Okay, maybe not actually NEAR death, but sure made me think about what might have been if the sun had been out and I'd really been charging it! We spent last weekend (March 1-3) at Pico in what started out as awesome conditions. Light snow the entire time, keeping things fresh, and temps in the very comfy upper 20s-low 30s. It was cloudy/partly cloudy, but the light was actually pretty good, not too flat.
We woke up Sunday to even more snow, and the crowds weren't too bad. But by mid-morning, conditions were changing and the thick fog/cloud bank moved down the mountain. We made a trip up top and headed down that semi-black, Upper Pike, and rode it all the way down. The visibility wasn't good, but it wasn't impossible. We said screw it, let's just go up the Golden Express Quad and do the lower half, and head to the Outpost where there are some fun black trails.
At the top of Golden Express, it was a total white-out. Could hardly see the tip of my board. I seem to be having some control issues, the board just isn't handling right. I get to the lift at Outpost, which is still a good distance up the mounting, and when I reach back to step out of my binding, the highback just falls backward on it's own. The control cable had totally snapped off! Now I could not only NOT see where I was going, I had to make it down the rest of the way with virtually no front binding. I walked back out because the only other choice was through the glades, which I wasn't going to do in this fog with no front binding. I worked my way down cautiously...and then remembered that Flow had sent me TWO cable systems a few years ago when I had an issue at Tahoe. We left, and I took the new cables to Cutting Edge, who replaced both of them for just $15, and I was back out riding on Wednesday.
I know there is a lot of controversy about Flows, but I love these. They were their stiffest bindings at the time, which I like. I hear the new models are a lot more solid, with better construction -- but also a lot more expensive. I'm not ready to ditch these, although I guess I did get almost five good seasons out them. But damn...that was scary. Maybe I'll check out some of those new models after all. They look pretty sick.
We woke up Sunday to even more snow, and the crowds weren't too bad. But by mid-morning, conditions were changing and the thick fog/cloud bank moved down the mountain. We made a trip up top and headed down that semi-black, Upper Pike, and rode it all the way down. The visibility wasn't good, but it wasn't impossible. We said screw it, let's just go up the Golden Express Quad and do the lower half, and head to the Outpost where there are some fun black trails.
At the top of Golden Express, it was a total white-out. Could hardly see the tip of my board. I seem to be having some control issues, the board just isn't handling right. I get to the lift at Outpost, which is still a good distance up the mounting, and when I reach back to step out of my binding, the highback just falls backward on it's own. The control cable had totally snapped off! Now I could not only NOT see where I was going, I had to make it down the rest of the way with virtually no front binding. I walked back out because the only other choice was through the glades, which I wasn't going to do in this fog with no front binding. I worked my way down cautiously...and then remembered that Flow had sent me TWO cable systems a few years ago when I had an issue at Tahoe. We left, and I took the new cables to Cutting Edge, who replaced both of them for just $15, and I was back out riding on Wednesday.
I know there is a lot of controversy about Flows, but I love these. They were their stiffest bindings at the time, which I like. I hear the new models are a lot more solid, with better construction -- but also a lot more expensive. I'm not ready to ditch these, although I guess I did get almost five good seasons out them. But damn...that was scary. Maybe I'll check out some of those new models after all. They look pretty sick.