Stevens Pass, WA. Photo: Elam

See also: ChairX goes Hi-Fi

Chair 13

Expectation: The act or state of expecting: ANTICIPATION

Veruca Salt wanted an Oompa Loompa now, daddy! She wanted a golden goose now, daddy! She didn t want to wait. She wouldn t settle for anything less.

Spoiled: To pamper excessively, to coddle

Last year, I went to Alta. I arrived on Sunday. Early Wednesday morning, mother nature released the mother load. Four inches an hour for nine hours. Thursday, the resort was closed. Friday was a blue bird singing sweetly to the tune of thirty-six inches of fresh Wasatch fluff. Spoiled?

Disenchanted: To free from illusion

Really, I am to blame for living the illusion. I went back to Alta this year expecting the same fat powder session I experienced last year. The snow wasn't there. Sure the first three days were good. Better than most days at my local hill, but nowhere near the high water mark of last year or the year before. When you are lucky enough to descend through 2,000 feet of thirty-six inches of fluff, you get spoiled.

Some locals only ski the fat days because they can. They have that luxury. I ski in the rain. I ski once or twice a week. Some days it s good. Usually the hill is skied out and hard. Poor me, whatever. I m still skiing. The views, when you can see, are amazing. And when it's sunny and clear here in the Northwest, there s no place quite like it. Poor me. I m skiing.

Content: To limit oneself in requirements

I was bummed that Alta didn't get a huge fluff producing storm, and I even whined a bit to my buddy. He understood my pain, however surface it may have been. I went to Utah on vacation. I skied some of the most challenging terrain around, and I had fun. Sure the snow wasn't heroic, but I was skiing. Obviously, the conditions can t be perfect all the time, but to be out there doing what you love to do, in any conditions, is the goal. No matter what. I want the deep pow. I might even need it on some level, but what I really need is to ski, to be out in the mountains dropping knees.

Chair 13 No 5:

Down the fall line

through trees and tight spots

we take leaps of faith

have an intimate look at gravity

snow and vertical

we ride on

RE - EVOLVE

The power of the snow is that it personifies a power that is in your nature. When you find that level, then you are in play. Birth to death. Going in my pants then I'm going in the toilet then I'm going in my pants. Everything moves in circles.

Skinny boards are making a comeback and my new ride's dimensions are 78-55-82.

Leather to plastic, all fours to upright, two planks to one board, locked down to freeheel.

From the walk up to the drive thru, long, skinny boards to 120mm tips and 110mm tails, from car to bike. We are improving.

We carve our lines all over the world. We lay them down, make our impression in the snow and create an essence. We descend into a moment in time, and if no one is there to see it or ski it, it's gone.

Burned into the memory of the rider(s), these lines help us to move forward. In search of the same, we travel new paths, engage in what we believe.

Interrelated phenomena- Can you relate?

Everything can't change and everything can't stay the same. If you want to evolve within, make a choice and embrace your decision.

EVOLVE?

A process doesn't have to be but it is. I want a place to hang my hat. Choosing one can be difficult. I am also a member.

The "for" group, the "against" group, the "anti-against group", your own group. Change the rules. Who keeps track anyway? I try to evolve and keep my faith constant. I adapt to what the hill throws at me and use what I want, plastic and enough ski surface to float a car on the lightest day.

I go willingly into the light or the darkness. The whole world is a progression of interrelated phenomena.

- Pat

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