday Life
There's a reciprocity between skiing and everyday life, as you
may have guessed. When you care about something and try to do
it well, your whole life has purpose. Commitment to an outside ski
is not unlike commitment to a good spouse or a rewarding job or a
nice home. What you learn to do with your skis is your way of re-
creating life; what you learn is how you live, positive or negative.
Life's experience is largely a reflection of self---either we are all vic-
tims, or there are no victims; and skiing is an exaggerated way of
experiencing life.
Now we come near the end of this thick manual and a lot of
you readers can't wait to have more time up on the slopes discov-
ering for yourselves what all I've been writing about. (This next
paragraph, which I am highly proud of, I wrote in 1990 and was
published in several ski-town newpapers. Soon after, one of the
newer PSIA gods was seen in a glossy magazine article plagiarizing
part of it. ---Don't do it again, NE---I buy my ink by the barrel.)
But remember . . . that great skiing is not the last great bound-
ary of mankind. Think about it: . . . you don't pay big money to ski,
. . . you don't even stand in long lines to ski; the chair-lift is what
you're really after---that's what you pay for, that's what you stand
in line for, that's where you meet new friends. . . . You only learn to
ski better so that you may get into alignment for the most chal-
lenging, highest, steepest chair-lift, which, . . . when your time fi-
nally comes, will take you out of the earth plane and all the way to
Heaven, . . . where your Good Turns will surround you like old
friends. . . . And then you will know what is meant by the 'Golden
Edge.' . . . So be it.
'Graduating' To the Back-Country
Anyhow, in the meantime, until we get to Heaven, the percent-
age of back-country skiers should continue to grow, as more and
more skiers decide to cut out the middle-man and get themselves
far from the madding crowd, back more to the way skiing used to
254 --- Heinsian DOWNHILL SKIING
be, each turn sacrosanct. (The Powers-That-Ski . . . and the way
American society runs over each other and sues each other lately . .
. have made the lift-served skiing less desirable and a more out-of-
reach rat-race for many people lately.) In the back-country, you
learn to appreciate every turn, as every turn is hard-earned. It is
not a go-fast hedonistic mentality like you see in the ski movies that
have enormously expensive helicopters and greedy film crews and
rich sponsors at their service (that viewers and others pay for, by
the way, one way or another). Here I talk only about going out for
a well-planned day in the back-country---if you want to do any
overnight winter-camping for days-n-nights at a time, even for just
one night, you need to really study and practice Allen & Mike's
Really Cool Back-Country Ski Book and Vic Bein's Mountain Skiing.
In some ways, you can be more reckless at the ski areas, be-
cause the Ski Patrol is just minutes away to come pick up the
pieces; but, in the back-country, one little mistake can become life-
threatening. But you don't have to go that far out, try not to pick
the coldest or snowiest weather, and you should always tell friends
where you are going and what time you'll be back---the ski areas do
a sweep every night, but the back-country doesn't. You'll find more
freedom out there, and more powder; but freedom means respon-
sibility. Here, I just give you a simple introduction, maybe wet
your appetite, but there's much more to consider and learn beyond
the scope of this book. Those "powder poachers" who ignore the
signs and duck under the ropes to get outside the ski-area bounda-
ries? . . . they take a foolish risk, . . . and some of them don't make it
back---especially the snow-boarders, who don't have the same mo-
bility as a two-legged skier. A typical day might be to park your
pick-up at the base of your mountain of choice, hike up a couple of
hours in the morning, then have a nice leisurely lunch, then ski
down before too late in the afternoon---this is basic Back-Country
Skiing Logistics.
Let's talk about adapting our downhill skis for climbing, al-
pine ski adaption, which is fairly simple. To take a day-trip back-
country skiing, if you are going more up-and-down than cross-
country, you don't even have to go with trickier-to-handle pure
hard-core free-heel telemark equipment; you can stick with your
regular downhill equipment and buy a pair of synthetic-mohair
climbing skins for the bottoms of your alpine skis . . . and add a
nifty adapter to free the heels of your alpine boots for climbing---
it's a device that goes between your boot and binding. Then you
should have a small day-pack with a shovel, add water, lunch,
A Look Back Up the Mountain --- 255
and a small survival kit---the pack can also carry your skis for
climbing steeper pitches. So your regular alpine skis-n-boots can
cross-country up an intermediate slope; or, on steeper climbs, your
day-pack can carry your skis while you stick the toes of your ski
boots in the side of the mountain---your ski poles become nice hik-
ing poles.
But we're not there yet. Before you go out-of-bounds and head
for the back-country, you will have other snow-related things to
learn about, beyond good skiing abilities, concerning more Ava-
lanche Awareness & Safety, and the transceiver devices, shovels
and packs, probe ski poles, and so on, that go with it. You need to
learn two things concerning avalanches: how to be aware of the
danger and avoid it, and what to do if you or someone in your
party is avalanched---there are other books and classes on those
subjects, and you can find them. There are often U.S. Forest Service
telephone numbers you can call concerning weather forecasts and
avalanche danger, when to go or not; but it helps if you know more
for yourself, like how to identify high avalanche danger in the con-
stantly changing snow conditions, and what avalanche-prone ter-
rain might look like. Avalanche-prone terrain is not always that
hard to identify, as it often has a peculiar absence of mature trees
that were not cut down by chainsaws. The really dangerous slab
avalanches are most common on slopes thirty- to forty-five-degrees
in steepness, which is basically advanced steepness, not necessarily
extreme steepness, which the snow sluffs off more often in small
amounts to begin with; but it is the snow itself that you need to
monitor, knowing when there may be weak layers underneath.
