Powdery Delight

With about 5" of fresh powdery snow, especially higher on the mountain, this might've been my best ski day of the season and perhaps ever. I was stoked, putting my new Line Sick Day 110's to work with abandonment. Early on, Jacob was off with Lane and Jordan boarding down a few steep shoots while Mindy & Bella were with me. At first. Bella had a challenging time navigating the powder but eventually got the hang of it. This was the kind of snow I'd been dreaming about all season. As the day wore on the snow near the bottom got a little heavy and thick, especially near Hood River Meadows. I spent most of my day skiing of Shooting Star. What fun that was!

We took a break but only a brief one. With epic conditions, I wanted more! The last couple hours Mindy, Bella and I went in search of the black diamond bowls off Hood Express. I wasn't sure how to get over to Two Bowl, the groomed bowl we skied two years ago. I found One Bowl, which had it own sign right off the top of the lift. I went out there while Mindy & Bella waited for my assessment. Oh shit! I told them not to follow. Not only was is steep, steep, but there were enormous moguls at the very top of the run too, though they were soft, at least the top 10-12" of so. They skied on to find Two Bowl. As for me, there wasn't really a reasonable way to get back up. I committed to skiing down. I picked my line and went for it.

I did fine on the top 2/3s, the powder in the bowl far deeper than it was on the main runs. Had to be more than foot deep. Near the bottom my right edge got caught in the snow and my ski popped off. Bam! I was down and buried in soft snow. One ski and pole were barely visible in the powdery snow, and the ski was just out of my reach. And because it was so steep and soft, it was hard working getting up no more than 3 or 4 feet to retrieve it. I worked up a sweat just getting my ski. By then David was heading up Hood Express and skiing down the groomers. He had fun with the fact that I was struggling to get my ski on after I poked fun at him earlier for not digging the powder. Hey, all's fair.

Looking southwest, I could see Mindy & Bella skiing down Two Bowl. They spotted me too, still struggling to get back in my right ski. No matter what I did I just couldn't get on stable enough ground to get my ski back on. I slid down a little looking for more level ground. Ended up skiing down a ways on one ski with the other still in my hands. Mindy and Bella made their way over to my way to assist. By then I was soaked in sweat though still having fun. The snow at the base of the bowl was a foot deep too, making it extraordinarily difficult to get my ski back on. Bottom line, it took a while and a lot of sweat to get my ski back on.

We did one more run and called it a day. It was 4pm, the end of the ski day. We headed back to the condo. The road down the mountain was just wet, now ice or snow. Good job Meadows crew! Even more snow forecasted for Thursday, our last ski day of the trip and the season. We stopped at the Govy General Store on our way back to the condo to pick-up a few things necessary for our planned Mexican fiesta.

Back at the condo we mixed up mimosa's (champagne & OJ) and headed to the big hot tub. This time is was chalked full of folks. Most folks weren't aware of its existence earlier in the week as it's tucked nicely into the trees and often mistaken as another outdoor pool. We squeezed in and conversed with the others. Met a nice local couple that offered to show me the ropes of Heather Canyons on Thursday, conditions allowing. Spent about an hour at the hot tub. The entire Columbus contingent was present - all nine of us.

We were expecting Glenn to join us around 7pm. Remembered we still needed taco seasoning. Texted Glenn asking him to pick some up between Troutdale and Govy Camp. Agreed. It was 7pm by the time all of us were showered and ready to walk down to the McVey/Harmer condo (just a few doors down). Glenn showed up around 730pm. We finished whipping up 3lbs of taco meat, tossed it in a crock pot then headed down the way.

Darwin whipped up some of his infamous guacamole. Man is it good. David helped in the kitchen. He likes to cook just as much as Darwin. Ate around 9pm I'm guessing, and boy was it good. Like we did on Monday evening, Mindy and I did kitchen clean-up duty. Lots of dirty dishes to wash. Didn't want to eat and run. We hung out with our friends till about 10pm when we'd all had it. Headed back to our condo for one last night of sleep in Govy Camp.