DEEP POWDER

There was more powder at Lost Trail resort today than I have ever skied there.  I am sure there have been days with deeper powder, I just have not been fortunate enough to ski them.  Took nephew Riley and niece Hailey (Ham) up this morning.  Riley and I stood in line to get on one of the first chairs - and we were not disappointed.  It was pretty cold so the powder was light and they said they had 20 inches.  It was even deeper over on chair 4 where we were getting face shots!  My mustache was frozen white real quick.  Did a number of runs out in Sacjac in what Riley described as "awesome" powder.  Then we went back to the other side and skied with Hailey down Femur Ride and Moose Creek.  This old uncle was getting pretty tired by then.  I headed into the lodge for a cocoa, and they continued until the lifts closed.  Oh, to be young again!

Riley out in Sacjac.

 Riley and Ham dropping into Moose Creek.

Ham's hair was frozen stiff sticking out of her helmet.

   

ANOTHER GREAT POWDER DAY

We are getting some great snow for skiing.  There was 15 inches of snow in the past 24 hours up at the ski resort when I reported for duty this morning.  Made some great turns with first tracks down a few runs.  The out of bounds area was really good once you got out there.  Getting there was a little tough though.  The wind the past few days had blown a lot of snow off the exposed areas so had to be really careful going through some rocky areas.

We had a great Christmas and hope everyone else had one also.

Mike and I skied a lot of powder in the sacjac today and it snowed most of the day.

POWDER DAY

Headed up to the ski resort today with 16 inches of new powder on the hill since it closed last Sunday.  I did not make the first chair, but was on the fourth.  There were a lot of people there.  The word was out that we had a lot of snow.  Snowbowl resort just out of Missoula had only 6 inches.  So a lot of skiers from Missoula were up on the hill enjoying the powder.  And a great day it was.  Skied until my legs were getting rubbery.  For the most part, I just skied by myself up and down the out of bounds area.  Did stop to take two pictures of the beautiful day on the slope and in the valley.  Hope we have many of these kinds of days this winter.

 This is near the north end of sacjac out of bounds area.  

Highway 93 comes up this little valley from Sula to Lost Trail Pass.

COOOMBAAAA

I finally put my new powder/back country skis to the test yesterday.  I had only skied about a 1/2 mile on them last year because the snow was just not good.  Well, we had some great powder yesterday morning at Lost Trail so I grabbed them out of the box on top of the Jeep.  I was really impressed with the K2 Coomba ski.  It is a very wide ski and I got it in a 181 so there is a lot of area gliding a long the snow.  The narrowest part of the ski is 102 mm.  Most skis are around 70 - 80.  Anyway, it is an awesome powder ski.  Handles the crud very well also.  Takes a little more effort to turn them on the groomed runs, but I can live with that as I will ski mostly powder on them anyway.  Made some great runs with another skier, Mike, who skis as fast and hard as I do.  We also ventured out to the out of bounds area.  That was my first time out there this year.  It is still a little short on snow with a few rocks and trees showing.  And a few rocks that are just under the surface which I hit.  I just finished fixing the bottom of the skis with Ptex which is a base repair candle.  I filled in over 2 feet of gouges.  Also waxed them up and am ready for the powder on Thursday. 

We have lost most of our snow around the place.  We have had rain and wind for the last two days.  Temperatures have been in the 40s around here and saw 50 on a thermometer in town today.  We have some ice left on the roads though.

 Some of the out of bounds area with our tracks.

Mike waiting for me on the track back to the ski resort.

A LITTLE POWDER SKIING

Had a pretty good powder day at Lost Trail yesterday.  Not many people up there and some pretty good powder.  Skied with Ike and Brenda and made quite a few good powder runs.  It is snowing tonight and the forecast is for more snow all night.  Will be headed up the pass tomorrow morning.

Snow coming down tonight.  Most of our snow has melted with the warm temps and rain. 

