After one of the longest and driest summers that I can remember we experienced a classic "summer today, winter tomorrow" situation. Last Monday it started snowing and it didn't really stop for 3 days. We got 12-18 inches at lake level and three feet up on the crest. I'd been enjoying one of the best mountain bike seasons of my life, and quite honestly, I was hoping for a little rain to keep the good times rolling. Mother Nature had some different plans.
A wiser man than me once said, "When there is snow, you go skiing.". So go skiing we did. On Monday we did a XC ski through the peaking fall colors in Paige Meadows. The bright orange Aspen leaves stood out in stark contrast to the raging winter storm going on. On Tuesday I found myself compelled to test out my reconstructed knee. I drove up the street to the backside of Alpine and Lynn and I hiked a couple laps on South Face. I was extremely tentative dropping in for my first run. Thin cover and variable wind-blown powder snow wasn't my planned first run in almost a year, but I couldn't help myself. Skiing slow and in the backseat, to try and keep my tips up, I made a couple runs and called it a day to save some energy for the days to come.
It continued snowing and I teamed up with Dave Rosenbarger and Oscar Havens on Wednesday and Thursday for some early season powder skiing that was some of the best I've ever done in October. My knee felt better with every run. The anxiety that I had about whether or not I'd be ready to ski again melted away with every face shot. I shot a little POV video, the skiing has been really really good!
