Snow Season 25-26

[SteveR]

Winter was slow getting here, which was fine with me as I was still enjoying our extended fall, riding dry dirt in shorts a mere 10 days ago. All good things must come to an end though, and it's time to embrace the white stuff!
A nice dump of fluff made for a great first day of backcountry powder, a week ago:

Surprisingly, we had our favourite easy access ski zone to ourselves, other than a handful of snowshoers who thankfully did not trample my skin track.

The skiing was excellent!

Back up for another 3 runs before darkness began to fall. The highway accessing this area closed on Dec. 1, so we were lucky to have such a fine start to ski season.
A return on Saturday to that now closed highway, to ski the "back door" shortcut to the Kananaskis Lakes fire lookout.

Despite the brilliant sun, a cold overnight low and moderate winds made this day a frigid reminder of what winter in Alberta entails.

Topping out at the lookout in the face of a cold south wind. The views were nice, though!

Frozen fingers panorama, before a quick lunch and a fast fun ski back down.
So, whadaya got to keep this thread going? Doesn't have to be skiing- hiking and snowshoeing welcome. As long as you don't posthole the ski tracks!

 

[Ugly]

Frozen fingers panorama, before a quick lunch and a fast fun ski back down.
So, whadaya got to keep this thread going? Doesn't have to be skiing- hiking and snowshoeing welcome. As long as you don't posthole the ski tracks!

You need to send some of that southward so that we can continue this thread... you have to get high like @Perry 's other post, to get into any good snow in Utah.

This was one of the "snow flurries" on Sunday.


Only the lightest of dusting stuck in the cracks in the shadows.
The Henry's and Boulder top got some. My yard had a skiff when I arrived home Monday night, and we have the lightest of snow falling right now too.

 

[wick e. pedia]

I've been shoveling in Denver all day after what feels like a full 9 month break. I know the mountains got a bit this week, too, and I-70 north is supposed to get a good dump this weekend.

Hoping to make it up for some turns at some point next week!

 

[SteveR]

Careful what you wish for, @Ugly! When we do get into the depths of winter, I'll be wishing that the desert was only a handful of hours away.
But one has to make the most of the situation. Which we have this week, taking advantage of mild weather and decent xc skiing conditions in the foothills closer to home. Bonus- this recreation area allows off-leash dogs.

 

[zionsky]

We got a dusting here in NC today

 

[TheMountainRabbit]

Careful what you wish for, @Ugly! When we do get into the depths of winter, I'll be wishing that the desert was only a handful of hours away.
But one has to make the most of the situation. Which we have this week, taking advantage of mild weather and decent xc skiing conditions in the foothills closer to home. Bonus- this recreation area allows off-leash dogs.
View attachment 146546

View attachment 146545

Jealous. I've got my skis tuned and boots all ready to go, but not many options down here yet...

 

[SteveR]

Lots of snow along the divide in the last few days, but a high avalanche hazard. Yesterday, the skiing on groomed safe xc trails was a bit slow due to another overnight dump, but it was a great day out in mild weather with silky smooth skiing.



Our friend Philip (in blue) turned 84 recently. An inspiration!

I'm standing on a bridge here.

As an aside- these photos were from my iphone 16, as my much loved Lumix LX10 is ailing. I don't really enjoy phone photography, and the LX 10 easily beats the phone in almost every aspect of image quality. A bit of research shows that decent pocketable compact cameras are almost completely extinct now, and those that are still made are PRICEY. Maybe I'll have to visit Scat's House Of Cameras!

 

[wsp_scott]

How much snow did you get? For a groomed trail, that looks pretty deep. I wish we had xc skiing in Kentucky

 

[futurafree]

For those of us who are not accustomed to the strange white stuff, here's an interesting video about the snow fences in Wyoming. I always thought were only wind breaks for the comfort of cattle, which, in retrospect, is kind of silly:

 

[wsp_scott]

Cool video, I've only been in Wyoming in the summer so I've never seen the fences in action.

 

[zionsky]

As an engineer, I found this very interesting. There are a bunch around the Denver airport but I typically fly thru in spring and fall so I've never seen them with snow

 

[b.stark]

We don't have any permanent snow fences where I am, but in bad winters sometimes people will put up temporary ones (cheap plastic "safety" fence and hay bales are popular options).