The winter of '00-'01 brought an ubandance of snowcover to my favorite winter destination. We had our normal group of riders lined up for this trip, minus my dad. I was pretty disappointed about him not coming along; he had a scheduling confilict at work.
Ardie, the Mikes, Ben, Sam, Zac, Nic, Andrew, Anthony, Fran, Mom, and myself comprised the group this year.
Here, we've got Ben giving his Dad the ride of his life.
Like I mentioned, the snow was much deeper than it had been in several years. Last year, there was sufficient snow to get aound and have an enjoyable trip. But this time, we had lots of powder to explore off-trail. Beaver ponds, sloughs, anyplace with tall weeds had especially deep and powdery snow to play in. Anthony practices his deep powder skills with his borrowed ZR. He wasn't able to hold the edge everytime - this time he did.
If this trip had a theme, "North Country Wrestlemania" just might be appropriate. Here is one of several spontaneous wrestling matches that erupted. This one incolves Nic and Mike R. ganging up on Andrew as Zac prepares to defend the Big Dog. Oh Nic, if only you knew what was coming...
At some point, Nic had to take a breather. Once he turned his attention from Andrew, Antony gave a war cry, picked up a full head of steam, and laid into Nic's midsection with a perfect textbook tackle any linebacker would be proud of. Nic never saw it coming! Zac looks on as Ben rushes over to finish what's left of Nic.
Much of our riding took place off-trail. This shot was taken on a little fever creek that flows into Big Johnson Lake. We followed it back to one of many deep snow play areas.
As Anthony demonstrates, when Nic is speeding up on your "6," it's best to let the speed jockey fly by!
Zac didn't want to miss out on any of the fun, so he joins the fray as Anthony lays on another blow.
With Andrew still recovering from his bout with Mike, Nic attempted to pick himself up from the frozen tundra of Lake Kabetogema. Right on cue, Zac dropped to his hands and knees behind him and Anthony gave him a quick shove that sent Nic toppling over Zac and back to the ice!
This sequence wasn't the first - nor was it the last - of the frendly matches. Me? No, I wasn't going to get involved. Somebody had to run the camera!
I'll continue to give Anthony the spotlight here. Just at the edge of the lake was one of those deep snow areas with just enough of a lip to provide some arial action. Anthony is one of the braver souls who is willing to try few tricks for the camera. He didn't hold on everytime, but he gave us these nice shots.
Here's one of his near successful heel clickers. Just a little more flexibility (or is it those bulky snowpants?) and he'll have it!
He's awfully close to the ground on this superman attempt. Thankfully, he landed it and prevented himself from singing soprano the following Sunday in choir!
Did I mention beaver houses make terrific launch pads?
A little more powder action to close the "All Anthony" segment.
Next, I'm going to turn our attention to Andrew. I really hate to do this to him (not really), but he provided us with several comical moves this trip. Unfortunately, I didn't get all of them on tape. Here is one of his successful maneuvers.
These next two shots are actually a sequence. This first picture almost looks good. He sscissors both legs out the side. Unfortunately, the ground came up too quickly. He landed with both feet on the same side of the sled, rear planted firmly in the seat. And then,...
...over the side he went.
This photos is the ultimate in comedy. I was actually filming Nic and panned the camera as Andrw was just taking off on his sled. He tried grabbed the mountain bar and leaned the sled to his right. He began curving perfectly with his left ski off the snow until the right ski caught a bit of ice in the shallow snow. The sled whipped back onto both skis catapulting Andrew as you see here. He was dazed, but unhurt. It didn't help any that we couldn't stop laughing enough to help him up!