MAYBE LAST PICTURE WITH CAMERA

We had some elk down in the meadow yesterday morning when we went to feed.  Most were over in the neighbors hayfield, but there was at least one calf still down with the horses.  Gary had called and said he saw them when they headed into town for a doctors appointment so I took my camera with me when we went down to feed.  I did get a few pictures - nothing special though.  When we were headed back the camera fell off the dashboard and hit the 4 wheel drive gear shift right on the lcd monitor.  Well that sure broke it.  I took it down to local camera repair shop and they shipped it off to a Canon repair place.  Won't know if it can be fixed for a week or so.  Not good.

A calf having trouble getting through the fence.

Click to enlarge and you can see the elk in the hayfield.  Hay we are feeding in the foreground. 

Joe is a little nervous about the calf elk running around trying to get through the fence.

WILDLIFE

We had lots of wildlife around here today.  35+ head of elk were bedded down in the trees south of our place this morning when Gary and I went to feed.  They are eating in the neighbor's hayfield at night and spending the day just in the timber either in our place or one of the neighbors.  They have sure calmed down since hunting season is over.   Although I did not try to sneak up to them to take a picture or two as the snow is really crunchy and noisy.  We also have deer coming in the yard trying to get a snack or two.   It was cold and foggy around here today.  I think the high was 17 degrees. 

This years fawn is in pretty good shape.  Liked eating under the bird feeder.

SKIING UPDATE

Went skiing today as they were going to open up chair 4 which provides access to nearly the same amount of terrain as all other lifts combined.  This was the first day this area was open so untracked powder was available.  I won't say it was "fresh" powder though.  It was a number of days old and some parts were very wind blown at the top.  But pretty consistent so it skied pretty well.  The area did not open until about 1130 so skied one run with the old guys early and then skied alone. Pretty well just going up and down.  No break for lunch, well I had some gorp and water while waiting for the patrol to open the ribbon across the access trail to chair 4.  Was going to ski some with Ike and Brenda, but never did find them on the hill.  Saw them early on one chair going up when I was coming down and then at the end of the day.   My legs are pretty tired tonight - going to take some days of skiing to get into ski shape!

Did not take a picture of powder tracks until near the very end.

The trees at the top of the lift area were covered with frost even in the wind.

FIRST DAY OF SKIING

I headed up to our little local ski resort, Lost Trail, yesterday and did a little powder skiing.  We have a good start to our ski season this year with lots of snow.  Lot of high hopes of a great ski season this year.  After last year, we think we deserve it.  Of course Connie did not get to go.  Her knee is really healing well we think.  Next year she will be out on the slopes without any pain. 

I skied with the "old guys" yesterday.  I was one of the youngest I am sure.  Had a great time and the snow was great. 

My seven skiing buddies for the day.  Had a great time finding little powder stashes.

HORSES HOME

We brought our horses home for the winter.  They have been down at Tracy's to eat the hay that has grown since we cut the last crop in August and to get them out of here during hunting season.  We had a forecast for a lot more snow and were having to haul hay over there to feed them, so it just made sense to bring them back up here.  I think they were glad to get back up in the trees.  Although we still have elk running around, they are not being spooked by the hunters as there were last week.  That means that the fences will be in better shape.  This evening there were 30 some head in the hay field just to the east of our meadow.  That probably made Jack a little nervous.  He does not like elk nor moose.  Deer are okay though.  Funny old horse.

I am planning on going skiing tomorrow for the first time this season.  If they get half the snow the forecasters are saying, I will get to ski some pretty decent powder - although it might be a little heavy.  But you know how those guys are wrong most of the time.  This evening we got rain instead of snow which kind of bummed me out.  There is snow falling now though.  Connie will not be going skiing this year because of her knee replacement.  I will miss her.  She is really doing well in her recovery.  Walking and doing exercises faithfully.  Next year she will be on the slopes for sure.    

The horses eating hay in the meadow.

Brother and sister Jack and Baylee enjoying the same flake of hay.  

And a single hen turkey has been hanging around under our bird feeder for the last few days.