Lessons Learned from Last Weekend

1. Bring a Repair Kit: A number of articles I've read have said to always bring a repair kit with you when going into the backcountry. I have yet to bring one. But this weekend, my buddy Carl was evidence of wisdom of those articles. On the first day out, the loop at the front and the tail clip of the same skin broke. Luckily, we had some duct tape. But Carl was reduced to attaching his skins to his skis by wrapping the front and back with duct tape. So if I don't want Murphy to strike me, I guess I'll have to be responsible and put together a real repair kit before I go out for another tour.

2. Never Feed Carl Whole Heads of Garlic: One of the side dishes at dinner Friday night was whole heads of roasted Garlic. Apparently, one of garlic's side effects is bad gas. Carl was farting at a rate of once every 10-15 minutes throughout the entire day Friday. Because Carl was graciously letting Nellie and I break trail, it didn't affect us too much. But at one point Carl told us that he really wished he was in better shape because when he'd fart, he didn't have the energy to speed up and escape the smell. As we were heading back to the car at the end of the day, I let Carl go ahead of me at one point. Sure enough he let one out and I realized what he meant. It smelled like I had just been doused with some sort of garlic mist. I was in awe...not sure whether to be disgusted or to admire Carl for his amazing powers.