Bridger Skiing II

I've been spending my weekends skiing at least one day of the weekend. And normally I manage to get one resort day and one backcountry day. Last weekend was a huge exception.
Tom and I made our way into the northern Bridger Range again. We ended up going out on Saturday which turned out to be a bluebird day! While we were skinning up, we noticed a little chute pretty far north of where we were. It was directly across this amazing little valley across the ridge from where we were. Tom and I took some pictures of it, skied some other runs for the day, but couldn't get this thing out of our head! For those of you who have never skied with me, I'm a nut about skiing chutes. They've got to be the most aesthetic lines to ski. They look amazing, present great challenges and they can be all shapes and sizes.
Just last year, I had just started skiing again. This was after 12 years of snowboarding. As it turns out, I picked up skiing pretty well. My first two months of skiing had passed by and I was sitting on top of the Big Couloir at Big Sky Montana with Ryan. I don't have any pictures of this thing, but it's about 50 degrees steep and dog legs about halfway down. This thing is nothing short of amazing. I never thought I'd be good enough to ski something like this, but there I was. Ryan said he had never seen me with that big of a smile before. I would have to agree. We skied the line, and at the bottom I made it my goal to search out these amazing features.
Now, back to the Bridgers...
Later Saturday night, Tom came upstairs, pounded on my door and told me we were going to ski this thing on Sunday. Well, let's face it, I can be talked into anything that sweet pretty quick. So I agreed and we made our way up the next morning.
This thing was unreal! Avalanche danger was moderate (which was pretty low considering the recent snows and wind), so we made our way up the spine to the ridge proper where we would start hiking north. It felt like where we were looking kept getting farther away. This thing was taking forever to actually get to. Along the ridge, we also saw a few more lines we need to get back to, but I'll save that for another day. Once we actually made it to the top of what we learned is called the Pipeline, we dug a pit and checked out the snow conditions. The top layer was a little weak, but a pretty small windblown slab. Farther down, there was an even weaker layer, but it was surprisingly solid. I know this is an oxymoron, but that's how it goes. Knowing that we weren't going to be backing away from this thing, we decided to go for it, and I had to call the first pitch...
We stood on top making plans of how to drop in and where to separate the pitches. Looking down a steep tight line was making me so giddy I just couldn't wait any longer... so I dropped in. The initial line is about a ski length wide. So there I am just hopping down this initial 30 feet or so until I get to a tree, make a turn and oh man does it feel good! I'm looking down at another tight area, so I only get about three turns in before I'm at another tight section. I sidestep a little bit down this icy section and make a jump turn right around a boulder where I would wait for Tom.
I look up and give him a wave so he knows he can drop in. He makes his way down basically the same as I do and we meet up by this boulder. Now we're looking at the wider (still not too wide) section of the run and it's looking good. Good snow, good turns, and a few rocks to watch out for. I give him a nod and I'm off again. My first turn was a little fumbled (don't worry Tom caught it on camera) but as I got used to the variable snow, the turns were amazing. My legs were starting to burn at the bottom and I was saddened and happy that the run was over. I was beat sitting at the bottom and we still had a long ways to get back to the car. I waited at the bottom and watched Tom tear the thing up! It was even good to watch someone else ski it! I'm pretty sure it doesn't get better than that. Anytime you can get stoked watching someone else do something, you know you're in heaven.
We make it down, throw the skins on to get out of the basin, and ski back down to the cars. I know what you're thinking right now... "only one run? You did all that for one run?!" Yeah. We did all that hiking and skinning for one run. To say the least, this thing was worth it!
After getting back, we grab a beer and some food to celebrate the descent. Truly one of the high points of my skiing career. Another one of these days we'll make it back to ski a few of the other lines we spotted... I hope.
Well, I'm all caught up on the posts. So now I'm going to be keeping up with my future endeavors, so check back when you get a chance.