Trail of 98

Today we skied our 98th outing together for the season. With clear skies, a cold clear starry night, below freezing temperatures and 10 feet of snow at the trailhead; perfect conditions for crust skiing were awaiting us. No need to worry about soft snow and the dogs if we can return before it softens up. Today we left at 7am and arrived back at the trailhead at noon.

Starting out on nice hard snow.


Taking our first break after climbing 900 feet and traveling 2 miles. There are always good views on bluebird days.




Valley is pondering our next move.


Moving along Center Ridge before we drop down to the valley floor where the traveling is easier and faster.


I am not sure why she is coming back to me but she seems happy to be out today.


View off to the right while skiing on the valley floor.


Moving along on the valley floor. You can see an "undulating surface" which we are traveling on, that was weird, it was like boating on water with wakes.


Skate skiers moving up valley from us. Skate skiing on crust snow is a common thing for some of us to do this time of year. Its like its own season.


Checking another couple of skate skiers out who are closer during our lunch break.


Trotting back. By now the snow has softened incredibly and its a good thing we are on our way back. You can see the skis are making a mark and the dogs are starting to sink in.





The sun is pretty hot, so we took a few breaks to let the dogs cool down. Hot on the top, cool on the bottom.


Valley View.


A great day to be on the snow. I can't believe we are still skiing. Some of the low lying trailheads are free from snow, and they are packed with cars and folks hiking. However we are still out enjoying alot of snow waiting to melt.