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Backcountry Skiing blogs, videos, photos, and a whole lotta stoke.

5.92 Years (over 71 months of skiing every month) | High Sierras, California, CA United States | 11/04/09, by Dark Star

Note from the Editor:� The article below was written in mid-September and got lost in transit... More importantly, I am pleased to announce that as we speak, DarkStar is in transit to ANTARCTICA to join Doug Stoup & crew on the 2009 backcountry skiing cruise.�

Stay tuned for updates on his 72nd� & 73rd months of skiing!� Also, thanks to Patagonia, Marmot, Bridgedale, Black Diamond, Rab & Beyond Coastal for supporting Dark Star on this once in a lifetime adventure!
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So I made a few sacrifices to Ullur, but it's still September. It usually doesn't snow all that much in the Sierra this time of year, and you'd think I would have figured that out by now. I guess it'd be nice to not freak myself out so much and learn a little patience. You know that whole thing, "chill out dude, it'll snow when it snows". That's a much better, healthier way to go about this I think. Still, I find September and especially October I'm waiting for it to snow, thinking about when it's going to snow , and overall just hoping for it to snow as snow as possible. Oops, I meant as soon as possible.

One thing that keeps me in check, I think, is to make sure I ski in at least one day in every month of the year. Come to think of it, maybe that's why I can't ever relax...Anyway, this simple act is something my lady and I have grown fond of ever since November of 2003 when we decided to try and make turns in every month of the year. Well, as powderjunky and his rad lady showed us this summer, you can get great turns in as late as July, maybe even August. Some core boys from Colorado even wrote in about their exploits skiing the whole year. I know that for some hoping hemispheres is an option, and while I have been fortunate to do that, it's really not that easy unless you have mucho dinero.

So after that first year Jillian and I thought, "maybe we should keep doing this". It's funny how over the last few years, depending on how the season went, finding snow late in the year can either be super easy or extremely difficult. I definitely recall a lean year a few seasons back where we squeaked out October turns just in the nick of time by spending money we didn't have to drive all the way to Mt. Hood. But it was worth it.

I find that in the end, do I remember the money stressing that we had going on as paramount, or the fact we got our turns in? The answer is obvious. This September, 2009, was pretty easy. We linked up a great patch of snow off Carson Pass. Sure it was only a few hundred vert, and yeah we did a few laps and wished it would keep going as it actually skied pretty smoothly, but the point is it's September in California, and we just skied month 71 in a row, almost 6 years...and the real point is we just skied a patch of snow and are really jonesin' for winter!

I bet Colorado gets something fresh first, maybe Montana, maybe Wyoming. I really don't care. Wherever it is, however it falls, I hope someone out there let's us know about it, and in the meantime I'll keep sending some vibes out, you keep doing your dances or whatever else your do, and let's all but the energy out there for big, safe and epic season for all...now if it would juts snow.���� �