First Descents versus Non First Descents

I must say I'm very impressed with some of these lines that have been skied lately, especially the Nisqually Ice Cliff route.  I remember climbing Rainier back in June of 2005 (non ski) while on vacation and always wondered if such a line had been skied or was skiable.  Being from the Northeast, when it comes to ski mountaineering, there is not much comparison.  It also seems like the attitude is once something has been done, it's like who cares.

It seems like over the last few years many first descents have been claimed in the Cascades (WA, OR, and CA) and I'm beginning to wonder if any will be left in a few years when I plan to move to WA state to finish my masters.   It seems like with sports  the old saying is second place is the first loser.  I'm wondering if the same concept applies to ski mountaineering in terms of skiing technical descents.  Like if it's been skied, it's like: well, it's been skied before, who cares.  I grew up skiing on the east coast and always thought it be cool to ski a first descent.  Is my luck running out in terms of skiing a first descent in the cascades?  Then again, I'd be happy to ski anything other than man made snow or low snow pack over roots and dirt messing up my skis. Maybe I could invent my own snow machine and sprinkle some flurries on a mound and call that a first descent! Does skiing a sand dune count?

"You win when you retire alive"      X

There are probably thousands of "first descents" left around here. They're just going to get more and more remote and/or technical and/or require extreme snow circumstances.

Personally, I don't really care. If it pushes my limits and I feel a sense of accomplishment, I'm more than happy. It's a bit hard to track what lines have been hit over the years anyways.

The Whittakers along with Eddie Bauer have developed a line of 1st Ascent/!st Descent clothing for bc activities; so now you can have a first ascent/descent anytime you want, by mail order or stopping in Ashford.

It's hard to say what is a first descent. Alot of stuff that people call a first ascent or descent may or may not be. Not everyone sprays their exploits all over the internet or writes them up for journals. There are things that I've seen claimed as first ascents/descents that were done decades ago, by people that didn't feel the need to talk about it much.

I think ski -tourers should start carring American flags in their backpacks to drape over their shoulders at the bottom of their first descent and then raise their fingers and shout "we're number 1" while being filmed on a head cam .....like at the Olympics.....it's soo charming!