Sunday Jen

Normally I would do a trip report of the skiing this morning, but since I didn’t bring a camera and don’t have any photos, I’m not going to bother beyond this:

Snow above 8,000 feet was knee deep, but a bit heavy. We skied from the tippy top of Scotties rather than the shoulder like I normally do, and it was a fight to avoid getting caught in one’s own sluff all the way down. In a chute like that, there’s not really anywhere to go to avoid it. Apron skiing was nice. Really nice. Below 8,000 feet, the snow was thinner and we could feel the crust underneath. Tomorrow should be even better. If you want pictures, Dustin or Aaron will likely post some.

Now, on to what I really wanted to write about.

Yesterday, Dug mentioned his son Ian’s inability to do the dishes without music. Specifically, that he listened to Rise Against. I commented on Rise Against, a band I was introduced to by the film The Collective, as well as another song I liked from that film, Sunday Jen by Slackstring (which I maintain is the best song to ski to in the history of songs and skiing, even though I don’t generally ski with an ipod. But when I do, I always listen to this song at least once).

Well that comment prompted other comments related to the film, which reminded me of a really cool experience I had a few years ago.

We took a family vacation to Maui, and having seen and been enamored by this scene from The Collective, I wanted to try and ride in some of these zones.

So I sent an email to Darcy Whittenberg, one of the producers of The Collective, and asked him for some beta on where to go. He emailed me back and said to contact Paul at some shop I don’t remember the name of in Maui. So I did.

When I asked Paul about riding some of the lines from the film, he said that most of that was “mini golf” stuff—looks good on film, but really short and not that fun to do as a ride. He said to come to the shop on Friday, and we’d do something way better. Or maybe it was mo betta.

“Mo betta” turned out to be having Paul’s wife shuttle us and bikes to the top of the Haleakala volcano. But not so we could do the tourist descent of the road on cruiser bikes. We dropped off the backside, where it’s singletrack for over 7,000 vertical feet through six different climate zones, ranging from volcanic moonscape stuff at the top, to pine forests, to tropical.

Interspersed along the trail were various jumps, skinnies, teeters, and other features. At the very end, we just rolled through a grassy meadow with a narrow strip of red dirt right down the middle. Mountain biking bliss.

Paul asked me when were done how I knew Darcy. I said I didn’t. I just sent him an email and never had any contact with him other than that brief exchange.

Sure, he’s not a big-time Hollywood type, but a lot of people would find it odd to email a movie producer out of the blue to ask a question about his film. Turns out, he’s an exceptionally cool guy that was just happy to help. As often as not in the skiing and biking communities, I think those are the kind of people you find.