First Descents versus Non First Descents

then it snows again and covers all the tracks and the run is primed for another first.............

then it snows again and covers all the tracks and the run is primed for another first.............

I'm with you Oyvind...
Every run has first decent written on it, no matter how many times I or someone else has had the opportunity to have the privilege to descend it.

In my opinion, if something is worth skiing, it's worth skiing. Personally, I prefer to ski routes that haven't been skied recently or that I don't know much about, but only because I enjoy ignorance.

I'll share a story. A few winters ago my buddy Mark approached me about checking out the area near Hinman and Daniel . Neither of us had been back there before in winter conditions so it was all new to us. Phone calls lead to emails lead to beers at his place with maps. We were stoked. Just looking at maps of places we hadn't been and putting a trip together was exciting. So we eventually decided on a long overnight trip with many route finding gaps "to be filled in as we went". I went back to Monika's place that night and she asked where Mark and I were going. She said, "oh, the Snoqualmie Haute Route, reverse direction" and handed me Volken's book. Sure enough, several if not more hours of planning and imagining had drawn a line on a map almost identical with the one Martin has published in his book. And I can honestly say I didn't lose a single ounce of excitement for the trip. We went the next day and had a blast.

So I guess the moral of the story is, if first ascents excite you and you're worried about there not being any left for you- don't go to Lowell's web site, don't read TAY, and don't look at guidbooks until you get back. And don't don't date someone who's skied everywhere

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.

You do have a good point. I'm sure this applies to anywhere there is snow. I have not found a comparible resource like TAY or Alpenglow.org for back country skiing in the NE or SE of the United States. I have skied a couple peaks in Western NC during heavier snow years although much less than out west, but then again who's to say someone else hasn't skied in the same areas I or anyone else has. Seems like back in the day, there wasn't this need to expose almost every single aspects of our lives whether it be facebook, youtube, twitter, or other various forums and blogs.

I've found that most of the folks that put up TR's here aren't looking to expose all aspects of their lives or "spray all over the internet" but rather are pretty much getting after it on the daily and pick and choose what gets posted. If it was done by some hardman of a previous generation then that's cool too.

The old "stuff done... by people that didn't need to talk about it..." get's thrown around from time to time and IMO is a pretty lame way to try to serve as proxy to other peoples accomplishments.

The old "stuff done... by people that didn't need to talk about it..." get's thrown around from time to time and IMO is a pretty lame way to try to serve as proxy to other peoples accomplishments.

I see this as trying to teach kids some humility and open their eyes for the fact that things can have meaning and value even if nobody else knows / saw, etc. There are things that are much lamer than this.

Cheers
Ivo