Month: February 2009

Movie of the Month: The Performers

Posted by Brittany – February 28, 2009

Movie of the Month: The Performers

Director: Dick Barrymore

Year: 1971

Where can I find it? Netflix, Amazon.com

The Performers is another one of Dick Barrymore’s classic ski films. At only 24 minutes in length, it is packed full of ski footage—footage still considered as high quality even today.

The Performers tells the story of five skiers sponsored by K2: Charlie McWilliams, Pat Bauman, John Clendenin, Bob Griswold, and Jim Stelling. These skiers were selected by K2 to tour the US on a good-will mission. They toured from California to Maine and back again in their red, white, and blue motor home—colored to match the famous K2 skis of the era.

The first major highlight of the film takes place in Aspen, Colorado. There, the K2 Performers were asked to judge two events. The first event was a “Hot Dog” contest. This was a competition where skiers were judged on form, turns, and jumps down a steep mogul run. The second even the K2 Performers judged took place in the evening where they judges the girl that looked best in a K2 t-shirt.

The second major highlight of the film takes place in the then new Snowbird, Utah. There the Performers experienced over-the-head powder—ski footage which would rival even some of today’s powder segments inn our best ski flicks.

Highly noteworthy was the Performers style. This movie was the beginning of what is today considered freestyle skiing. The Performers not only hucked themselves off of large cliffs. They hucked themselves in style, pulling 360’s, backflips, mule kicks, and double spread eagles. These skiers pioneered a new era in skiing that is still in force today. And they did so without helmets or goggles!

But, the most striking thing to me about The Performers was the realization that this movie shows that the ski bums of today are just like the ski bums nearly 40 years ago. The “Hot Dog” contest can be compared to today’s extreme competitions. The t-shirt contest gave insight into the Aspen party scene at the time- a scene that has not changed one bit. And skiers are still pulling 360’s and backflips off of massive cliffs and shooting epic powder scenes.

The Performers rings true to the age-old cliché that “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” The ski bums of today are not pioneering a new lifestyle or a new era in skiing. This new era was actually started 40 years ago by Dick Barrymore and the Performers. I thank this movie for putting me in my place and giving me this lesson in history. All avid skiers should experience The Performers themselves to understand the true roots of today’s skiing.

Update: The Performers had such an impact on the skiers of the era that a 25-yr anniversary mission was repeated in 1996. You can read more about it here in this article from Ski Magazine: http://www.deadlinecom.com/pdfs/theperformers.pdf

ACL Update: Surgery date

Posted by Brittany – February 25, 2009

Well, after a few threatening phone calls yesterday, the surgery scheduler from Dr. Beim’s office called me bright and early in the morning today. My surgery date is set for Thursday March 12.

It is a relief to have a surgery date. It’s such a mental game when you don’t know…. when it’s been over a week since I’ve seen the doc and still don’t have a surgery date. Setting the surgery date is another step in the healing process. Now I know when it is. I can schedule things around it. And now I know when the worst will be… the few days after the surgery. After that, the real healing can begin.

In the mean time, I was looking at some photos from the weekend that I got hurt, and I found this one. This photo was taken moments before my ACL decided to go kaput on me!
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ACL Update: Pure frustration

Posted by Brittany – February 24, 2009

Today I had a meeting with Dr. Beim that really led to just more frustration. I had to wait over an hour just to see her- but she did make a special appointment for me in between surgeries, so I guess I have to expect that things will happen. Anyway, she took a look at my MRI, confirmed my ACL was gone and that I likely don’t have meniscus damage. She started going through the surgery options and techniques with me in huge detail. And I actually really liked that. I like knowing what’s going to happen and why. She went over the options (and downfalls) of what to do should she get in there and see a torn meniscus or cartilage…. explaining recovery with cartilage especially can be a real pain in the butt. She doesn’t think I’ll have these issues, but she wanted to warn me.

So, what’s the frustrating part? Well, she sat down and started asking me if the surgery scheduler had called me yet. I said, “No, and that’s been kind of frustrating.” I explained to her that I called on Thursday (which I was told to do after our appointment last Tuesday- to call if I hadn’t heard anything in a couple of days). That the people hadn’t even started the paperwork on getting surgery started for me yet. The receptionist told me Thursday that someone should call me Monday. Well, by 3:15 on Monday I hadn’t heard anything, so I called. “Oh, the scheduler is busy right now, but she’ll call you back later today.” Well, no call happened. I figured, “Well, that’s okay because I have an appointment with Dr. Beim Tuesday (today) so everything should be all set after that.” Anyway, Dr. Beim went to go check on things and came back with, “Well, they were waiting for approval from your insurance company (to have the surgery) and so that’s what was taking awhile. The scheduler is busy today, but she should call you tomorrow.”

