Kansas

We received several inches of snow this past week. Finally. What a difference a few inches makes! The photo of fresh tracks coming down from the hikable summit of Treble Cone towards the top of the Saddle Quad is from this past Thursday. It's a little funny here: the moment there's even the slightest fresh powder to be had, people will strap on their ridiculously fat, long powder skis and hike the summit to get fresh tracks. Needless to say, I'm waiting for the real thing but I'm glad to have the additional cover in the meantime.

I skied into the Motatapu Chutes today with a group of locals I teach every Saturday, all good skiers. It was the first time I'd skied these chutes, the first time I'd even seen them up close, and definitely the most imposing terrain I'd ever skied while teaching. I could have done without the insane traverse to get out high enough to avoid the 40 minute hike out of the bottom of the runs, but it was worth it. There's a very big storm on the way and so I hope to free ski the chutes soon - I'll make sure to post some photos. We're definitely not in Kansas anymore.