Friday, March 21, 2008

The End...

The last few days after my injury have been quite a shift in momentum. Instead of being focus on skiing day after day, dressing each morning with the avy beacon, putting the skins on, having fun all day long in the mountains and going to bed early... we are now mostly... drinking beer!


After a few days of Evans skiing with peoples we meet in Valdez we decided to drive back south. We left Valdez at around 6pm so that we would be driving road 37 from Whitehorse to Prince George during the day, when gas stations are open from 7am to 8pm. Only 36 hours later we were in Whistler, well rested thanks to the bed we setup in the back of the car...


We then spent a few days with friends in Vancouver and it is now the end of the trip. We are now going back to our regular occupations and that means no more:
  • Analysis of the weather forecast, avy bulletin and snowfall history everywhere in North America...
  • Living for skiing... skiing with good friends!
  • Feeling naked without kneepad and avy beacon...
  • Being naked on top of Lilly's Col! :-)
  • Skiing Alta while the access road is closed and there is only 50 cars in the parking lot...
  • Having a schedule of 8h of skiing per day, 8h of driving and 8h of sleeping...
  • Discovering new and remote skiing paradises...
  • Chilling out and drying stuff in ski lodge... putting back cold boots every morning!
  • Never knowing what we will doing the next day...
  • Alaska... Utah... BC...

And a few quick facts about the trip:
  • Droved 26000 km to chase snow in Utah, BC and Alaska...
  • 79 days of travel :
    • 66 days of skiing of which we considered that only 4 were shitty!
      • 19 where in a resort.
      • 46 in the backcountry.
      • 1 heli-drop.
    • 6 days lost due to long distance driving (Quebec to BC, Valdez to BC, etc)...
    • 5 days off to rest...
  • 75 night sleeping in our car/tent/doghouse/outside and 4 of couchsurfing...
  • Climbed about 140000 vertical feet...
  • Eat about 52 pounds of spaghetti...
The trip was cut two weeks short... but it still was a great winter! We chased some good powder, we discovered steep runs and we dropped great pillow lines...

See you all next winter and thanks for reading us!

Alexis

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Superbe voyage qui fait rever tout ceux qui sont sédentaires malgré eux...

Bravo

Anonymous said...

Thank you for this awesome blog! It's been a real pleasure to follow your powder turns... Shame about the knee.

-"two time ACL victim"-

Anonymous said...

Thanks.. I really enjoyed your trip while trapped in NYC (first and only season without skiing).

Also got a knee injury while living in Verbier.. its hard but you almost got it all.

Anonymous said...

Liked the highlights and stats from the trip. Bummer it had to end.