Justin and I finally got our alpine touring equipment purchased and set to go. For those who don't know (like I didn't know), alpine touring is essentially alpine skis, bindings, and boots. The boots have a switch to give you more flex in the ankle and the bindings are able to lock in the heel or have it release. This allows you ski up the mountain as well as down the mountain. The skiing up part is really more of a slide walk, as I learned yesterday, and you do still exert quite a lot of energy! But with some skins (picture removable carpets) on the bottom of your ski, it's pretty easy to make it up.
Now for me, getting used to new boots and skis was the trick of the day. Anyone who has skied with me knows that I abhor ski boots, they just never fit right. My old skis are literally old- probably '97s! Amazingly the ski boots were great and the skis were just a good. It was so nice to stay on top of the snow with my fat skis instead of sinking down into it like I did on my old skis.
For Justin, he needed to adjust to skiing again after a 12 year hiatus on the snowboard. Last weekend at Kirkwood he did great. You wouldn't have known that he hadn't skied for so long! He basically did everything he would have done on the snowboard. Yesterday he had to transfer those skills to the backcountry snow. With inconsistent snow texture- ice, fluff, packed powder- it can be challenging. But again he did great.
John joined us again, on snowshoes and a snowboard. He was very patient with Justin and I getting used to making up the mountain on skis! And John brought a new toy with him- a helmet cam. He took a few clips before heading up the mountain and then taped the whole descent. With luck you'll see some highlights soon!