ABOUT SIX HOURS into the day, the heat set in as we neared the top of our line. Hiking through knee-deep corn and sugar snow, I followed Zak to the shoulder of the bending couloir. The soft corn was just asking to be slashed and the granite walls pro-vided natural curves to follow. After earning your turns the downhill rarely seems to last long enough, but this line felt longer than expected. Dipping around rock features, bending in and out of the sun and shadow line, we were able to milk every last drop of it. We rode leapfrogging two-thirds of the way down. Ming would post up somewhere with a photo in mind, I would take the lead drawing lines aiming at waves to slash and rocks to ollie, then Zak would hop ahead for the next pitch, doing the same. On the bottom portion of the line, we got into group party shred mode, drawing figure eights in the snow, hooting and hollering all the way to a stop on the bench. With a quick walk to gain a lower ridgeline, we were soon back on our boards with tiny e-bikes in view towards the valley floor. These lower elevations where we had crossed the frozen sun cups earlier in the day were now full of deep slush cups. Hop-ping and bouncing through them felt like a reverse mogul run in all the best ways. There was no proper way to ride, just freedom to bounce and laugh and slash. Soon thereafter, we dipped and turned and rallied down the dirt road on our bikes. It felt similar to the couloir, the simple joy of the downhill pursuit. This late in the season, the full experience of the day creates the high value. It might not be the best snow you have ridden all year, or the most radical line, but the long, full day leaves you with a feel-ing unique unto itself. After a long winter spent in cold mountain environments, it can be enticing to just bail on spring riding and decompress. However, I find spending these days in the High Sierra tapping into the mountain energy and feeding that stoke of shred-ding is the best decompression there is. We still have vivid memories of winter and cold smoke turns yet feel the warm sun beating down. We get to take our boots off and step into flip flops and relish the longer days, the blooming flowers and promise of summer around the corner, with winter still somehow holding on. “Seeing at peak stacked wi so mu snow was in edible. That’s a zone I’ll go to in drought yes d e diff ce in cov age was just stagging; e’s usually a huge cliff in e line we got to ride.” -Zak Mills TOP TO BOTTOM “On this day, Zak Mills brought a fanny pack which he has figured out how to use to carry his board going up and hold his poles for the way down. It looked so light and free, something I’ve never seen or experienced. As usual, he appeared to be having the most fun.” Photo: Ming Poon Zak Mills and Elena Hight enjoying the descent in full, even after the snow runs out. Photo: Ming Poon SIERRA NEVADA 065
The Snowboarder's Journal The Snowboarder's Journal 21.3: Page 65
