Winter's Finally Here!

IT SNOWED!!

Yes it snowed!!  Hood finally got a decent powder dump!  Woo-hoo!!  Happy, happy, happy, happy!

Hooray for snow!

Yep, 12 inches of wonderful, light, fluffy, non-Cascade-concrete powder snow fell up on the mountain overnight Saturday.  And - lucky us - Kim and I had already planned to ski Meadows on Sunday.  Timing is everything!

Kim catching snowflakes

Of course, Kim and I weren't the only ones with Sunday ski plans.  A large portion of the Portland Metro area powderhounds had the same idea.  We met most of those folks on the road to Meadows.  Traffic was extremely heavy and slow.

The mother of all lift lines

And then we met everyone again in the mother of all lift lines.

Kim freezing in the 35-minute lift line

It was a long, slow 35-minute shuffle through the maze of people for a cold, windy lift ride.  When Kim and I finally got on a chair, we cheered.  And we got the other two people on the chair with us to cheer too!

Stuck in lift line hell

By the time we got to the top, Kim had already decided we weren't skiing back down to that same lift just to sit in line again.  The long wait had chilled her to the bone.  So we skied over to the lodge to warm up and take a hot chocolate break.

Colorful flags and tents at the main lodge

After a warm-up and a great cup of cocoa, we were ready for some powder action.  It was snowing hard and the new-fallen flakes were beautiful. 

Powder happiness for Kim

I suggested to Kim we try the Gemini run.  It hadn't been groomed, but that was just fine with us.  The slope was graced with knee-deep soft, fluffy pow.  And in the great morning rush, this run had been forgotten.  It was hardly tracked at all!  All this deep pow, all ours!

I express my glee in finding a deep powder stash

I had my telemark skis on that day.  In the past I've had trouble making tele-turns in deep powder.  But today, the tele-gods were with me.  The knee dropped easily, the turns came smoothly.  I discovered there is nothing more fun that doing tele-turns in deep snow.  The flakes were flying up so high, I think I even got a few face shots.

Makin' tracks

Our run down Gemini was so epic, Kim and I braved the lift line and cold, windy ride to the top and did it again. 

Knee deep in pow

Yeah, the slopes were crowded, the lift lines long, and the driving to and from treacherous.  But we got to ski in lots of dry, fluffy powder and that made it all worthwhile.

Welcome winter!  I'm glad you're back!

:)