Due to the lack of any real, good skiing to do, Will and I went up to ski into the Heart of Darkness. I'd wanted to ski this ever since I first heard about it - the aesthetics of skiing a narrow line between 80 foot rock walls just always sounded like fun.
On the approach - heart of darkness improbably cuts through the big cliffs at left.
Me about to ski down into (and hopefully through) the heart of darkness. Note how close the tips and tails of my skis are to the walls.
Looking down the chute (without me standing in the way). It looks much wider than it actually is. At this point, Will has realized that his skis are 7 cm longer than mine, and having already cursed the extra length is busy snapping photos in an effort to stall for time.
Me "skiing". At this point, I was through the choke and the chute had widened to and then beyond a spacious 3 meters. The choke was more like 2.5 meters. Turning there was quite sporting - your only chance was to try to jump and turn a complete 180 degrees (otherwise you'd get to know the walls a little too intimately). The picture clearly shows that I've read the steep skiing tips from the Chuting Gallery, as I've successfully managed to get all 4 limbs moving in different directions.
Looking back up:
All photos shot by Will Morris.
The top part is a bit foreshortened in the picture, but the corner is about 100' long of #4 to #6 Camelots. I blew my lead attempt on it last fall, but then figured out how to cruise the route via foot cams, hip/shoulder scums, and hand stacks on top rope. The correct technique definitely lowered the difficulty from 5.11 to 5.10, which is significant for me in the desert (5.11 there is hard).
Me about to ski down into (and hopefully through) the heart of darkness. Note how close the tips and tails of my skis are to the walls.
Looking down the chute (without me standing in the way). It looks much wider than it actually is. At this point, Will has realized that his skis are 7 cm longer than mine, and having already cursed the extra length is busy snapping photos in an effort to stall for time.
Me "skiing". At this point, I was through the choke and the chute had widened to and then beyond a spacious 3 meters. The choke was more like 2.5 meters. Turning there was quite sporting - your only chance was to try to jump and turn a complete 180 degrees (otherwise you'd get to know the walls a little too intimately). The picture clearly shows that I've read the steep skiing tips from the Chuting Gallery, as I've successfully managed to get all 4 limbs moving in different directions.
Looking back up:
All photos shot by Will Morris.
