Birthday Ski

At the start - hiking on in to the mountain with skiis on our backs

Zoya wrote about the party and Tank - so I'll write a bit and post pictures from the 'birthday ski'.  As Zoya related, it is a birthday tradition.  But the tradition is that instead of going to the same old same old and going for a ski (the golf course, some lake, or Pyramid Mountain); we always go exploring on my birthday.

On Sunday we decided to go to the North side of Reservoir Ridge out by Mount Monashka and try powder (hopefully) skiing in the trees.  This end of the island often gets ocean effect snow when it is cold and windy like it has been lately.  This sort of weather pattern often deposits snow at our end of town, but nothing falls at the airport further to the South. And where we were headed also has trees to keep the snow from blowing away.

Getting close to the top - about now I am realizing that I REALLY miss my sunglasses

And it worked!  We actually found some powder on top of a hard crust.  Of course I forgot my sunglasses which was a HUGE mistake.  It was bright up there!  We did a bunch of runs and had some of Gregg's home made pizza for lunch.

The exciting part was getting home.  It turned out we had to earn our powder and we learned the downside of exploring.  Sometimes things do not work out!  We ended up on a super steep slope covered in alder and salmonberry.  I did some grass and brush busting on skis.  Looking back up hill I could see the others thrashing through the brush and trying to avoid cliffs, and I thought, 'uh oh, nobody is going to want to go skiing with me next year.'

But no - we all made it down, and it seems the horrific descent classifies as a 'memorable and slightly funny' experience.  We'll see anyway - hopefully the memory will age well and everyone will want to go skiing again next year.  Patrick

Whoooo Hoooooo - actual powder on crust!

First Run - Lisa in front!

Pizza for lunch!  I was glad that there was some sharing going on

Lisa rips it with Gregg's tracks to follow

The skin track back up to the top

Lots of tracks - tracks, tracks, tracks!

A tad bit of grass skiing

Finally!  At the lake and the skate/double pole on home to the car