I was so surprised… so caught off-guard… and so pissed I didn’t say anything. I was getting the run around AGAIN. I had called my insurance company. NO AUTHORIZATION WAS REQUIRED. I was told that multiple times by my insurance company. What have these people at this clinic been doing? What does it take to get a freaking surgery date? I saw her first LAST TUESDAY…. 8 days ago. And I still don’t have a surgery date. C’mon people!

When I got home and GB and friends saw me bawling my eyes out in frustration, calls were made. These people know that if they don’t call me back tomorrow, they’ve lost my business. I’ve already begun calling doctors on the Front Range.

Right now, I’m not really impressed with Dr. Beim’s staff. I probably won’t even bother recommending her to any one else. This has got me thinking that maybe I should just take my business elsewhere. Maybe I should go back to Dr. Sterrett at Steadman/Hawkins– he did the surgery on my right knee 12 years ago and it’s holding up great.

Anyone else have issues like this before? Ugh. So frustrating!!!!!

Brittany’s Wish List

Posted by Brittany – February 23, 2009

I was working on this particular post just before my recent ACL injury. While I know I won’t be crossing off anything on my wish list this year, I thought I’d post it anyway. These lines still remain on my wish list, even though I’m done for the season. I’ll have to begin tackling them again next year!

The movie The Wish List has inspired me to create my own wish list. I’ve been wanting to do it for some time. But, I wasn’t ultimately motivated to create this list until after seeing this movie.

Those of you who know me know that the peaks highest on my wish list are my 9 remaining Colorado 14ers: Little Bear, Ellingwood, Blanca, Crestone Needle, Pyramid, Capital, Wilson Peak, El Diente, and Pikes Peak. Finishing these nine peaks will allow me to complete a goal I’ve been working on for the last three seasons. But, these are not the only 9 peaks on my list. Skiing the other 45 fourteeners has allowed me to see lines that I might otherwise not have noticed. Other peaks on my list come from just being out in the backcountry and something about them struck me. At any rate, the list keeps growing, faster than I seem to be able to check them off ;)

In no particular order, the lines on my Wish List include:
All photos by Frank or Brittany unless otherwise specified

1) Owen (tallest in photo) and 2) Purple Peak (in front, to the right of Owen)
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3) Purple Mountain
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4) Teocalli
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5) Thunder Pyramid

Photo provided by Andy Dimmen.

6) East Face, Gothic
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7) La Plata chute- south

8 ) Ice

Photo provided by summitpost.org

9) Sayres
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Photo provided by Brad Bond

10) Unnamed peak near Holy Cross
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11) White Rock- White Widow Couloir
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12) Terminator Chutes- from the top
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13) Arkansas
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14) Drift Peak
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15) South Maroon, South Couloir
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16) Marcellina
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17) The Pencil on Axtel
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18) Grizzly (near Independence Pass)

Photo provided by Patrick Murtagh

19) Star

20) Ruby
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ACL update: MRI images

Posted by Brittany – February 21, 2009

So, I’m officially geeking it out during my gimp phase. Yesterday I had an MRI. the doc wanted to just double check and make sure the injuries were as she suspected (torn ACL, but all the other ligaments okay) and see if she could check for meniscus damage. I’m feeling a lot of grinding in my knee, although it’s never painful. So, I’m suspecting I have at least a little meniscus damage. Anyway, I took a moment to pop in the CD from my MRI yesterday to check out the images. They’re pretty cool. I don’t really know how to read and MRI image (although in some cases, you can definitely pick out what’s what), but I thought I’d post some of them up here. This is a sampling of 6 images from over 500 to choose from!

Physically, I’m doing pretty well. Physical therapy is helping improve my strength and flexibility. I can almost get my knee completely straight, and I can bend it nearly as much as my other knee. I have been having trouble getting the inside quad muscle (VMO) to “fire”. When I had major patellar tendonitis in this knee several years back, this was also a problem, so it doesn’t surprise me. I am able to ride the bike (I have a trainer I set my road bike on), and I’m slowly increasing the resistance and time. I am basically off crutches, except for going down the stairs of my apartment building. Two big flights of stairs is a bit much for me to handle without crutches yet. I’m walking around inside without my brace- as my PT encouraged. I’m afraid to walk outside without a brace with all the ice and snow– but I was able to do so in Gunnison yesterday because they have cleared the sidewalks free of ice and snow.

Mentally, I’m hanging in there. I’m trying to keep busy and keep positive. It’s a constant mental battle. Sometimes I just want to cry because there were so many things I wanted to do this spring… and I’ll be missing them all. But, then I remember, that what I’m going through is not a big deal comparatively. So much worse things could happen. The hardest part for me is the social aspect. Skiing was my social life. Now I don’t have it and I feel so out of the loop.

