maybe bonkers

Bob once listed his Top Five Zen Parables. Here’s one called Maybe:

4. Maybe

An old farmer had worked his crops for many years. One day his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit. “Such bad luck,” they said sympathetically. “May be,” the farmer replied. The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it three other wild horses. “How wonderful,” the neighbors exclaimed. “May be,” replied the old man. The following day, his son tried to ride one of the untamed horses, was thrown, and broke his leg. The neighbors again came to offer their sympathy on his misfortune. “May be,” answered the farmer. The day after, military officials came to the village to draft young men into the army. Seeing that the son’s leg was broken, they passed him by. The neighbors congratulated the farmer on how well things had turned out. “May be,” said the farmer.

Last Friday night Ben and I were going back and forth about how to best take advantage of the foot of new snow that had fallen. Superior Main (south face) seemed like the best bet for something big and awesome, and if we did it as a dawn patrol, Ben could still meet his wife at Snowbird for a day of resort skiing.

Then Ben emailed me with the bad news–They were bombing in Little Cottonwood Saturday morning, killing any chance of a Superior dawn patrol (ironically they later cancelled the bombing).

Well that SUCKS, right?

As Buddha would say, maybe.

Because instead we headed up Big Cottonwood canyon to do Bonkers, the famous big powder shot up Broads Fork, a line I have wanted to do for a long, long time. Many Winters ago, Rick and I tried to do Bonkers, but after a 2 hour approach to the base of this 2500 foot northeast facing perfect powder run, we dug a pit, got a bit sketched, and turned around.

Not this day. This day, me, Ian, adam, and Wonder-Twin Rob started early in the flurries and fog, and as we reached the top, Buddha revealed himself (or herself) in all his (or her) glory, and the sun came out and blessed our outing.

Here’s the video, starring pretty much Ian. I used to like my video until Rob and Adam sent me their Liebowitz and Ansel Adams level pics of the day (shamelessly ripped off below). Their pictures bump the video down from Tarantino level to Michael Bay level.

As always, best viewed full screen.

And the award winning pictures. Ian, a white 15 year old from Draper, throwing signs:

Rob, doing his best Ansel Adams impression:

Adam, doing HIS best Ansel Adams impression:

Ian, on the uptrack, doing his best Ansel Adams subject impression:

And me, doing yada yada yada:

Getting ready to hit it:

Okay, a couple action shots (since it’s hard to call uptrack pictures “action” shots, although that’s where 90% of the action happens).

Me:

Rob:

Adam: