Karl's and my quest for The Truth commenced at 9:10am, as we hit the road from Denver for spring skiing at Loveland Basin.
The Question: Will The Truth be revealed at 12,700 feet? Perhaps. From that vantage point, there's that deep blue, cloudless sky; the killer view, featuring at least a half-dozen fourteeners; the helicopter, flying several hundred feet BELOW ski level; and your intrepid skiers, zipping along the actual Continental Divide in search of more freshies and another unique line.
The Truth lies in making fresh tracks above timberline, where almost nobody else skis.
The Truth is finishing the run and looking back to admire your handiwork, like a sculptor admiring his creation.
The Truth is doing the same from the lodge about a mile below.
The Truth is finding that really good pitch off the Ridge where your arm brushes the slope as you turn.
The Truth is squeezing through a narrow gully between a snow drift imitating half of a half-pipe (a quarter-pipe?) and a giant rock outcrop (first tracks again).
The Truth is no lift lines.
The Truth is riding the lift at the end of the day and spotting at least six different sets of your own tracks.
The Truth is only a couple inches of new--a little more where the wind blew it in.
The Truth is that that was enough to get some floaty floaty and resemble, in its own small way, the pleasures of the flesh.
The Truth is in the hike up the Ridge at nearly 13,000 feet, again and again.
The Truth is doing it all on a weekday when you could have been working instead.
The Absolute Truth is free lift tickets.