Unexpected Adventures

I've come to the conclusion that in a sticky situation, i remain rather calm. Perhaps i simply refuse to admit to myself that im in danger, perhaps deep down im strongly optimistic and believe that i will always be able to get myself out of trouble, no matter where i am and what is happening. This conclusion was made after today's adventure.

There's a special kind of insanity that goes off the main trail on the first day of a ski trip in a foreign country. But there i was, taking a short cut and trying to find a path through trees before finding myself in a gully, with no other ski tracks in sight. Something told me to go back and climb up while i could still see the trail i should've been on... But another something told me that i hadn't crossed any fences or 'no not cross' signs, and that was pretty nice untouched powder snow ahead. So down i went further into the gully. Following along next to the creek practising my powder turns, i came up to what i thought was a few huts and perhaps a track that would lead me out, but i soon realised that the huts were actually a dam that i was standing directly on top of, with a sharp drop on the other side. One option was to undo the skis, turn around and climb up the slope to where i came from. Estimated time was about 1hr. The second option was to ski over the dam drop and keep going, trying to ski down and across till i got out. Estimated time was 10 minutes.

It's the same crazy 'digging upwards' logic that seems to get many people in trouble, but the choice was simple in my head at the time. So over i went, here's a photo from the bottom:

Survived. Landed it quite well actually, although it took a bit of effort to get out of the hole i ended up in. Kept skiing along till i got to the next dam, which was twice the size, and intelligently decided not to over it. Instead i side stepped up the slope and went around, which took what seemed like forever, as the snow was rather deep and every step i took up the slope i seemed to slide down twice as far. Plus i kept sinking in the soft snow. It was a real work out on the legs and lower back, especially trying to lift the skis up out of the powder all the time. Some deep breaths, a few 'come on's and a strong will to get the hell out of the there and 10 minutes of solid work and i was able to get around. Skiied a little further down through some tight trees, which required some very technical turns with the occasional tangle in some loose branches, and eventually found a track that led me out and back to a main trail and some chairlifts. Took me a solid 45 minutes and a lot of energy but i got outta there.

I don't think there was ever a moment where i thought 'my life is in danger' or 'im never getting out of here' but looking back, it was certainly in the area of 'dumb moves' and could have easily gone very wrong. A rookie error early in deciding to head into the gully when i was slightly off the track, led to me having to pull out some very pro-style getting out of trouble alone. When it comes to all the ski trips I've been on in my ski 'career' this ranks in the top 3 'pro style getting out of trouble after making a rookie error and getting myself into a dumb place' experiences.

I still hold to the fact that i never passed a 'no entry' sign or fence... the short cut i was on appeared to have other ski tracks (that quickly deserted me), and the whole gully was deceptively deeper than i thought. I didn't know what i was getting into till it was a bit too late. A big lesson learnt on day one... Don't ski down an unmarked trail unless you know exactly where it's going to end up.