A Day to Remember

John McCarron, a past president of SDPA, was a friend of mine. He died from brain cancer some years ago, long after he had moved to Telluride, Colorado, where he went to pursue his passion of skiing. John was a skier’s skier if you will, as he went down all kinds of terrain on a variety of equipment. He mainly skied, but he also snow boarded and used a mono ski. At one point I believe he had thirty pairs of skies. He skied on trail, off trail, and in the backcountry. He took courses on avalanche safety. He and his wife, Jane Reldan, traveled to Canada to helicopter ski in the wild Bugaboo Mountains.

Years ago my wife Vicki and I went with John to Taos, New Mexico to ski for the day from our “base camp” in Santa Fe. The day was stormy and more than 50 inches of snow had fallen within a short period. An avalanche had immobilized one of the ski lift stanchions, and much of the mountain was closed. John and I outfitted our skies with long, red streamers so that they would be easier to find in the event we lost a ski in the deep Taos powder.

John took me to Al’s Run, but I balked after looking down the fall line of this steep, deeply moguled trail. Eventually, we ended up on a fun trail with snow up to our waists. The snow fell heavily as we hooted our way down the slope again and again. The day had a magical feel to it, and it was impossible to think of anything but the mountain and the snow.  Time after time I watched John sink to his chest in the deep snow, as he carved turns in front of me.

Though I didn’t know I wouldn’t have that many runs left with John, I was aware that this was a rare day considering the storm, deep powder, uncrowded slopes, and great company. At the end of the day we basked in the warm glow that spreads through a skier when the powder’s been good, the skis responsive, and the air crisp. We drank beer in fellowship and talked of mountains, skiing, and far away places. Then we made our way back to Santa Fe in the encroaching darkness.  Once there we ate dinner and skied through the timeless powder of our dreams.