With several winter storm warnings due to kick in at 5pm this afternoon, I figured this morning would be a good time to get the drive through Island Park – often a pretty hairy trip – before the weather closes in. So why would I be surprised to see it already snowing when I head out to pack the car at 7am this morning. Had to brush about a cm of pixie dust off the Rogue before heading north for West Yellowstone. Never stopped snowing and with visibility coming and going and road clearing sometimes non-existent it had its moments.
Was very happy to finally turn on to the recently plowed US20 and start the climb up to Island Park. After the Idaho back roads it was actually a pretty benign trip. Grabbed coffee and second breakfast at Yellowstone then pushed on to Big Sky. It had been a pretty slow trip and by the time I’d got the zoo cart from the parking area and organised ticket it was pretty close to midday.
But it was sure worth the trouble of getting here. They’re reporting 10 cm overnight and with light but steady snow all day was already more than that. So nice to get back to skiing IN the snow rather than ON it. Was fun just to let the skis run along slightly submerged with a spray of super light fluff blowing around your boots. Was traversing across from the top of the first lift when I found myself drawn down a run with LOTS of soft big bumps through the trees – not necessarily the smartest first run for the day but skiing groomers for 3 days will do that to you.
Headed down Africa to get back to base and start moving across the mountain and it had delightful (and much more manageable) bumps down one side of the run, a common feature for the day. Visibility down to not very much at the top of Powder Seeker, but after a stretch of skiing by braille visibility improved enough to reveal almost untracked snow leading down to Upper Morningside and a return to Lois Lane, the great little run through the trees I found last trip.
After lunch headed for Shedhorn where once again dodgy visibility at top but opened up to lots of lovely open snow and very few people. Getting close to lift closing so up for one more run down Africa where the snow was holding up better than my legs were.
Actually dry road down the magnificent Gallatin valley to Bozeman and once checked in settled down for the daily forecast trawling. While I’ve learned to treat them with decent doses of scepticism, it really does look promising for the next few days. Walked downtown for a beer and pizza. Snow forecast for in town tonight as well but nothing happening yet. All appendages crossed.