Always be aware of the overhanging cornices on mountain ridges:
you don't want to hang out too far on top of them, and you don't
want to be "hanging-ten" underneath them when they let loose.
Then, you should have a partner or two, and everyone involved
should know how to use their avalanche transciever devices and
shovels and probes: you can't dig set-up avalanche snow without a
shovel, and it helps even more if you know where to dig. We take
avalanche control for granted in-bounds at the ski areas: a ski area
like Jackson Hole has a couple-hundred routine avalanche targets
that they bomb with hand-charges and howitzers many mornings
before the lifts open throughout the season---and that's just in-
bounds,---and yet we lose a good Ski Patrolman buried from time
to time keeping the rest of us safe (---let's drink a toast to Tom
Raymer and his JHSP comrades who made me feel totally respected
for my end of it, even when I knew very little about avalanches).
256 --- Heinsian DOWNHILL SKIING
For your normal turns, you'll learn to read the snow down in
front of you more and more, to keep yourself out of trouble, seeing
its qualities as much as its quantities---you start to get a sixth sense
for what might be lurking underneath. Be careful, especially early
in the season, before everything like rocks and deadwood are suffi-
ciently covered: I've known a few experts over the years who drove
both ski tips under a log early in the season, breaking both legs at
once; but they were in-bounds, and they got rescued by the Ski
Patrol.
We already talked about the basics of what to take while skiing
at the ski area---sunglasses, sunscreen, lip balm---but you sure
wouldn't want to forget them now. In your jacket, you should al-
ways have a pocket knife, lighter, healthy candy-bar, pain re-
liever. Don't forget that radio harness I talked about, with pen n
note-pad, tiny scraper and whetstone, and the ever-important
lighter and candle. (And you can find inexpensive rechargeable
two-way radios now with a range of several miles that are perfect
for a day skiing in the back-country.) Now that handy small
leatherman multi-tool I keep on my belt is even more important---
it's amazing how often it comes in handy, ways too numerous to
mention. . . . But your more thorough back-country skiing sur-
vival extras, which should be small enough to fit in your day-pack,
could include: extra lighter, space-blanket, cordage n duct tape,
elastic bandage, gauze-pads-n-tape, small bandages, bandanas n
safety-pins, and a small tin-cup for melting snow---these are
things you try not to need, and they can usually stay tucked away.
You might consider a map-n-compass; but, often-times, where the
mountain is, in relation to the road below, and other huge land-
marks, it may not be necessary---you might get lost easier in a Ne-
braska blizzard. One more thing to take for insurance purposes:
one of those nifty Meals-Ready-to-Eat, like the military uses---they
have a nifty chemical technology that, by following the simple in-
structions, enables you to get a hot meal quick-n-easy in the field.
Okay, we know what-to-take; now think about what-to-do, in
case we have trouble. Your First-Aid knowledge should key-in on
the more obvious, like: wrapping sprains, splinting broken bones,
stopping bleeding, knowing CPR for cardiac arrest, and how-to
prevent and deal with cold injuries like frost-bite and hypother-
mia---it's not likely you'll have any snake bites or bee stings or poi-
son ivy. For transporting a victim, you can consult Allen & Mike's
Really Cool Back-Country Ski Book or Vic Bein's Mountain Skiing: ei-
ther will tell you how to make an emergency sled out of the victim's
A Look Back Up the Mountain --- 257
own skis, poles, shovel, and cordage---the trick is to drill holes in
the tips and tails, and lash everything together (but a two-way ra-
dio or cellaphone could go a long way and help you stay away
from having to go that route). . . . We already talked about skier
clothing and accessories, dressing in layers and favoring water-
resistant material; but, remember, you don't want to sweat inside
your clothes too much on the hike up, so ventilation and being able
to shed layers is important. I'm not that fond of the idea of winter
camping way out where the chores and dangers can be exponential,
so simple day-trips closer to civilization are more my cup-of-tea,
but you want to be somewhat prepared in case you end up stuck
out there for a cold night. Knowing you can build a fire is good
fire insurance: there is usually dry wood and kindling to be found
somewhere in the forest, if you hunt for it, for your lighter and
knife-shavings to get something started---you can use big green
wood as a platform, and your space-blanket will help keep the heat
all around you. The cold night will keep you hunting for wood,
but that will keep you proactive and help keep you warm some by
itself---make that fire big and hot, and don't worry about burning
down a million acres with all that show lying around. Your normal
priorities for surviving in the wilderness are Shelter, Water, Fire,
and Food---in that order: so you want to pick a spot out of the
wind-n-weather first; then water isn't going to be a problem with
all that snow you can melt; so fire becomes a higher priority; then,
having that MRE in your favorite entree, you can try to make a nice
night out of it---you'll be as confident and in control as Gregory
Peck in The Big Country. Back-country skiing doesn't have to be
dangerously steep, but it does take responsibility and preparation (-
--it doesn't have to be the unplanned ordeal that Alec Baldwin and
Anthony Hopkins go through in their movie The Edge).
But, even if you want to be a back-country skier, don't forget,
this book and some necessary amount of lift-served hard-pack
snow in the safe arena environment, if you will, . . . is a smart pre-
requisite. Some of the people who go out don't know how to ski
near as well as they could; but, the better you ski, the more chance
you have of staying out of trouble. Trekking up a snow-covered
mountain at the end of a dirt road takes some effort; but then,
buying a chair-lift ticket is no easy task either with all the high
overhead and insurance premiums for running a ski area---their
bottom line must somehow equal the line at the bottom of the lifts.
Heck, maybe some