CHRISTMAS TIME!

Guess what I got................A helmet camera!

SNOW DAY!!!!

It took its sweet ass time, but winter has finally arrived here in VT, and hopefully it will stick around for a while. The current storm started Sunday night, made the drive to school more stressful than necessary, and is still spitting snow here and there in the Green Mountains. I woke up this morning, hoping beyond hope to get the call that school was cancelled. I went through the motions of getting ready and was about to get in the car when Wifey called to tell me that my school was closed for the day! I couldn't believe it, so I turned on the TV and saw the proof myself. Then, I got the call. An automated phone message saying that school was closed for the day!! Needless to say, I was elated. We haven't had much winter up here yet, and friends out West have been sending snooty messages about the killer season that has started out there. Well, today was my turn.

I hung out at home, fed chickens, watched some SNL on the computer, and then headed out. I was one of the first cars in the lot, and one of the first up the hill. I guess that is the benefit of having to get up at 5 for work everyday, when you don't have work, you have lots of time. The skin up was blustery, to put it mildly. There seemed to be pretty good coverage, although there were still quite a few waterbars open and some patches of grass large enough to graze cattle on. When I got to the top of the double, the main trail was untouched. I was in my happy place.

The snow was DEEP, and then very shallow. It was the first time I have ever skied bottomless to bottom in two turns. I was a bit sketched out that there were rocks lurking under the deep, deep drifts waiting to tear my leg off, but I kept the tips up and skied the first run like a true gaper between the waist high drifts and patches of inch deep snow. I hit a traversing trail and realized how much snow actually fell. Although I am short, VVV this is still pretty deep.

The lower half of the trail wasn't quite as wind affected, and I could turn without fear of breaking my kneecaps. I finished up and headed to the tippy-top. It was very worth it.

I ripped off the skins and headed down so the guy I passed on the way up couldn't poach the liftline before me. I headed out and choked on the first 8-10 turns, as the drifts on the skier's left of the trail were substantial. I tried to link the drifts together all the way down the trail, but took a few diggers on buried snow snakes and from the deep snow tripping me up. I guess it is hard to ski powder this early in December.
I made it down without injury and took this (very cold) picture of myself in front of my handywork. It probably doesn't look that handy, as I was all over the place. I took another run with a guy named Matt, and then headed out, in a very good mood now that winter is here.