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Backcountry Skiing Road Trip Part 1 | Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, OR United States | 02/09/10, by powderjunky

The rain spatters on the windshield in a hypnotic rhythm as we finally head east from Bend, Oregon. The pulse of the patter coupled with the closing darkness of nightfall sends my mind a drift into a comatose state of powder turns that will hopefully follow in the upcoming months. I drift back to a younger age where epic meant my G.I. Joes battling my Transformers, prank calling was untraceable and  buying a beater of a van and following the snow was just a distant pipe dream.  But somehow, by some grace of God, that pipe dream has so suddenly erupted into a reality I cannot wait to embrace.  The distractions, responsibilities and deadlines all leading up to this trip disappear as the road opens up before us and untracked opportunities emerge.



The morning sun warms are mobile yet surprisingly accommodating home. The dog sinisterly pounces on my who-ha's to signal he is reading for the day to begin.  He has a master's degree in competitive peeing, bed hogging and testicle smashing.  I systematically lean over and click on the propane heater.  I fall back into semi- unconsciousness, maybe from the propane, until I can no longer see my breath.

The first mountain pass yields a base of 6 inches of ice and a hill 500 feet tall. Not gourmet by any means, but dammit, the sun has yet to melt the fledging base so we skin up and have our first turns of the trip on Blue Mountain Summit. Probably a first descent, if you don't count the neighborhood kids on their lunch trays and trash can lids. We ski it with style that would make a gay ballerina proud.

The dream continues as we roll through Utah, Colorado and New Mexico.  The nights are cozy, the morning's slow, showers non-existent and the skiing is endless.  After over a month goes by, It's hard to imagine why I have waited so long to do this, rent is cheap and slope side. The rhythm of growing accustom to a new life style mimics our ventures into the backcountry, some epic days, some not so, but  no where else we'd rather be. As we press forward we head north searching for more powder, fun, and possibly a miniature bronze statue of Chuck Norris for a hood ornament.