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Thursday, June 16, 2011

The Dregs of Winter


This is a 'is the glass half full or half empty' type post. When thinking about what to write I came up with a couple of different titles - 'end of days', 'winter hangs on', 'summer snow', 'snow alive and kickin'' - I realized that they were all either sad about the imminent end of snow for skiing on Pyramid or happy just because the snow is still around to ski on. I'm happy that there is still snow close to town, but sad it will not be around for very much longer.

It must be said that on Kodiak one can ALWAYS find snow to ski on - I once skiied every month of the year for almost 10 years straight. But sometimes I did have to hike a LONG way to get to the snow. What's sad about losing the snow on Pyramid is that it means I can no longer go skiing after work. Today I left work, climbed Pyramid and went skiing, and returned to work less than 2 hours later. That's a pretty darn convenient exercise break.

Anyway, up on Pyramid we are down to a 350 foot vertical run with another 500 feet or so vertical more below that if you are willing to cross patches of snow free alpine tundra. And I think we only got a week or so left before it really isn't worth carrying your skiis up the mountain anymore. The sad thing is that this is pretty early for hanging 'em up. Last year we did not reach this point until late July, and I can remember skiing on Pyramid in August.

But hey, on the bright side, I am still on snow and hunting season is fast approaching! Patrick

Photo is of Dale ripping the north bowl of Pyramid on his snowboard yesterday.

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