I’m up. It’s 6 am and everyone else is still in the sack. It’s spring and the outside temperatures are not that extreme but the fire in the stove died and when I get up the digs are cold. I try to start a fire without success and give up; I do not want to waste paper so I sit quietly in the cold. Cold of course is relative and I am not in danger of expiring, just slightly uncomfortable.
B, the fire man, gets it going and the place starts to warm up. Our two local hosts cut out today and leave the valley with its five occupants. It is a leisurely morning and we don’t even get on the road until 11 but we can’t climb and ski for more than 5 hours anyway.
We start on a new uptrack headed due north and into a bowl the local guys told us about yesterday. Posthumous Bowl, I believe. After walking across the top we try to determine what aspect will have ideal snow. Some discussion, remove the skins and off we go. 4 or 5 hundred meters vertical, all 5 of us have smiles on our faces by the bottom. Big smiles. The snow is mildly inconsistent but very skiable and about boot top deep. Heaven.
J and I make 4 long runs today. Yesterday it seemed quite hard but it is amazing how fast I get into the rhythm and the day is not hard until the last uptrack to home base. B tells us that it is about 200M vertical but quite steep. Steep it is and it is quite a slog for the last one of the day. Tired yes but the last run to the bottom of the valley was worth every step up. That Coke upon arrival goes down easy, very easy. I have to conserve my stash as the closest 7/11 is a long ways away. The cabin is warm when J and I arrive and we relax after a great day.
Sauna time.