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Midwest Backcountry
February 2007
Lac La Belle , MI
posted by fonixmunkee
Coming off my first 5-day ski trip since Utah back in January, I'm feeling old. We skied Welch Village in Minnesota, where we demoed some of next year's equipment. We then shot all the way over to Michigan's Upper Penninsula to take in the I-Can't-Believe-It's-The-Midwest resort of Mount Bohemia. And now, I'm sore and in pain...but it's a good pain.
Welch Village in Nowhere, Minnesota, is underwhelming, but when you get to ski next year's skis and boots, it becomes a whole different experience. Combine that with a few Gin-fueled nights and you've got the making of a great ski trip. All of next year's skis are going to be great, but there's no revolutions in technologies since last year. But graphics have changed and skis have gotten wider, and everyone seems to want to get that one-ski quiver thing down. But nobody has yet. And personally, I don't think it will occur.
After spending two days skiing Welch, we traversed Minnesota again and all the way across Wisconsin into Michigan's UP, where we proceeded almost all the way up to the tippy top (only 11 miles short of it). The snow conditions were 180 degrees from what we had seen...pile and piles of snow were everywhere. Fresh snow filled the woods. Although sore from two days of hard carving at Welch and too many Coors Lights in between, we arrived at Mount Bohemia and charged hard.
Along the way, for the record, I picked up another pair of skis...the Line Elizabeths. They are so beautiful, and surely will get a post of their on my blog soon.
We were rewarded for our efforts, with 5" of fresh snow from the day before, we found fresh tracks where patrollers said it was tracked up. Freakin' liars. We couldn't believe our eyes or skis...was this really the Midwest? Knee-deep snow and powder shots were everywhere for the taking.
Were we dreaming? There were cliff drops, natural kickers into soft snow, and even HIKING for turns. This was an experience we had only experienced once before this season, and it was on the other side of the Mississippi.
It turns out that, NO, we weren't dreaming. It only took us a check-in to our run-down motel and cheap beer to snap us into the realization that this *was* indeed the Midwest. Sledders outnumbered skiers 1,000 to one. Everywhere you walked, there were people looking at you. Abandoned houses that outnumbered inhabited houses 5:1 even looked at you..."wondering, where's your sledding jacket," or "what's Gore-Tex?"
But all we had to do was drag our hung-over asses out of bed, and hit Bohemia again to find out that there are few things in life worth toiling to reap...and Bohemia's backcountry was one of them. It was day two at Bohemia, and day 4 of skiing overall. My energy was sapped, and I could feel my quads burn and calves ache as I stretched them. My lower back began to hurt, and that's when it happened...
...I hit a tree. Hard, too. With no energy left, I failed to make a critical turn in the backcountry and careened right for a 8" diametered-trunk. Fortunately, I got on edge quick enough and put my arms up to absorb most of the blow (and protect my new skis), but I was still promptly tossed to the ground. My two ski partners asked a few times if I was OK, but I didn't get up...I collected my thoughts, and felt a pulsing in my thigh. Just before they could click out to come and check on me, I yelled that I was OK. I got up, and skied back to the yurts. My morale was low, and I wanted to give up on skiing. I was skiing like a gaper and my esteem was low. My two partners headed back out, and I sat and sulked. I quickly then came to the realization that skiing bad inbounds is better than not skiing at all, so I willed myself to go make some turns on the frontside for the rest of the day. Still feeling defeated, but glad I decided to end the day turning, I cured my sore body and gash on my thigh with a few delicious imports at The Michigan House Cafe in Calumet, MI and an early bed time.
Day three at Bohemia (and day 5 overall) was met with much skepticism as even my relaxed activities the night before didn't help my back, legs, or morale. But I didn't have a choice to sit around, as my two partners forced me into the backcountry yet again. To top it off, we even started ducking ropes. I skied like a newbie for about three laps in the backcountry---which amazingly took nearly 2 hours to do--until I sort of got my legs under me. We returned to the yurts for lunch and fearing for my safety, I wanted to give up on skiing again. Yet again, however, I was convinced that poor skiing on the front side is the better than not skiing again, and one of the two individuals with me agreed. We played around in the natural moguls on the front side until we met up with the other person in our group who wisely found a partner to ride with in the backcountry.
We then proceeded to some cliff bands where I took pictures of everyone dropping some cliffs, and then finished out the day with some of the best turns of the week in the backcountry. We dropped cliffs, launched over stumps and logs, and hurled ourselves down chutes too steep and snowy to really be in the Midwest. But they were, and it was awesome.
I'm back at work today after a day of relaxing. My legs grew back stronger than before and no longer hurt, but the gash on my thigh and my back still pain me. It's pretty funny to watch me tie my shoe or stand up. It looks like I'm 80. But when people laugh, I laugh too...I laugh because I know that one of my favorite trips this year wasn't to some tropical location or resort...it wasn't out West where I stayed in a luxury condo. It was right here in the Midwest. So g'head and laugh at my crippledness, but just know that the pain was well worth it.
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