Author: RadNord
Report by RadNord
JJ14 began with a shocking of the epic monkey to life at 3:50 a.m. A full round of stretching found me lagging a touch behind the enduro clock (which starts with the alarm and ends with pulling back into my drive).
I loaded the Jeep and headed out to pick up Harrence Gelzerman. We pulled out of Gary’s crib at 3:45, a full 15 mins behind schedule.
Rallying on, we met Yohan Rosso at 5:45, repacked all gear into Rosspo’s sweet AWD GMC Acadia. Realizing that we needed to make up about 25 minutes to hit our 9 am Deadman’s deadline, we did a quick driver change, motored through a Mickey D’s, and rocketed North for the Jordan.
Skies were cloudy with temps starting to decline from the 28 degree downstate temp, to 15 degrees at the start of the tour.
Seasonal snow accumulations started to increase at Grayling. And the sun burst out as we wound through Northern MI.
When we pulled down Deadman’s Hill Road, it was clear that there were massive amounts of snow, a forebear of the challenge ahead.
9 cats ultimately showed up for this year’s Jam. The group included: from Grandville, Screamin’ Scott Deckrow; newcomer, and super-solid motorhead, Grant aka Grant Lee Buffalo from Holland; power couple Jick and Dackie from TC; Jen and Nate fresh from a solid season that has seen them both push new envelopes; and our car crew of Yohan Rosso; superskier and new minted Potto Raid champion Harrence Gelzerman; and long time ski knucklehead and tour host JR / RadNord.
After a quick flurry of gear gathering and ski prepping, we pushed off at 9:45 am, impressive for a group this size.
Once we hit the trailhead, it became clear that this was not going to be “typical.” The season’s solid snowfall had netted the trail an average depth of nearly three feet. Friday’s rain and warmth had solidified the snow to a range of icy crust that would support you fine, to another kind of crust that would constantly bite at your shins and pull ski tips into the deep for all kinds of wild direct face-plants, mixed with even more amazing saves and near misses that would leave you wondering how the F you made it through.
Jordan is one of the hillier ski tours in all of MI, and this year’s deep, crusty snow served up more challenging climbing than I have ever skied, anywhere.
As you tried to go up, you had the snow breaking away; or your arm, instead of giving you a push, slid into the snow up to your shoulder.
It was a total body work out, constantly.
Early on, all of us were burning more matches than anyone expected. The hills were just that difficult. So deep was one climb that several skiers resorted to post-holing their way up sans skis.
A big plus of having such a strong, fit group was having a steady trail-breaker ahead. Huge props go out to newcomer, Grant Lee Buffalo and strongman Gary Helzerman for some amazing trail-breaking. Gary really earned his “Human Piston Bully” nickname. Several times I drafted his pace in amazement. Everyone took their turn at the front.
The reverse challenge of the deep snow and icy crust came into play with the downhills. If you were lucky, you could stay on top of the crust and use the depth of the snow over the crust as a sort of gentle brake as you rocketed down the steeps. The flip side of that were the many epic falls and faceplants.
The typical telemark or parallel turns were replaced with a series of vaguely orthopedic moves involving high speed step turns.
I did have one epic downhill where I led and was able to descend from the forest roof down into the one of the many flowing tributaries non-stop. Truly sublime.
Once we reached that first flowing tributary, everyone was reminded of why we were there. Bluebird skies above, flowing crystal water that you looked at as you skied by within a few feet. There is something really cool about the sound of skis sliding on snow mixed with the sound of gurgling spring run-off.
By the time we hit the Log Slide overlook, we were moving ahead of schedule, despite the deep snow. It was looking like we’d possibly finish in under 7 hours. But it’s always risky even to think of faster times when you are not even halfway through a Jordan Jam. …That would soon prove very true.
The fall-away downhill back into the valley from the log slide was extra challenging with the deep crusty snow, but was still one of the coolest sections of the whole Jam. The look on everyone’s faces, especially newcomer Grant, told it all — massive smiles born of a mix of the beautiful scenery, downhill-induced adrenalin, and camaraderie of like knuckleheads doing what we really dig. The vibe grew more solid.
