Early monsoons

It has been a wet-afternoon week in the valley, with sunshine opening the day, followed by a few hours of the big white puffies, and then gray and wet afternoons. The result is that the valley is a luminous green. There is still dirty snow on the high peaks and the cool weather has slowed the river run off. It remains relatively quiet in town, which seems to be enjoying its spring off-season, thanks very much.

Off-seasonous

It happens. You leave town. It feels good. You return. It feels okay. It is still off-season and quiet in town, so returning and then immediately thinking of getting away again is common. But trails are being ridden and hiked, peaks are being skied, and rivers are being run. The snowpack is now below average for this time of year and the snowmelt is expected to run early and quick. It was a pretty good winter for skiing, all in all. December was great. It came thick and steady for two weeks and there were the lightest holiday crowds on the hill in years. Trails had great coverage and flat bumps due to so little traffic. Corkscrew Gully one day was just perfectly amazing. Anyway, just pleasant memories now that burble up while making fresh plans and we will re-visit them in more detail in the days to come.