Hayles Trails Blog
In my last blog, I wrote about the various legends I’ve met around Squaw Valley. I wrote about all sorts of interesting, and rad skiers and boarders I’ve met.
Well there was someone I failed to mention, because I didn’t know he existed, and as it turns out- he’s not a skier or a boarder. To think I had to travel to Alaska to meet one more Squaw ‘Legend’.
It’s every day life in Squaw Valley - ‘Hollywood for Skiers and Boarders’
Squallywood - The term first came from the cult guide book to Squaw Valley’s most exposed lines, written by pro skier Rob Gaffney in 2003. Quite possibly one of the greatest literary efforts ever produced in the ski world! It was accompanied by the raddest ski movie ever created- GNAR the movie, and incorporated Shane McConkey’s epic game of G.N.A.R. where points could be gained by undertaking daring activities on and off the slope.
All work and no play makes Jack (or Jill) a dull boy (/girl) (as the saying goes).
In the course of my day-to-day technology career as a business development professional, I meet a lot of great people all the time. It never ceases to amaze me how many of them seem to have noticed my heli ski lifestyle business from my Linked In profile. (I sometimes wonder how we survived in business before LinkedIn existed).
Every ski town has them, I have been one, and in fact many of my readers probably have. The ski bum or I prefer to use the term ‘Soul Skier’. It’s the guys or girls who live to ski, who do everything in their power to be able to ski most days of the season, and do so (in some cases) year after year. They maybe pro, maybe not. They may have given up a real career or relocated just to pursue their passion. Either way, they are pretty much the biggest rippers and chargers on the mountain, adding to the mountain scenery in spectacular ways with their finesse, athleticism, and energy.
Whilst skiing around my recently adopted local mountain Squaw Valley, California this season with a group of local Soul Skiers, I was thinking that there’s no other sport that quite attracts the level of commitment that skiing (I speak equally about boarding) does.
The term ‘Dawn Patrol’ originally referred to surfer’s getting up extremely early - sometimes before sunrise (i.e, "dawn") to go surfing, a time when the waves are their purest, unaffected by wind, and when according to surfers, it feels most spiritual to surf. Surfing and skiing of course share many parallels (and enthusiasts). But for me, it was the the application of the concept to an early morning in the mountains that made for an extra special experience one February morning last winter. Reminiscent of a heli ski day, as close as I’m ever likely to experience in a resort.
Squaw Valley, in Northern Californian hosted the 1968 Olympics and is also famously known for being home to some of the best pro skiers on the planet- (Shane McKonkey, Kent Kreitler and other ‘soul’ skiers’ but more on that in another post).
Squaw followed suit of some other famous North American resorts and launched a Dawn Patrol programme. A select small group of skiers and boarders can ride the lifts 1 or 2 hours early, allowing them to ski the mountain in it’s most pristine state- either freshly groomed groomers, or powder laden off piste slopes first.
