not a bad morning

got out on the skis today for the first time this season. i hesitate to call it a "day" as all i did was one climb and run for about 1200 ft on the outting. figured i ought to save my energy for the next two days of 'cross racing ... if i hadn't already paid my entry fees i might have stayed up and skied all day. it was pretty good.

so for the fourth day in a row i woke up at about 3h30 a.m. not sure why, but i do know that it is getting old. instead of staying in bed waiting for the alarm to go off like i've been doing, this morning i made the most of it and pulled off a dawn patrol. out the door at about 4h30, hit the cp parking lot by 6ish. skinning by headlamp is always fun. especially when you get up high enough in the dark that the first light you see is something along these lines:

the views were kind of blowing my mind actually.

i walked up to a bench below a familiar local feature and then traversed north to summit its bigger brother. on the last bit of the ascent i turned my head to snap this image of what was, in my opinion, a slightly ridiculous skin track from (probably) the day before. or maybe i was just jealous of those turns. either way the image turned out pretty nice:

obligatory panoramic view of the crags and the lake agnes basin from the summit of an oft overlooked peak that shall remain nameless.

when i turned my skis downhill for the first time this season i had to convince myself that i hadn't forgotten how to make a tele turn. it was harder than it should've been but before long the muscle memory kicked in and things worked themselves out. i managed to find some nice pockets of "wind-buffed" snow amongst the predominant windslabs. linking together these soft patches above treeline was more than satisfactory and not too much of a chore, but i was very surprised at how nice the snow was at lower elevations. areas protected from the wind were skiing very very well, with two to three feet accumulated in the trees already and filling in nicely.

nice turns just below treeline

first (sloppy) turns of the year for this guy. roadside postcard angle.

i poked around in the snow pack here and there to try and gain an understanding of what, if any layers might be significant factors as the season progresses. as of now it was very consistent and firm all the way to the ground on most every aspect i took an interest in. no nasty trap doors or unconsolidated layers from what i found. this is a good thing so i hope the weather cooperates and things set up to be stable for the long haul.

man it was great to be out on the snow again.