Sunday, March 08, 2009

Skiing Miner's Playground


This morning Ivan and I snowmobiled down to the campground and went to a run I have been watching for over a month since the conditions are such that I could walk anywhere without lots of new snow. This morning we found POW everywhere we went, crossed the river over a tree/snow bridge. The dogs of course showed the way since it is something they have done often chasing the dipper bird. The photos aren't in order since the top photo is of the trip end getting ready to go have breakfast.

The next photo is of Ivan skinning up the mountain in some wonderful POW with bear along for the trip they are about 650' above me at this point and headed up another 500-600' before making his run down. What made this trip so cool is that it is a Virgin run no one has skied it until today and it is just one of several I have found since living here, and one that calls to any skier or snowboarder.

The next photo is another of Ivan on his skinning up the mountain, it definitely was a good workout according to Ivan and I was envious I wasn't getting to make that run also but next year I will be if I have to do it on a ski bike. According to Ivan the snow was in great shape, even with all of the icy conditions we had the new snow is bonding very well with very little sluffing at all but plenty of give making for great action on the skis, tis was an east facing slope about 120 yads across with some trees bordering both sides and some in the middle but plenty of room to move around and pick your lines.

The bottom photo is just as Ivan started up the mountain on the way to a first run giving him the honor of naming it so he called it Miner's Playground and with skinning and skiing he totaled about 2500-3000' in about 1.75 hours. When we left the house this morning around 8:45 the sun was poking out a little but you could see the snow coming in and the entire time Ivan was climbing up the mountain the snow got harder and harder I had over .5" of new snow on my pack before he started skiing down and I had a hard time picking him out up there due to all of the snow. Just as he told me he was switching over to skiing and removing skins I looked around and saw blue skies a around with just the snow around Ivan becoming less and less, by the time he started down it was clear and sunny making for the perfect beautiful run ending up at the river close to our tree/snow bridge. These were perfect conditions for being outside and playing in the snow. Even though neither of remembered to set our clocks ahead this morning it was a good skiing weekend for Ivan and snowmobiling for both of us in some wonderful POW 12-18" in places. The only thing that could have made this a better weekend was that it lasted another 2-3 days. There are so many great runs and with the latest snow we've gotten 18" in last 11 days, all you havve to do is pack your skis on your sled and get your butt out here I'll show you where to play and there are no crowds to deal with, you could even name your own runs.

We found our Paradise, hope you find yours too. Namaste'


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