The End of the Road

It just kept on snowing in Jackson Hole with January-like conditions right up to the end of March. Mum, Dad, and Emma and Lyndon who came out with some friends timed it perfectly and even Mum was sometimes to be found knee deep in powder although not always on purpose. The conditions were good enough for me to have a crack at the infamous Corbet's Couloir known for the sizeable vertical entry off the cornice. It wasn't the only thing I nearly cracked as I tomahawked the first couple of hundred feet having stacked the landing, only to then collide with some avalanche debris as I exited the bottom. This sent me back into the snow at speed, head first. Not a very stylish descent but I made it! From Jackson, probably our favourite skiing of the trip we headed north to Big Sky, Montana which once again we hit in perfect conditions. Another awesome mountain with endless couloirs off the main peak and some of the friendliest people we've met the whole trip; a brief chat with some locals over a post skiing beer led to an invitation to their dinner party where we tucked into juicy scallops and steaks! The next day, feeling a little jaded from the previous night, Vic took a day trip into Yellowstone which was only a few miles away, and saw bison, wolves and a grumpy bear that had just come out of hibernation to find it still snowing and coyotes trying to eat its lunch. I spent the day packing in some final skiing. From there the plan had been to drive to Seattle stopping on route at a couple of towns in northern Montana which we'd read good things about. However I found out at this point that due to an "oversight" on my part when we picked up the car we were due to return it to Salt Lake rather than to drop it in Seattle. Fuming with myself, but with a very understanding wife, the next move was to head back south, through Jackson where we had another two days of powder and they officially passed the previous record snowfall of 50 feet in a season. It was still coming down when we left.

Having made it to Salt Lake we flew to Seattle where we stayed with friends, Steve and Dora. A very pleasant city based on our brief stay with plenty of good eateries!

Then it was on to our final destination of Andros Island in the Bahamas, chosen more as a convenient stop on the way to to London as well as for the great diving/ snorkelling, and of course fishing, than for any particular desire to see the country. Concerned that it might be an extension of Florida, we were pleasantly surprised when we arrived in our little town, where the locals were friendly and very relaxed, and Andros seems to have escaped the development which has apparently spoilt some of the other islands. In many ways it was what we had hoped French Polynesia would be but were disppointed on that occasion by the overdevelopment and ludicrous prices. So the last fews days of the trip were spent in chilling in hammocks under the palms, diving (on one occasion using chum to attract the sharks which I we were a little dubious about) or fly fishing for bonefish which for me comes close to heliskiing for addictiveness. Unfortunately we had to leave before my habit had time to fully develop and we boarded a plane for the last time in Nassau, to take us back to London.

---

---