Winter has finally arrived in the Colorado mountains.
One thing you learn after living in Colorado for a long time is that every snow season is different. Some arrive quickly and decisively, while others don’t show up for a long time or at all. Some are marked by occasional large snow events followed by long dry periods, and others bring consistent amounts of snow for the duration of the winter. This year it seemed like we were waiting around for awhile compared to the last couple seasons, but maybe we really just regressed to the mean. Either way, winter seems to have officially arrived.
Skinning from the sled parked near Shrine Pass.
Rick, Justin and I set off from Shrine Pass this past Saturday after a short ride/tow up the road on Rick’s sled. A ten minute jaunt east had us atop the Black Cliffs area, where we skied several short laps down to the meadows below. We had been to this area early season before and it has always delivered some decent turns for us thus far.
A nice, balmy December day.
Always feels good to get that first true powder day in and shake the rust off. Amazingly Rick and I hit zero sharks, while Justin wasn’t quite so lucky and hit one or two. But suffice it to say after this most recent storm our snowpack is close to resembling something with a respectable base. A few more shots…
Rick on one of the better pitches we skied.
Justin’s first ski day of the season looking not too shabby.
Eventually it was time to skin back up to the sled…
…then head back down the road for the parking lot après.
Rick, Justin, thanks for a fun half-day up there. Let’s do it again soon. From here on out we’ll see what kind of winter this particular one shapes up to be…