First Turns of the Season

After a late night out and a long week, it would have been nice to sleep in this morning....but instead, I crawled out of bed bleary eyed, scraped off the windshield of the truck and headed up toward Bridger with some friends. There weren't many folks in the lot; today was the infamous Cats v. Grizzlies game, so I can only assume that much of town was keg and egging instead of skiing. I think I skied Bridger Bowl once 10 years ago, but driving up the canyon was unfamiliar and strikingly beautiful. The canyon floor was wide, with gentle walls that rounded up to steep, rocky ridge lines. We started skiing in the shade with frozen fingers, skins gliding over packed, wind buffed crud and hoar frost. As the sun rose higher in the sky, I ascended too, fingers thawing. When we crested the ridge, the views to the west opened. The flat, brown fields rolled out in small square parcels. To the east, there were several distinct mountain ranges which deserve further exploration. We dug a quick pit to examine the layers of snow and saw a firm layer 8 inches down, another crust several inches deeper, and sugary, unstable layers above the ground. The snowpack in Montana is quite different from Washington. The days of high pressure between storms dry out the surface crystals and compromise the snowpack. But today, the top layers were solid enough for a nice descent. Our path was slightly tracked powder, and the turns flowed smoothly (except for the occasional piece of barely covered rock). I'm sure with a bit more coverage the possibilities are tremendous. And even with the thin snowpack, the turns put a smile on my face. It is officially winter.