Ever Wonder What It Would Feel Like to Ski the Clouds You See From a Plane?
One of my favorite things about flying is when the airplane climbs through the clouds to the blue skies. Just before you reach the cruising altitude, you pass through large puffy cumulus clouds that look like pieces of floating cotton. My ski mind instantly converts those clouds into large pillows of powder.
Jumping Into a Cloud
Many times I ask the person sitting next to me, "What do you think it would feel like if you could jump into one of those big puffy clouds?". I have to clarify that they would not fall 30,000 thousand feet to their death. Their responses are awesome. They usually start to smile and then begin to share a childlike description of the clouds and the experience. I ask them if they've ever been skiing. The major response is no. Then I explain what it feels like to ski powder. I relate skiing powder to their cloud jumping description and to the large puffy cumulus clouds just outside the window of the plane. Their smiles get wide. I can see them experience powder for the first time, even if it's just through words.
Skiing In Clouds
Skiing powder is like skiing through clouds. On a powder day, you ride up a ski lift or hike up a mountain to a top of a ridge. You look down on the snow and it looks like white clouds are covering the entire surface. Everything is covered in white beauty.
Then you drop in. The snow is soft under your ski boot. You start to feel weightlessness as you ski through the powder. On deep powder days, the snow hits your face (a ski face shot). Your turns become effortless even though your muscles are firing on all cylinders. You feel like a airplane gliding through the big puffy cumulus clouds. Powder skiing is one of life's greatest gifts and experiences.
Real Life Skiing In Clouds
Last Saturday we had a sleeper storm. It was only suppose to snow 5 inches over night. It snowed 20. Then it snowed another 15 inches during the day. So 35 inches of the lightest and deepest snow on the planet. This set the stage for amazing powder skiing. I had my GoPro with me and captured the real life cloud skiing experience. What a day!
You can click the video below or watch it on YouTube here.
