Home > Trip Reports > October 29, 2012, Atlanta GA

October 29, 2012, Atlanta GA

10/29/12
5456
10
Posted by highflyingpilot on 10/29/12 11:37am
They say obsession is really just a profound form of love, and accordingly, today I took my love for skiing to a profound new level. With 5 years invested in my TAY streak, i wasn't about to let living in Atlanta for a few months come in the way of skiing and carrying on with the tradition. And so I brainstormed: thought about flying out to Colorado or Washington; thought about water skiing and calling it good; thought about going lawn skiing. A desperate mind will latch onto anything. But I knew I needed the real thing, or as close to it as reasonably possible..

The first thing I did was throw all standards out the window; there would be no 10 linked turns, or 100 vert minimum. If I was going to ski in ATL I was going to take anything I could get, no matter how slim. Finally I had a plan: ice rink shavings and a hill.

And so I found myself calling ice skating rinks and soliciting for zamboni shavings to load into my truck and custom create a ski run beside the driveway. Turns out even ice skating rinks are a rarity in GA but I managed to track one down about an hour North of here that said they dumped their 'snow' outside and wouldn't mind if I loaded up.



Driving up after work, I got to shoveling and about filled the bed of my truck, turned around and headed back to the decidedly unsnowy Atlanta suburbs. My run was already scoped out and so all I had to do was unload the snow in a vague S-turn ribbon pattern and voila! A ski run in the South.





Booting up and putting the skis on felt absolutely ridiculous but this was damn important and I wasn't about to half ass anything. The skiing was...pretty good actually! I could get a little bit of speed, make about one turn and then grind to a stop on the driveway or overshoot into the grass beyond the patch for a slow stop. Even the slimmest of patches, the most marginal of snow and the most ridiculous of circumstances can bring back that old feeling of sliding down snow and feeling the wind blow. Can't wait to be back out West in January!!



Month 61 in the books!

That's earning your turns!...

Pure dedication... Standards who cares... You earned it!!! Makes me feel bad for bailing on my bid because of a busy work schedule!! Well done!

Looks better than most September turns out in the PNW...

... get up to Whitegrass W.Va ASAP!


No herb this time Bob, just passion..

Nice work dude! I am from Atlanta, and know what you went through to get some turns in, is very inspiring! Well done sir

Crazy funny. If anybody ever asks for a proof of your love for skiing heave these pictures should suffice.

As I re-applied a half stick of P-tex to the bottom of my board last night from this past Sunday's ski of 6 inches of snow up in Rocky Mountain National park (which was fantastic as well as destructive) I pondered my passion for skiing.

It's so wonderful to see others as deranged as myself.

Ice rink shavings and skiing?  You win hands down!!


i used to do that to hit handrails when i was a little jib punk back in the day!

Reply to this TR

10312
october-29-2012-atlanta-ga
highflyingpilot
2012-10-29 18:37:26