At Squaw today. Powder chasing as usual. A late season Major Sierra storm was forecast. It stayed pretty high, but at 8200 feet, top of the funitel lift, it was full on winter. Powder, well it’s May 16, a little leniency please. There was fog and sudden explosive wind gusts. People were blown over trying to get into their bindings. I was one of them. Each gust came with a tornado of blowing snow, changing 50 foot visibility into zero. It was my first day back on tele bindings. A better choice could have been made. I’d just make parallel turns. Starting down another gust and whiteout came up and I decided to just turn across the slope, stop, and wait it out. But it didn’t slow or stop me, accelerating instead. I couldn’t judge the fall line. That’s what happens just before full on vertigo. It was unnerving. After a wrestling match between the rational brain and instinct, ration was told to shut up and yield control to instinct. It worked pretty well, no damage done. I called it a day after one run. I’m a visibility snob. I like to see what I’m skiing.
Agree with you about the vertigo. My nemesis was always 0/0 fog at Austria's Hintertuxx. All above tree line.
The worst I can ever remember was one day in 0/0 when I thought I was skiing back to the base, but was passed by another group, and I learned I wasn't even moving.
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