Guest Post: Fresh, Fluffy Snow to Start the Week Off Right

Light snow was falling when I went to bed last night, so I set the alarm for dawn and fell asleep with fingers crossed.  When the alarm buzzed this morning, I peered out my window, didn't see much snow, and decided to press the snooze button.   (It was Monday morning, after all.)  An hour or so later, I woke up to a sunny sky.   We only got a few inches overnight, but the snow went a long way, blowing up under your skis and sparkling in the sunshine.  And the mountain was quiet.  Really quiet.  Even the Female Ski Bum is out of town. So, like a good ski sister, here I am: happy to stand in (and ski!) for her.

Bright blue sky

Killington is CLOSED?!

Despite the rain just beginning, Vespi and I were so ready to go skiing this morning. We had gotten a few inches last evening - a beautiful few inches. We knew the snow would be soft and luscious, full of creamy cheesey wonderful goodness...

...and the Search for the Holy Grail

What is Your Name?
FemaleSkiBum
What is your Quest?
To Seek Out Freshies!
What is your favorite color?
Blue. No Pink! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh

There was great joy today as an entire inch of fresh power coated the frozen solid ground here in Killington, VT. Our dedicated mission as ski bums is to seek out all possible inches of fresh snow on the mountain...

Oh, we went in search of the powder.
Wind Blown Dreams,
Dust on Crust
Rock Solid Blue Bumps with Snow Filled Troughs
oh yeah...
and fresh groomies.

really fresh groomies

If you looked closely you could see the snow by the trees...

No, no...I meant really closely :)

But I don't mind skiing more than a person's fair share of this:

Cause I know I'm gonna get to ski this:

Oh yeah, baby!
Get me some :)

Skiing is Skiing, no matter how little Snow.

It's the East Coast.
We love ice, and rocks and skiing snowmaking pipe.
We love death cookies and vibrating groomers.
We love hearing the chunks under our feet even though it looks so nice.
We love the P-Tex and the Diamond Stone.
We love picking our line through the stone and the moss.
We love hard pack, and wind blaring in your face.
We love the mountain.

I went skiing today.
And that's what matters to me.

May You Find the Spirit of the Mountains Within You,
FemaleSkiBum

Skating in Black & White

Falling in Love with Skate Skiing

Wind Swirls on My Top Coat

Have you ever noticed the snow dancing on your top coat?

Down for the Count

Totally out of it.

Went snowshoeing last night and skiing this morning, but way to unfunctiona/loopy/I will definitly write something either totally stupid or completely inapproprite to blog about them.

hopefully tomorrow you will be inundated with updates about skibum life in central VT, but for now, go to the Dew Tour & have some fun while I curl up on my couch my a bottle of water and a little self-misery/pain/i just wanna go skiing but i can barely move blanket.

Black Snowshoe Trail

We head out into the darkness, honestly unaware of where we are going. With only the trail markers and headlamps to guide us, we disembarked from the Mountain Meadows Touring Center and headed out toward the lake.

Skate Skiing!!

Push. And Glide. And Push. And Glide.

Into the Trees!!

The agonizing wait of the past few days culminated in today's joyous rediscovery of dancing through the snow covered trees on my favorite skis :)

Is this what Detox Feels Like?

Today was a Powder Day.

After what seems like months and months of desperate waiting, pathetic attempts at snow dances, toast upon toast to various available ski gods and snowmakers, and day after day of the classic east coast hardpac of my childhood memories, we finally have snow in Killington. Trees that have stood with only themselves for company are finally filled with generations of yahoos, searching for that great powder shot. Tele skiers are dropping their knees, silently bragging about the thigh deep powder while bros are hip checking their smeared turns to get theirs. The howling winds of the night before brought beautiful and deep drifts of snow that would make even a west coast skier grin with delight.

Excuses, Excuses...

There are some mornings where I just don't feel like skiing.
I know, I know.
This sounds horrible and should really never be something that enters my mind or crosses my lips.
But there it is.

Welcome Home, Winter

Tweet Tweet!
My alarm goes off way too early this morning...but then I remember...
It's actually snowing out today!!
Jumping out of bed, it's pitch dark and I trip over Vespi laying at the foot of the bed, and then wake up the boyfriend by grabbing the covers off the bed in a desperate attempt to break my fall.
Definitely not my best start.

Almost There!!

What a wonderful change from last week out there on the mountain

Sunset, Axes & Ice

When the skiing has consistently been icy, there is only one thing left to do...

Go Ice Climbing!!

A Scary Morning

Some mornings are just plain weird.

Instead of pulling on my ski clothes this morning, I rubbed my eyes and got right into the shower.

What?!

As the water hit my face, I woke up and realized what I was doing. Jumping out of the shower, I threw on my ski stuff, grabbed my gear and headed up the mountain. Skinning in 20 degree weather with wet hair is interesting, but not impossible - especially when there is fresh snow to be had.

At least I was clean for a little while.

May You Find the Spirit of the Mountains Within You,
FemaleSkiBum :)

That Light, Fluffy Snow...

It snowed this morning, And all through the day. A light fluffy snow That you could just blow away

WE GO FAST.

Crispy. Squeaky. Hard. Firm. Flat.
Fast.

Sunset @ Deer Leap

We need to "get out of town" for a while, yet we don't have enough energy to actually go somewhere. The result? A hike up through the ice & snow lined trail up to The summit of Deer Leap.

You Gotta Have Faith

"Faith is Believing in Things When Common Sense Tells You Not To"
- Miracle on 34th Streeet

I know it's pretty hard to get through the January Thaw - especially when we haven't really had any snow to begin with. Skiers are short-sighted people by nature.

Skinny Skis!!

What better way to end out the year than with a cross-country ski tour with my teenaged cousin through the trails at Mountain Meadows