School is Out, Winter is ON!

My blog went dormant for a while for a good reason. There wasn't anything to report! Unless of course you find me sitting on the couch for hours and hours a day, working away on graduate papers interesting... Last Friday, I sent off 35 pages worth of final papers and have been rewarded with 3 weeks off until my next class.

Within 30 min. of submitting my last paper, Nate and I were out the door to Teton Pass for my first ski of the season. Just putting together my gear, checking my batteries in my beacon and layering up had me giddy and practically bouncing off the walls of the living room. Although the skiing wasn't amazing, I was just tickled to be out there with my two most favorite ski partners:

Nate and Maddy. Snow=Smiles

The next day was a totally different scene. It dumped all night and day, so we waited until mid-morning to head out to Windy Ridge. We had a great group to tour with and laughed the whole way to the top. Now, some people would question why in the world would I want to climb for 2 hours for one run when we have ski passes to one of the best areas in the country. When you're blasted in the face with uber-light powder and haven't crossed a single track the whole way down, it all makes sense. There's as much fresh powder skiing out there as you want to work for. Plus, the peace and quiet of the backcountry is simply intoxicating.

A big winter storm is supposed to hit starting late tonight and will hopefully add another 10"-12" to our skimpy base. The backcountry and Targhee are skiing well, but the Village is so darn rocky that it takes a lot of snow to fill it in. The plan is to wait for it to accumulate a bit in the morning, do some storm skiing on the pass tomorrow afternoon and then go to the Village for the unveiling of the new TRAM!! Finally. Music, fireworks and who knows what else will get us all psyched to give the new cars a try this weekend. After 2 years of having to ride 4 different chairs to get to the top, the magic box is back!

Of course, I am still training for biking. More on that later....