Ghost Riding the Sled Whip: The Girls go up the Rutherford

Amy McDermid, beginner snowmobiler! Photo by Nadia Samer.

On Wednesday evening I got the call asking if I wanted to go sled skiing up the Rutherford Thursday. I said "heck yes!" and we got rolling somewhat early in the morning on Thursday.

Dan Treadway using his superior driving skills to turn his truck around on the access road. The trees were okay. Amy McDermid photo.

We were a crew of 4 chicks. Kasie Stroshin, Nadia Samer, and Jen Ashton were all more than happy to share their snowmobile experience with a newbie like me. They told me things like what to bring, such as extra gloves, extra goggle lenses, snow boots to sled in until you absolutely must put on ski boots, etc. We got going and I was very, very slow. Jen made me feel better by telling me that she was just the same when she started sledding. I appreciated the girls' patience with me cause looking back on the morning compared to the ride back down, I was running the sled on tortoise speed.

The chicks: Nadia, Jen, and Kasie on the way up the Rutherford. Amy McDermid photo.

Jen's very effective way of cooling down a sled. Okay, not effective at all. Nad's sled = not happy. Amy McDermid photo.

Jen was right when she mentioned that someone told her "sledding is like driving a refrigerator." It's a big, awkward machine, and apparently you need arm muscles and muscles in general to operate one effectively. I drove it like a refrigerator up the access road using all the wrong muscles and was feeling the burn by the time we arrived.

Once we got up to the cabin we ditched my sled and I tandemmed up with Jen or Nadia until we found a spot  to have lunch. The girls practiced some carving and donuts and we ate some home-baked cookies that Jen brought along. This is one of the upsides to touring or sledding with the girls, you get fresh home-baked cookies and you can talk about boys all day. Yeah that's right boys, we talked about you.

Ahem, can you tell it was a girls trip?  Amy McDermid photo.

Thumbs up all around. Amy McDermid photo.

No Kasie, that's not how you ride a sled. Amy McDermid photo.

Aside from running into some friends on the access road, we felt like we had the place to ourselves all day. We went to an untouched spot to shred some easy pow lines. We were selective about the aspects we chose to ski because some faces were very sun-affected, but the Northern aspects all had about 6 inches of fluffy, unconsolidated fast powder.

I think the girls were all so keen to bring me along because it was a pretty mellow sledding day. They were all hurting units in one way or another, Nadia with a broken back (not that you could tell), Kasie with a freshly de-plateandscrewified kankle, and Jen with some bruised Ribs. The clouds were in and out, mostly in, so we didn't get much in the way of action shots, but it was still a good time.

Jen skiing some mellow powder. Amy McDermid photo.

Nadia ghost rode the whip, then she skied down to it. Amy McDermid photo.

At one point Jen and I tandemmed up to the top of the run, but I lost grip with my ski boots and went flying off the sled and landed flat on my back on the snow. Fortunately for me, Nadia caught it on film. Because of the fall, I also became a hurting unit.

The author learning to tandem, and ultimately failing. Photo by Nadia Samer.

With the clouds rolling in and our bodies all hurting, we decided to call it a day and headed back down to the cabin. I was lucky and got to shred some powder turns back to the cabin while the girls cruised down on their sleds. Somehow a flip switched in me that made me sled a lot faster on the way back down, and even Jen noticed how much faster I was. Thank goodness, otherwise I don't think I'd ever want to sled again.

After the day was done and the sleds were packed up, I decided I'm not desperate to get a sled (yet) and Jen, Kasie, and Nadia are still happy to go ski touring with me anytime. Phew.