Sacha
“Snow” White was breathing hard. A nagging bit of phlegm high in her throat was
giving her a comical wheeze with every gasp. She concentrated on keeping her
feet and arms moving, but 40 centimeters of fresh powder was making
trail-breaking a tough job. A 25 degree upward slope meant walking was pretty
much like climbing stairs, without the treads.
Looking back, she was a full body length above her closest client, even
though she was only a few meters in front of him. No matter how she breathed,
the biting cold dried out either her nose or her throat, so keeping enough of
the thin air coming to her lungs was rapidly dehydrating her from the inside
out. The amazing part was that enthusiasts paid thousands of dollars and
traveled half way around the globe to do this.
She was in superb shape, but thirty pounds of camera and avalanche gear on her back was starting to take its toll. Plus, she was carrying three water bottles and a two-way radio in a chest harness. It was all necessary and in the worst case situation, would save their lives. On this calm, sunny day at 4000 meters on Chile’s Mount Acongagua, she wished that she could just dump it right now and turn her board back down the mountain. But she had been well paid to do a job and she never failed to deliver.
ReplyDeleteSnow White was the best “female” guide on the mountain, according to her male work associates. Everyone else knew that she was just the best. As the male guides were all neurotic Europeans or locals with considerable egos, she let the modifier stand. She didn’t really need anyone’s endorsement anyway. At 22, she was one of the youngest guides in the business, but was in constant demand wherever she worked, whether trudging off-piste here in the southern hemisphere winter or dropping out of helicopters in the Canadian Bugaboos during the northern winter.
She was wearing several layers, including wicking fine wool long johns, a superb micro fiber primary layer and a wind proof top layer which could be zippered tight for deep powder riding or vented wide open for hot slugging. In spite of minus 20°C temperatures, she had the vents open to keep her inner layers dry and cool. In a combination of hand signs, broken Japanese and much pointing and showing, she was trying to keep the other four members of the trek in the same condition. Their gear was worth about five times what hers was, which meant that it would overheat them that much quicker as well. If they were stuck up here for any reason, sweat soaked clothing was as dangerous to survival as falling off a cliff. Sweat also meant dehydration, so she was closely monitoring their water use, with two of her bottles ready in back-up.
ReplyDeleteThe rest of the group was also clomping skyward on skin-covered wide-track skis, with all-mountain boots that could hinge for cross-country travel. Attached only at the toe piece, the boots allowed the wearer to walk as if they were wearing snow shoes. Once they reached to top of the summit bowl, they would strip off the rough skins and lock down the heal bindings to return their all terrain equipment to its intended purpose. Their 230+ centimeter long skis, were half again as long and almost double the width of standard hard-pack skis. They would allow the advanced skiers to conquer more than 2500 meters of vertical drop through continuous untracked and bottomless powder.
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