backcountry skiing with the foothill freak

 

February 21st, 2005


Slide in Main Porter Fork.

Main Porter with a West Porter home run
Hey, when something is good once, it's often good twice! Starchild raged a full 6000 vert today like it was nothing. Ahh, the mid winter spoils of being in shape. Main Porter had a recent natural slide that we happily skied around. However, the gnarliest moment of the day was driving up Mill Creek Canyon.

There is one corner that is notorious for black ice, and today was no exception. PowderPrincess was behind the wheel of the WeenerWagon. She was hauling so much ass that Foothill didn't even have the chance to utter the sage advice "SLOW THE FUCK DOWN!" A jogger, sensing disaster, dove off the road and into a snowbank. Then it happened. The WeenerWagon lost traction in its rear end and it swung free out to the side. Then began the pendulum effect and the truck began swinging back and forth, back and forth. The Princess was wildly spinning the wheel trying to recover. She spun it madly to the right, then madly to the left, as if she was sugar bombed child fevorishly spinning a fake steering wheel, controlling nothing but determined anyway.

But The Princess expertly kept us on the pavement, out of the way of trees, creek, snowbanks and other suddenly perilous looking obstacles. Eventually the truck grabbed back onto the road and we got back into our lane in time for the oncoming traffic to safely pass. Phew!

By the time we got to the trail head the adrenalin had subsided and we had already laughed it off. But when we opened the flat bed cap rear door, we were greeted by a battered Starchild. The poor pooch had slammed into something and had a bloody gash under her eye as well as a bad case of the shivers. After a thurough checking by a wilderness first responder, a physical therapist, a nursing student, and an emergency room doc (all Teem Freek members), StarChild was verified "good to go" and she happily sprung off the gate into another beautiful day in the Wasatch.