Breakable Wind Board
Sticky Snow
Excited, here on Dunderberg Pk. Low wind, decent snow coverage on this ENE slope, bright sunshine, and not a cloud.. a backcountry skiers dream, so I thought..
A little breakable wind board, so I cruise higher in pursuit of better conditions.. maybe powder..
An hour later I find the reverse.. Climbing temperatures and direct sun have done it again.. created sticky clumping snow on top of the breakable wind board.. ugh.. bad combo.., so I stop and pull out my scraper clearing the big clumps off my skins.. Apply my nonstick wax and attempt to carry on.. Nope.. not happening.. still clumping.. Even in the shade, forward progress is slow and difficult.. moving like a glacier… My climbing skins are soaked.. I'm reduced to being a hiker with a ridiculous ungainly load of Sierra cement on my skis.. Grandpaw is getting a real leg workout today.. Spotting a stump, I hobble over, sit down.. take in the Intoxicating view and refuel.. Feeling the High Mountain High… drug free.. well a little caffeine.. Yes indeed, there's something mystical even magical about being at 10,000 feet in this ‘Range of Light’ as John Muir referred to California’s Sierra Nevada.. Words will never capture this.. none exist.. I just want to sit here and do nothing but look for the rest of my life.. look and breathe..
For a while, I appreciate Freedom from thought… then concerns about friends in the LA fires.. creep in.. I know exactly how they feel, the ones that lost their homes.. What it’s like to actually fight that fire and have the house go down anyway..
Three years ago.. what a lesson that was.. but that’s another story..
I pray they and their Guardian Angels, those fighting, and assisting the displaced are Blessed…
About to post hole down to the road…
Peace… We Got This..
My thoughts and prayers go out to my friends in Southern California, dealing with the fires..
then put my skis on my pack and post hole back to the road… where snow cats have compacted the snow, making it much more energy efficient…