The New Yawka in Arizona Thread

[raisingarizona]

We opened this weekend with superb conditions for November and 80% of the mountain, Friday was the earliest opening in 35 years.

Since the main chair was scheduled to start on Saturday with rumors of a soft afternoon opening JP, Ken, and I decided to go for a tour. We ascended out of the area and up the Humphrey's Peak hiking trail then into an open lava flow area called the Flying Dutchman. It's a WW2 B52 crash site and there is still all kinds of debris scattered about. This is some landing gear that has been propped up as a memorial.

The climb up was brutal. Probably 3k total and the last 1000 feet of vert was on rock hard alpine ice. Thank goodness for crampons on the touring bindings but still, it was stressful and on the edge of our comfort zones. Luckily the skiing sucked just as much. It was pretty gnarly, after we each made 2 dozen or so survival turns in the warm wind effected mank we headed back up and over to the ski area where conditions were much, MUCH better and the big chair was now spinning.

This is from Saturday at the Agassiz Lodge. Spring skiing conditions prevailed as the sun baked and temps were in the 40's. The tour on Friday really kicked my arse and I had little energy for skiing, after 5 or 6 laps I gave in and saddled up to the bar. We closed her down. It was rad and it was great being back up there with the community. Zero F---s were given for coffee cups, flags, or any other stupid thing that has no relevance to our actual lives. Well that's not entirely true, Charlie Sheen has been a topic of interest I suppose but you gotta admit, it's pretty darn intriguing.

 

[raisingarizona]

Nice, RA!! Harv, I never knew we have a star in our midst. I started to have an inkling about you RA when you mentioned a while back that you and your buds ride the white line trail. Then, after your initial response to my post in this thread, I re-read the article and saw the part about Jackson and out 2 and 2 together. Good job. And, I agree the article came out great.

Thanks man! It's always been a dream of mine to be part of a Powder mag article. I was in a full page ad for Cloudveil years ago in Powder but that's not the same thing.

 

[Harvey]

Nice, RA!! Harv, I never knew we have a star in our midst. I started to have an inkling about you RA when you mentioned a while back that you and your buds ride the white line trail.

LOL I think the inkling was that monster huck photo that RA posted sometime last winter. There are multiple ways to be huge, as RA demonstrates. Thanks for the TR, man.

What brought the B-52 down? Don't you guys have aliens down there?

 

[raisingarizona]

Thanks Harv.

I'm not totally sure about the B-52. There are at least 6 or 7 other crash sites on the mountain from what I have been told. I have been under the impression that it's often during bad weather. That and the fact that it's a lone 12,000 foot mountain surrounded by low laying desert areas seems to make sense but I can't tell you for sure. If none of this makes sense than the next sensible explanation is aliens for sure.

I'll look around for some info and get back to ya.

 

[jasonwx]

Just nitpicking here..the B52 wasn't in service during WW2. It first flew in in the early 50' s and was put into service in the mid to late 50's.

love the reports !!!

 

[JTG]

B-29 then?

 

[jasonwx]

Or B24 or B17. They were the primary bombers. The 29 came into service later in the war.

 

[JTG]

Interesting or weird story, depending on how you view such things.....my brother is big into living history/re-enacting. The Great War Association has a site (think roads, woods, bunkers, trenches and no-mans land complete with shell holes and barbed wire) out in PA where they do tactical events. WW1, along with some WW2 and a 'Nam 68 event. Anywhere from 80 to 600 guys in period uniforms/equipment and real weapons (just blanks!) fighting for 16 hours a day, drinking for 4, and sleeping the rest.

Anywho, the November WW1 1918 event is the biggie, which I did with my brother for the first time this year. Where am I going with this? Oh, planes. A number of guys have built their own bi-wing planes and having them 'strafe' the field during battle is way cool, sometimes not more than 20 feet off the ground.

 

[chrsdipietro94@]

Since the main chair was scheduled to start on Saturday with rumors of a soft afternoon opening JP, Ken, and I decided to go for a tour. We ascended out of the area and up the Humphrey's Peak hiking trail then into an open lava flow area called the Flying Dutchman. It's a WW2 B52 crash site and there is still all kinds of debris scattered about. This is some landing gear that has been propped up as a memorial.

Super sweet RA. Looks real nice down in the DSW!

We have a similar piece of history at Mission:

The Bomber theme permeates many of the feature names at the mountain (Bomber Cliffs, Bomber Bowl, Bomber Chutes, etc). Our's was a B24 that crashed in 1944.

 

[raisingarizona]

So it is a B-24 I guess. I don't know why I called it a B-52, maybe the pop music band?

http://hikearizona.com/decoder.php?ZTN=598

Here is a cool story about some guys that hiked up to another crash site on the mountain.

WWII Boeing Flying Fortress B-17G 42-102899 bomber crash San Francisco Peaks Flagstaff AZ, September 17, 1944

Military aircraft crashes & accidents in Arizona, California and New Mexico

www.aircraftarchaeology.com

Interesting @chrsdipietro94@ about Mission. It seems like planes crashing isn't as rare as I used to think. We get a lot here. The winds are erratic and powerful over the desert and Mogollon Rim. I even saw a small plane crash one day down in Sedona, it killed all three family members on board and their dog. Another plane crashed a few years back in my friends neighbors back yard in Kachina Village.