At any rate, I’m hanging in there, and my knee is getting stronger and stronger and more and more ready for surgery. I have no surgery date set yet, but I should know more next week after I visit Dr. Beim on Tuesday.

The end of my season (2/15/09)

Posted by Brittany – February 19, 2009

On Sunday, my season was cut short.

I was skiing with a bunch of rippin chix today. We were all lined up to take a bit of air. I took it, landed, but landed a bit off, and fell. I think it was in the fall when I felt my bones that meet to form my knee go in opposite directions and then snap back. At any rate, I sat there for a moment. “Are you okay?” The girls shouted. “Um no I think I just blew my knee out.” “Are you serious?” “Um, yeah.” The girls came down to meet me. I called Frank and left a message on his phone, “Um, so I think I just blew my knee out. Give me a call when you get this message”. Despite really being able to stand on my knee (it felt really unstable) I was able to make my way off of the steeps (from Hard Slab to Easy Way Out). At that point, I didn’t feel like side-slipping down groomed runs on President’s Weekend. So, I told them to get a sled.

I sent the girls on their way, but Mark (KEEN rep) stayed with me until patrol came, then taking the opportunity to snap some pics.

“Yeah guys we’re gonna need a sled.”

The patrollers tucking me into the sled.

Sydney more worried than I was, asking me if I was going to be okay :)

Tucked in the sled, ready to go. Even when my season’s done, I still smile for the camera :)

They took me to a doctor at the bottom of the hill where Frank was waiting for me. Xrays show no broken bones. They did lateral stability test on me and couldn’t tell exactly what was going on with my knee. But, I couldn’t relax when they did the test, which means my muscles were probably tightening and leading to false stable results (which was the same case when I tore the ACL on my other knee 12 yrs ago). I had a gut feeling- and my gut feeling my ACL was blown.

In the mean time I took it upon myself to take advantage of the fact that I live in a ski town- in close proximity to many a person who’s had the same injury. I borrowed braces and ice packs from my friends Alison and Carrie Jo. They sent me out the door of the clinic with crutches, but I got better ones from my friend Dawn.

On Tuesday, Dr. Beim checked out my knee and confirmed the fact that my ACL was no longer attached to my bones. I have already begun physical therapy, and I should be having surgery in 3-4 weeks (still waiting for Beim’s scheduler to call me).

I am doing my best to stay positive. I mean, people get torn ACL’s all the time. It sucks, but it could be so much worse. A skier died yesterday at Mt. Baker when he hit a tree. A Gunnison kid playing hockey is now in a coma. But, I still have my life, and my brain is working just fine. My knee will be almost the same in a few months. And in a few years, this will seem like just a blink in my life.

But, it’s hard to have all of your season’s plans, goals, and dreams ripped out from right in front of you in an instant. Having 51 ski days under my belt I was well on track to a 100+ year. I was skiing so strong. I was skinning so strong. I was getting myself set up to do some really big things this spring with ski mountaineering. And now, that won’t happen. My first season ever in a ski town, and I will be spending half of it on the couch. So, it’s frustrating.

Right now I’m just trying to focus on the road to recovery. I am working on getting my knee ready for surgery by keeping it strong and limber and getting the swelling down.

I’m not looking forward to the surgery itself. Last time around it was so sucky – puking all over the place and pain like I couldn’t believe. But ACL reconstruction has come a long way. My former surgery was done with a pateller tendon grapht- they literally cut a piece of tissue right out of the middle of my pateller tendon and made it into my new ACL. My recovery focused more on healing the tendon and incision/scarring near it than the actual ACL. Now, the typical procedure involves an allograft- taking connective tissue from a cadaver. It’s much less invasive and a quicker recovery.

So, by the time mountain bike season comes around, I should be ready to go. And in the fall, a ski trip to South America might be in order :) Until then, it’s a life of couch-sitting and recovery for me!

Another fun outing on Gothic (2/5/2009)

Posted by Brittany – February 5, 2009

With the recent prolonged high pressure, I’ve been itching to get back out to Gothic. After skiing it a couple of weeks ago, it quickly became one of my most favorite peaks to ski. The possibilities of lines to ski off this peak seem almost endless. And the views cannot be beat. As appealing as Gothic is to look at, it’s even more fun to climb and ski.

This time I coaxed Tom into coming with me. We began our day shortly after 7 am from the Washington Gulch trailhead. Instead of using sleds like Frank and I did a couple of weeks ago , we opted to skin to the base of the mountain.


Photo by Tom Runcie

Gothic in the morning light.

Photo by Tom Runcie


Photo by Tom Runcie

Tom loves the art of photography.

