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Thread: The tale of two skis

  1. #1
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    Default The tale of two skis

    This story starts like that of so many other skis, or so I would imagine.Manufactured at the same time they were in fact identical twins in every sense of the word. They were eventually sold to a caring man who from what I've been told, and also witnessed myself, took good care of them for the past ten years or more. Never abusing them and always making sure that they remained together as twins should. That is until today. In what can only be described as a moment of carelessness one of the skis was dropped on the top of a gentle slope.Possibly for the first time the ski found itself alone and without the guidance of it's owner the ski was making the most of it's new found freedom. Gliding easily through the trees the ski make it's way down the slope easily keeping ahead of the owner, who by now was racing after it with little to no chance of catching the runaway ski. Those of us that witnessed this tragic event can attest to his heroic attempt to stop the skis escape. Not being a ski I can only imagine what the ski must have been thinking as it sped through the woods. At first this freedom must have seem wonderful, but as the gentle slope turn into a decline down a steep bank terminating into the deep dark waters of the Mesalonski Stream, the thoughts going through its mind must have been terrifying. The owner could only watch as the ski shot into the air, sailing out over the stream, and then disappearing into those dark waters. Unwilling to plunge into the water to rescue the ski, the owner has destined this ski to spend eternity in its watery grave.

    I have no way of knowing what the rest of the group is thinking or how todays tragic event will affect them. Myself, I found that a wonderful day of geocaching was horribly sadden by the death of this ski and on my way home from Oakland I couldn't help but think of the remaining ski. What kind of life will it have now? Will the owner still want it?

    Not being one to talk out of turn I'm not going to tell the owners name here. Those that were there know who he was. All I will say is that his initials are T.A.T.

  2. #2

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    Apparently they weren't water skis?

  3. #3
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    Hmmm, my water ski was orphaned at birth, it's a slalom ski.

    The snow ski could tell some amazing tales, if it could only talk. That ski always did have a sense of adventure! Born in the Adirondacks, it has been to NY, VT, NH, MT and all over Maine. I've always been able to track it down after a short chase. I thought today would be no different. But, just as the ski was about to stop, it decided to take left turn and, well, I think Vic said it better than I can.


    Time to learn to slalom xcski.

  4. #4
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    Tom I've heard of one legged down hill skiers, but one legged cross country skiers must be rare.

  5. #5
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    Well told! I was riveted! Can we use it on the podcast? Can we huh can we?
    ~*There's Tupperware in thum thar hills!*~

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kacky View Post
    Well told! I was riveted! Can we use it on the podcast? Can we huh can we?
    I think that would be a wonderful idea, might even go towards preventing this from happening to some other poor ski.

  7. #7
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    Wink TAT's Splat

    I wish I had been there to see this. I think we need to use ski trail designations from this point forward. Was this a Double Diamond trail? Should TAT wear a helmet and a lifejacket from this point forward? How about ski brakes or long tong rawhide straps like in the good old days? Carry in, carry out, NOT! Should the DEP be notified? (some of these old cross country skis can become saturated with toxic wax and cheap wine) I saw a group of divers fishing a snowmobile out of China Lake a week ago. These guys are expensive but what's the emotional cost of loss of a good ski like this? My sympathy to TAT!
    Sometimes the road less traveled is less traveled for a reason.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by dubord207 View Post
    I wish I had been there to see this. I think we need to use ski trail designations from this point forward. Was this a Double Diamond trail? Should TAT wear a helmet and a lifejacket from this point forward? How about ski brakes or long tong rawhide straps like in the good old days? Carry in, carry out, NOT! Should the DEP be notified? (some of these old cross country skis can become saturated with toxic wax and cheap wine) I saw a group of divers fishing a snowmobile out of China Lake a week ago. These guys are expensive but what's the emotional cost of loss of a good ski like this? My sympathy to TAT!
    you bring up a lot of good points. The idea of Tat wearing a helmet may be a little sensitive though, I think he had to wear one all the time when he was young. Likewise the rawhide is also a good idea and I,ve noticed that he has yarn running through his jacket sleeves attached to his mittens. I think the DEP was notified as Stef witness the whole tragic event. Sympathy e-mails to Tat might be a way to help him a this time of lost.

  9. #9
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    We echo Vicbikers comments, very well put.
    Although we were on the trail with the group, we had moved ahead toward the next cache. I think this was good because no child should have to see such a tragic event.
    It seems some what odd that this happened between caches "Don't take me for granite" and "Ouch".
    I believe everything happens for a reason, bad karma perhaps, who knows. TAT maybe you are destined to design a automatically deployed flotation device for skis.

  10. #10
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    You are so right about the children, especially the youngest. It's good that he won't have to keep reliving those tragic memories that the rest of us are unable to forget. I
    hardly slept at all last night.I was the first person back to the spot where the now alone ski was waiting. How will I ever get over that memory? So sad.

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