April 3, 2012, 3/4 Moon Powder Colorado

Day 41

What a difference a year makes.  Last year it snowed with abandon until June, local areas buried under 200% of normal pack by April 1.

This year, not so much.  Of anything.

We received .01" of moisture at my house in March.  Point - freekin - zero - one.  As in, why bother?  What started out as 40 - 60% of snowpack now looks like end of May, end of the season.

BUT!  It ain't over yet...so when it looked like an upslope storm might change the outlook, well, I have to act.

Up to the usual place, arrived at 9:30 pm.  Appeared to be about 3" of new covering the grass and rocks of the parking lot.  At least where there was snow, it appeared smooth.  I hadn't bothered with snowshoes, and found the snowpack under the new snow super-firm, super easy walking...and up I went.

One other team skied during the day, otherwise, untracked.  Down in town, temps were hovering around 38 and cloudy; up here, it was 25 and clear... The 3/4 moon doing wonderful things to the bright new snow.  Life, while trying, is still good I find.

At the top of my chosen line, I drop the pack and boot up.  I follow my uptrack down, and smile broadly as the board swings easily back and forth on the smooth upper surface -  and then hoot loudly as I scrape the firm underpack - which elicits a sound and feel like skiing a New York sidewalk.

Smooth turns - SCRAPE! -smooth turns - SCRAPE!  All the way to the car.


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While it ain't over yet, I think it's in the mail.  But I've been wrong before.