Photo by Tom Runcie


Photo by Tom Runcie

We took turns leading on the bootpack. We were surprised that no one else had made it up there in the last few days, as we were setting the bootpack ourselves.
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Photo by Tom Runcie


Photo by Tom Runcie

Of course, the scenery on the summit was once again spectacular.

Photo by Tom Runcie


Photo by Tom Runcie


Photo by Tom Runcie


Photo by Tom Runcie


Photo by Tom Runcie

Tom ready to ski.
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We skied close to where Frank and I had skied two weeks before- a chute on the west side. This one was slightly north of our previous descent.

Me part way down the upper pitch.

Photo by Tom Runcie

Tom
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I think he liked it :)
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Scenery from our line.

Photo by Tom Runcie

Me skiing.

Photo by Tom Runcie


Photo by Tom Runcie


Photo by Tom Runcie


Photo by Tom Runcie


Photo by Tom Runcie

Another great day on Gothic! Thanks for joining me Tom!

Fourteener-skiing training

Posted by Brittany – February 4, 2009

The last month or so, we’ve been in the perfect cycle. A week of snow, followed by a week of high pressure followed by a week of snow, followed by a week of high pressure. Repeat. This is the perfect cycle, allowing us to get our powder fix followed by a week of warm temperatures which allows the snow to settle- making us able to get out and ski some big lines.

This cycle is perfect for my “training” for the fourteeners. Most of you know that I have only 9 fourteeners left to ski. Many of these fourteeners are difficult- some because they are technical and dangerous, some because they are long, and some are a combination of both. This winter, I’ve made it my goal to “train” for my upcoming fourteeners by getting into the backcountry: 1) Seeking long tours to improve endurance and stamina and 2) More technical routes to challenge and hopefully improve my mountaineering abilities. In the last 5 days I’ve experienced both.

On Saturday we skied an area which is affectionately called Big Country. What was at first supposed to be a short day, turned out to be a 10 and 1/2 hour long tour which involved two pitches of skiing a 2+ hour tedious traverse out of our second ski. Below are pictures that show our tour as viewed from Crested Butte ski area on Tuesday.
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I could not fit the area into one picture, so I split it into two. The red shows where we parked our snowmobiles and then our skin up the ridge. The end of the red line marks where we began our first ski, down the backside of the ridge (out of view). We then came back up to the ridge, following the blue line down for our second descent, and traversing back over to our snowmobiles.

This Big Country tour turned out to be longer than we expected, especially on the traverse out. This traverse pushed my stamina, and left me with a strained leg muscle that is still bothering me 5 days later.

Today, we attacked the Terminator Chutes, which challenged my mountaineering skills. The Terminator Chutes are noticeable from Crested Butte. Most people who visit gaze upon them several times without even knowing their names.
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The Terminator Chutes lie to the right of the ski area boundary for Crested Butte ski resort. Their name is a continuation of the theme given to the couloirs on the front side of the mountain: names like “Total Recall” and “Predator”- all Arnold Schwarzenegger movies. The picture below is marked. The yellow arrows point to the ski area. The pink lines mark the five Terminator chutes, T1-T5, from left to right.
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We wanted to climb and ski T3, but the initial climb looked too challenging for our skills. So, we headed over to T4. We initially thought the T4 climb would be easy. But, we found otherwise. The climb was challenging. The mixed rock/ice was interesting to work with. Hand-holds and ice axe placements were tricky. It was a difficult climb, but we all made it up the crux. And I found myself thankful for the ice climbing course I’d taken a little over a month ago. The skills I learned there came into play today. Though undesirable and dangerous snow conditions prevented us from continuing very far up this couloir, it still was a good time out. I look forward to battling the Terminator chutes again soon- hopefully during our next high pressure :)

I call it “fourteener training”. But, really, I’d be out there doing these things anyway. Perhaps I use it as an excuse for when the fun starts to become less-fun. But, the less-fun challenges make our victories all the more sweet :)

CB Status (2/3/2009)

Posted by Brittany – February 3, 2009

Sock-it-to-me ridge finally “unofficially” opened on Saturday. By “unofficial” I mean that it was not announced on their website. There is a small gate at the entrance, that normally is not there. And at the gate there’s a sign that reads, “Open, for billy goats only!” The Sock-it-to-me ridge is full of rocks, surely. But, I rather enjoy it. Last year, the runs there were such a breeze to ski. This year, the challenge is back :)

During our backcountry tour on Saturday, we kept hearing bombing coming from the ski area. We figured they were working on Third Bowl. Correct we were– and it finally opened today. Here’s a few pics from our first run.
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With the opening of Sock-it-to-me ridge and Third Bowl, Crested Butte resort is finally 100% open :)