Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Caravan Factory Tour

This February I am going to the Beartooth Mountains on my first human-powered expedition in winter. Cycling hundreds of miles on frozen highways to attempt skiing on mountains that must be climbed.

(Stupid I know,  please leave comments at the bottom.)



I don't really have a plan beyond that. Bike a long ways, go skiing for a month in the Beartooth Mountains, and come home. Simple as that. Trailheads and laundromats will appear, no doubt.

And yeah, I end up wondering about wandering a lot. Who do I think I am out there by myself, hundreds of miles from home, with a bicycle and pair of skis?

What am I trying to prove? Or save? Do I have a purpose? Does my mother know what I do?

Well, I go to the mountains because mountains are honest, and show emotion with stark benevolence. And I need that for some reason. I'm drawn to it.


Getting stoked at the Caravan Skis Factory.

This year Caravan Skis made the Daily Drivers their best selling ski. An all mountain ski that likes to go fast and can hold down the throttle. I demoed a pair of Daily Drivers early in the season, and now I'm testing a prototype for next year.

Zeph, the man at Caravan, has lightened the ski with carbon-fiber, trimmed the tip and tail to make the ski more slashy, and I get to test them.







The selected wood core gives the ski a liveliness I haven't felt before. The hand made feel also gives the ski a sense of being something new and different. Both things I like.








2 comments:

  1. i love your relationship with mountain. always have. it's a thing of beauty. if more people could feel as safe, held and at home in the mountains (or wilderness of any kind) the world would be a different place.

    ReplyDelete
  2. your relationship with mountains, that is.

    ReplyDelete