Preface: Up til Friday I’d never met Kyle Miller in person. Originally heard about him by by way of his occasional trip report on splitboard.com and TAY. Noticed he spent a LOT of time in the Crystal Mountain area, which is near and dear to me (well, near is relative right?), and after seeing his epic Olympics TR I knew I wanted to meet up and ride with him at least once this season, plus I figured I owed him a beer for the ‘behindmydeskcantwaittoquitthisfuckingjob’ stoke he provided me and many others. After you’ve read through some of his TRs on his own site and at frequency I think you’ll agree that dude gets after it!
PMs and numbers were exchanged, forecast looked less than stellar, but we both decided what the hell – any day in the mountains is good, and if we happen to get good turns as well than it’s icing on the cake. Plus, my Heavenly riding buddy Kevin had torn his achilles two days prior – made it hard to pass up an opportunity to play in the mountains after having the reminder that the opportunity to play in the mountains can be snatched from you at any moment.
I’ll let the photos do the talking, long TR short the day went from greybird to bluebird, from western to eastern Washington, from ooooooh to OH SHIT! and finished in the bar drinking to new friends and adventures.
We set off in greybird conditions, hoping to find the sun
Dan skinning
Kyle skins toward the light
Sun rays
Kyle scopes a potential line while Dan captures the moment. We sawed off a small piece of cornice here, could have used a Backcountry Bomb!
Mount Ronyay pokes it's head out. At this point I could have used a namesake beer.
Lunchbreak, eyeing the potential lines.
Dan snapping photos of the ridiculous scenery
Lines lines everywhere
Dan assesses the snow conditions
...and deems them satisfactory
Kyle assesses Dan's assessment
...and agrees
Kyle's jacket, always tough to impress, gives the trip one thumb up
Good trip and good turns, appreciate Kyle Miller and Dan Howell letting me tag along and slow them down. This turns were for you Kevin, hope that achilles heals up in time for next season!
