Three years in a row now, my buddy d-low has organized the Sourdough Nordic Traverse an ~13 miles tour on skis that makes wonderful way to see much of the Nordic areas around Boulder.
Both d-low and I were a little apprehensive about this trip as there has been little snow in the past two weeks and the temps were unseasonably warm.
Our friend Wendy went out the day before (Saturday) and reported wet, lumpy, and sticky snow that was more like April than January.
Luckily it snowed Saturday night into Sunday morning. The Nordic Ski Gods smiled upon us!
Eleven of us started much later than we would have liked due to a larger-than-normal futz factor. Plus, we had to dig out spots for the vehicles.
Once we were on our way, we made steady, if slow, progress up the trail.
We climbed a hill, skied down to a valley at the Peace Bridge landmark.
Gee..can ya tell we are near Boulder ?!??!?!
The clumpy snow made us all have an impromptu repair at one spot. Excess wax was scraped, ice was removed and some even added glide wax.
Some of my favorite winter weather is experienced in these conditions: Snow heavy on the trees. A quiet in the air that only seems to happen with the gently falling snow and the gentle swish of skis.
One last climb and we started the wonderful descent into Peaceful Valley.
Hungry and slightly dehydrated, most of us went to Kathmandu where we scared down bottomless cups of chai.
A most excellent day.
Until next year!