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Show Park City Resident Goes to Extremes on Three Pins ' I. ,1 -MM I II. 1.1. ' " -' Katz on Orizaba: no margin of error. PhotoBozo Gordozo. i - ' .;::.::;:.:.'::i;:.::;:::.-.'':.''.-;-:::.:'::.::...::;.:.,.-': v. : ' vf.;i-:.'-".-.r-,-:-i - 'teiwmiiH'- - i '( : '-v.- '.-.v.-,--:- :: w. i-i.-':-..-::: .::: Iff n , l tit ' ""V . - - imposing Orizaba. "We were treated very well by the residents," Katz said. The pair obtained a ride as high on the volcano as possible and began a climb to a base camp. Above them loomed the snowfields that would be the target of the three-pin descent. but he wants to keep his plan under wraps. The Orizaba trip was indictive of what Katz has in mind, he said. "I want to get to the big peaks with big names," Katz said, but also said he is interested in some trips to ranges that seldom, if ever, see anybody, let alone by John Harrington Taking it to extremes. We have all taken some things to extremes, but Park City's Jimmie Katz takes himself there. And he does it on three pin bindings. Katz, along with Rick Wyatt of ParkWest, has developed into a new breed of super-steep skier. He takes on the extreme slopes on his ski mountaineering gear with style. A recent trip to Mexico with his friend ,,Bozo" Gordozo resulted in a ski down the sides of the 18,000 foot-plus Orizaba, an extinct (?) volcano with snow that resembles a bad road. Katz, not one to brag about what he does and why he does it, has pioneered routes on three pins throughout through-out the Wasatch Mountains. He has taken a route down a treacherous face of Mt. Nebo south of Provo and 1Y r ,Mm, i ill imir ii win ifi'n Bui , Jimmie Katz skiers. On the Mexico trip, he and "Bozo" had to travel 125 miles east southeast of Mexico Mex-ico City to their target in a rented car that was on "E" when they got it, "made a grinding noise in the rear and had no spare tire." After meeting the cows at their less-than-luxury accommodations, accom-modations, they obtained jeep transport to the mountain, moun-tain, where the sport, Katz said, comes into focus. "If you want to ski it, you have to climb it first," he said. The snowfields were easily handled in crampons, but the ride down was bumpy, Katz said. He said the technique he has developed allows liim to take a crack at steep runs and bad snow. Telemarks, Katz maintains, main-tains, would be almost suicidal on ultra-steep runs where hard, fast side-to-side edging are essential to life. Katz has been teaching some backcountry technique this season at the White Pine Touring Center and "skiing every day 1 can." He plans a trip to New Zealand this July and says he will do some skiing in what is the New Zealand winter. Katz said the most difficult thing about his sport, besides besid-es the skiing, is lining up sponsorship for the big trips he has planned. But, he said, "it's all worth it," when you get to the bottom of a run that you know has not been done before. . , , t 1,'. w ,j iji '...:ov.7..w .-...v'-x-. .. . The snow: like skiing the moon. PhotoBozo Gordozo. skied gullies, co.ls and couloirs that many wouldn't climb with ropes. Katz, a mild-mannered night libriarian at the Park City library, knows what he does is dangerous, but he " also knows it is fun. Raised in New York City, Katz is in his sixth Park City season. The 25-year-old, who used to teach Alpine skiing at Park West,' has been downhill skiing on "pins" for three years. Unlike many other three-pin three-pin downhill skiers, Katz does not use the telemark turn. He parallels and is fast, very fast. On his Rossignol Desecen-, tes, Asolo double boots and Voile bindings, Katz has developed a short-swing turn that enables him to ski "ugly" snow on very steep faces. Take the Orizaba trip, for instance. He and his companion compa-nion wound up in a stable in the town of Tlachichuca. and Mn the shadow of then ... I ....... . After getting used to the altitude, it was up and away for the adventurous run over icy snow that was often impregnated with rocks. The skiing went well and now Katz is looking for other frontiers to tread. "I'm not into objective danger," Katz said, "I plan to die at 103 eating (health -foods.)" He said the thrust of his super-steep three pin career is being shaped by how well he will be able to pull together trips to some of the world's bigger peaks, where, he hopes, he will be able to make the first non-Alpine equipment descents. des-cents. Last year, a family illness prevented him from making an attempt at the first three-pin descent of the ' Grand Teton. That honor fell instead to his friend and rival Wyatt. Katz has another large . North American mountain on f Ins, mind for the near future. . r ? i i I At 18X03 feet, its enter end clossia were to lkw. Pkita Jlsssdt lUtz., ', ' v - s; V , ;.',.( ; " -..- t , - ( ' v i . .' : II J 5 . , . H: ' ...... ' , .. i |