Here’s what happened. We were driving through Rogers Pass during our 10 000km ski road trip, on our way down to Teton Pass, WY and decided to do a quick morning tour into the Bonney Trees. The plan was to do a couple of laps on the top moraines and be out by noon. As we were hoofen’er up the trail, we came upon a group of four ahead of us. We politely greeted each other, commented on how beautiful the day was and the definite need for some fresh pow. I kept expecting them to let us by, since they had not broken trail and were moving at a ridiculously slow pace. But we hung back, being polite, following their every step and waiting for them to offer us to go ahead. Then, the man at the front stopped, took off his jacket, grabbed some water, and did the good old ‘arms above your head’ stretch. I took this as our chance to get ahead of the group and resume our own pace, since we had a time constraint, but the man at the front would not let us by. He said that there was plenty of snow all around us and we can make our own trail if we want to get by. I took that as a sour jab to the face, dwelled on it for a few minutes, and took four deep breaths.

We could break trail parallel to the main track, weaving our way through the trees, and pass them. It would work since they were going torturously slow, so passing them while breaking trail wouldn’t be too difficult. So off I went, breaking trail beside them, matching the main switchbacks with my own, weaving around trees and crusty snow-bomb piles but he wouldn’t let us by. He would speed up right when I was beside him, at the point of passing him. I tried four times to pass him and every time he would speed up and let out a little snicker beside me once I failed to pass him. Finally, after almost coughing out my lungs and shaking uncontrollably from being so frustrated and angry, we were forced to ass-sniff their butts for the rest of the way up until we reached the bottom of the moraines where we quickly went a different direction.

He wasn’t even breaking trail. He was following the highway paved by someone else. I can’t fathom why someone would disrespect someone else’s serenity and solace in the mountains. I hope that it had nothing to do with the fact that he was being passed by two women. I like to think that society has already stepped over that speed bump when it comes to woman and athletics- it is just not an issue anymore. It is one thing not to give away a secret ski touring spot, but it’s another to create road rage in such a peaceful environment. There are manners that must be upheld in the backcountry and just because Rogers Pass is consistently getting busier and busier every year, this does not mean that we can disrespect and butcher other people’s right to enjoy the backcountry.