We reached the Pinney Bridge halfway point feeling tired and a bit stiff, but ready to keep pushing. Pizza was eaten, gel packs and burritos inhaled, as we all fueled up and started the 2nd half push. Gary led up the huge hill from Pinney, The snow was holding up, we could stay on the crust. This was a huge plus, as energy levels were starting to be taxed for all.
(As a personal note, I felt really good this year and managed my energy levels to pretty much their best. It was cool though to see a few key skier transformations that I have gotten to witness progress and develop. Gary literally became a human piston bully and often set a blistering pace. Young Grant Lee Buffalo was the surprise of the Jam. His youthful friendliness was more than matched by a huge engine and killer pace setting and trail breaking. Jen and Nate raised their own bars. They have pushed the long tour pace this season, culminating with this Jam. Dick and Jackie who were both on waxable skis, pushed the pace for the last section — that was cool to get to see first hand, with Dick pulling away solo on the last long detour climb, and he is almost 64, F’in amazing. Solid main home boys John and Scott were their usual solid selves, especially given their extra challenge to come, but I digress.)
As we pushed through the ridges and low-lying watersheds, I was startled to hear Gary come up behind me yelling that Scott and John were a long way back. Scott had *pulled a binding out of his ski* and was left trying to post-hole his way back to a viable pick-up point. Also, just as Gary reached us we realized that we had inadvertently lost track of the blue trail markers and were left dazed and confused trying to get back on trail.
This is the point of the trip where shit started to get real.
Scoot and John decided to reach a snowmobile trail by fording the river, which they did successfully, but both ended up with soaked feet. They reached the snowmobile trail and John flagged a couple down. Hurray for the snowmobile nation! They shuttled Scott to the fish hatchery where he waited in the restroom to stay warm. Then they took John all the way back to his car at Deadman’s Hill. They ended up cold, but OK.
Meanwhile, we skied on, having found another blue marker. The trail wound up and down for what seemed like an extra long time before we finally hit the Cascade bridge road. Once there we saw John on the back of his rescue snowmobile. Having gotten the word that he and Scott were OK, we were left with the reality that we had a long way to go, and only about an hour of daylight. We knew we had to pick up the pace and so we did.
A very lucky thing then happened. Once the trail moved up from Cascade Rd it was packed by snowmobiles. Often a curse, this was a godsend. As I was leading, I heard Dick yell for me to pick up the pace right as we came to a sign denoting that there was a trail detour due to a bridge being out. Not sure if this would take longer, we pushed on with Dick taking over leadout. He pushed on up a winding long grind that, thankfully got us back to the top of the Deadman’s Hill loop. Once we realized where we were, we knew we’d make it back before dark. Dick pushed on for the last kilo followed by Jackie, with me clipping her heels. It was cool to watch them fly along on those waxers.
We pulled up onto the top of Deadman’s Hill overlook as the sun was literally slicing down into the horizon. A few quick photos and then it was a frantic high-speed skate to the car. Having kept a slight energy conserving governor on my own engine, it was cool to blast down that final section in a lung-searing blitz.
This year’s Jordan Jam had skiers in their 20’s, 30’s, 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s represented. Astounding!
Everyone finished, including Scoot and John, who included a wild side-show into their day’s tour. Pizza proved to be the power food it always is, with 5 slices being the final tab.
(Note: spare binding and spare screws, taps, and 5-minute epoxy all might be a good idea for the future spares-kit.)
This year’s Jordan Jam was the most challenging, and had the most snow, ever. Final time 9′ 12″. Clothes were quickly changed, motrin was taken, and beers were opened. All 9 toasted this year’s Jam. A new bond was forged by all.
We hit the road running back downstate, mixing the driving between me and Gary. I pulled back into my drive at 12:29am. …A solid 19-hour push.
Pic 6, 2nd set of pics.
Pic 5, 2nd set of pics.
Pic 4, 2nd set of pics.
Pic 3, 2nd set of pics.
Pic 2, 2nd set of pics.
Pic 1, from a 2nd set of pics (from Gary) which highlight the watery base of the Jam route. A couple of the images, though, show climbing up into the highlands.
Jen, the way she likes to be. Radiant and blasted.
Dick does not need reading glasses to use his camera.
Made it by dusk’s fading light.
Rad
Jen
Off into the Crust.
Rad and Jen
