SLALOM BAR: Den evil in Lenzerheide
Part 2
That morning we left early to poach WiFi from a parking lot we had found earlier in the week. The skies were overcast and visibility was shot, but the snow, we were certain, was going to be good. We drove slowly by the Valbella t-bar at nine, our reluctantly scheduled meeting time with our fire-loving freak show of a guide, not sure what we would do if we were to see him. We didn’t, and assumed he was too hung over.
We dressed quickly, and headed for the Rothorn gondola, only to find the Tram to the top closed. Moments later, a helicopter landed, unloaded several jugs of liquid and was quickly loaded up with two patrollers carrying several boxes of charges. This despite the fact that the ridge is equipped with a Gaz-X system. Avalanche danger had peaked, and the mountain was obviously a little nervous.
We spent the morning picking through the lower mountain, find good snow in the lower elevations and watching for upper lifts to open. Then around mid-morning he appeared, a crazed looking Swiss man wearing a silver helmet, metal sunglasses, and an avalanche inflator backpack. And so began our day with Theo.
He spoke loudly in German in mixed crowds, pointing to us often and animatedly. We had no idea what he was saying. He swung his right pole wildly and sporadically during turns, but skied in control. He was anxious not only to show us his mountain, but to display his guiding skills, talking us around rollovers and potential trigger zones. He is a cowboy (“I have 20 horses in my stable.”), a hunter (“this is all my hunting land.”), and most certainly, eager to be our friend (I am Mujahideen. I hunt Taliban).
He was entertainment for most of the afternoon, leading us into Lenzerheide’s tight, craggy lines, many of them the same ones we had found on our own two days earlier. Eager to show us the “freeriding” potential, he guided us into tight trees with potentially knee-blowing, barely covered undergrowth. We humored his Swiss regimentation for most of the day, following his instructions though comfortable with our own assessment of the snow pack and terrain. Then it cracked blue.
At this point we stopped and pulled cameras, picking our way down our final line of the day as Theo sat far below us, yelling for us to hurry because others would come. We worked various zones until the top of a wide couloir we had skied two days ago. As Tom pointed out the snowpack, cautioning about the right wall, which had been baking in the sun for a couple hours now, Theo side-stepped up and asked, “In Colorado, it is the same with the sun and the snow?” We nodded yes, and he finally came to the realization that we are all on the same page. None of us wants an avalanche, and we all know snow.
One at a time, we took the couloir top-to-bottom, about 1500 feet of untouched powder. All but Theo, who felt inclined to find a safe spot in the middle to help usher us down.
“You skied this two days ago?” Theo asked at the bottom. Yes, we answered. “I saw the tracks. That is my house over there.” He motioned with his wild right pole across the valley. “This is my favorite run.”
He then led us back into the trees and to the bus. Our skiing at Lenzerheide now over, we packed the Toureg full of gear, and as the Liberty Skis crew of Tom Winter, David Lesh and Alex Applegare drove off, Tyson Bolduc, Corey Tiblas (Principal of Two Plank Productions) and I loaded the bus carrying only our backpacks. We would rendezvous later that evening in Davos.
