Turnagain Pass, PMS

I need to eat all the time – I know I scare people when that ‘need to feed’ hits me. Even at the ripe old age of 53 I still don’t see it coming. This usually happens when I’m doing some form of exercise that lasts for more than a few hours. Backcountry skiing and bike trips bring it on BIG TIME.

If you ask my husband, he doesn’t see it coming either but is often the brunt of my “melt downs” and generally speaking does quit well in dealing with me. Here’s a few suggestions on how to avoid the food melt downs especially while backcountry skiing.

The obvious is to eat a good meal before leaving the house. Oatmeal doesn’t do it for me. I seem to be hungry an hour later. I try to bring things that I can put in my pocket, things that are NOT dry or hard to chew. I also load some type of lunch in my pack but it’s often hard to deal with when the temperatures are in the single digits. Although I’m not a big fan of GU (the taste and consistency aren’t appealing) it seems to calm the beast within me and is very easy to swallow when your mouth is dry. The obvious problem is what to do with that sticky, messy packet. Maybe I’ll have my friend Laurie create a food product for me and have her post it on her website http://www.medcookinginalaska.blogspot.com/!

Saturday’s ski was up the peak they call PMS. It is a short steep climb. As always make sure you know the risk factors by checking the Chugach Avalanche website and bring a lunch along. We left the car on “hippie time” (11AM) – the temperature was 18 F – when we got back to the car at 4:30PM the temperature was 38 F. It started raining as we approached Girdwood and the temperature rose to 44. Our friend Kurt Bauer joined us for some beautiful flat light conditions.