Spring?!?

About 30" of new snow in the last four days in the pass. I tried to avoid thinking about how great the skiing must be up there. I tried to focus on work. Then Saturday rolled around and I just knew I had to take a day of rest in the mountain temple. I had just unloaded the chair from the top of Peak 2 when a Ski Northwest photographer stuck his television camera in my face, asked me to say and spell my name, then gave me specific instructions to drop into Northern Exposure's almost untracked powder.  "Six million people are going to see this so ski slowly and conservatively and make it look like you're having fun" he said. Well, I got the last part right. With this much powder, part of having fun is making it cover your face, and that requires speed. Another photographer asked me to join him for another photo shoot, but I had already made plans to head into the backcountry with Dan and Fish. So we did. We took our own videos, which you can see in the YouTube link. Spring is just around the corner, or maybe around that next snow plastered tree at the bottom of this steep glade.  

  

Backcountry on a Pow Day

"Your ski's are not fat enough!" Was the advice we got from our friends as we used the lift at the pass to access the trail to Maiden Cabin. "You should just make some runs in the area instead of heading into the backcountry". But our minds were already made up before we left the house, and besides Erika had never been to the cabin. A late, afternoon start kept us from talking very much to our gravity giddy pals as they continued on their laps of the almost too deep fresh pow. A foot and a half the night before, the same predicted for this coming night again, and about an inch an hour was falling as we headed into deep untracked snow. A lot of the diamonds were covered and I occasionally had to vary our route due to drifted snow. We only spent about an hour at the cabin before heading back to make smooth velvety turns through three inches of new over groomed corduroy on the abandoned runs. Back at the car by seven and in the hot tub less than an hour later. Who said there's no friends on a powder day?  

Back to Work

Progress on my home conversion to a vacation rental is coming along slowly. My time is spread thin between working on other building projects in order to earn the money to buy materials and free up my time to work on my own job. This particular project doesn't pay very well and the guy I'm working for is a ruthless slave driver that never lets me get away from the job. I couldn't sleep last night and so got up at 2 in the morning to finish some framing and electrical on the new kitchen. After working until daylight I made a trip to Eugene to pick up sheetrock and more materials, drive back home, stock 40 sheets into the house, meet the plumber, help him finish the new tub installation, hang the sheetrock in the kitchen, finish the wiring and move my temp sink, dishwasher and fridge into the new location. Worked until 1, non stop for a 23 hour work day. But almost every morning, as I'm eating breakfast, (cooking on the woodstove since I still haven't pulled the wire for the new range location) I look out across the lake at the eagle sitting in his morning tree and find the inspiration to keep moving forward.