The winter roadshow started this week. After a dry winter so far, I boarded a plane Monday morning for Salt Lake City, and soon Denver, where snow has been sparse. Like clockwork, the PNW wound up square in the sights of a big line of winter storms that have started to deliver the mid-winter powder cycle.
This is the busy stretch, both for personal life and work. My ski season goes on pause for a month or so here, while I travel with my team to tradeshows in SLC and Denver, introducing new 2012-2013 products from my brands, then continues through grassroots events that we have built up, like the Tubbs Romp to Stomp Out Breast Cancer Snowshoe Series. It’s a long stretch, and always hard to get in the relaxation, skiing, home chores and everything else I want to get done in the week or weekend before leaving. This year was no different, but the weekend was at least a success, with a wonderfully slow Saturday followed up by a great day of skiing at Alpental on Sunday.
The big snows weren’t forecast until later in the week, but Lulu, Chris and I made the best out of 7″ of new on Sunday. With firm boilerplate under the new snow, especially on steeper rollovers, the lines of the day were the ones that snaked through Alpental’s myriad gullies and hard to access areas. Once the backcountry gates opened, the snow got deeper and deeper, with another 4-5″ snowing on us over the course of the day.
I couldn’t have imagined a better way to wrap up at home before the long roadtrip. While packing late at Sunday night was a challenge (I almost forgot to pack pants, seriously), the feeling of a good powder day will stay with me for this stretch. Hard to capture all in words, but below is a quick pic I snapped of Lulu, making a couple steep turns in the Alpental BC before dropping into a thigh-deep gully.
I hope my WA friends get out in all the new snow over these next couple days and enjoy it for me. More travel photos from the tradeshows to come soon…