A flurry of snow

Glen at Riverside State Park

Yesterday it snowed all day: excellent light powdery snow. Glen, Joe, and I took a spin around RSP. My plan was to wake up early this morning and do some x-country skiing around Manito. But after gearing up and opening the door, it's clear the snow is now on the way out. It's like 40 degrees out there. The snow is mushy and wet and shitty. Shoulda taken the ski option last night.

Instead, I'll post some pics. There has been much Pugsley'ing over the last week or so.

Maddie was at Schweitzer with her cousin for a week of snowboarding. Liza and I went up and hung for a couple days. I brought the Pugs to try out the Nordic trails there. It was not rad. I think mainly this is because I rode the trail after a bunch of snow dumped on it and before it had been groomed. The views and scenery were beautiful, but I'm wishing I would've just skied.

Liza: bringing a gun to a gun fight.

I also broke a chain while out in the wild. It was a brand new SRAM chain. As I had in the past, I was carrying the trusty CT-5 chain tool. Which, again, saved my bacon and provided an opportunity to wallow in smugness... all for about $12. What a value!

The best part of the Schweitzer trip was riding down the 9-mile descent from the resort to the valley. I left at about 9 in the morning, so there was essentially no traffic going down the hill. There were approximately 1 million cars going up the mountain at that time though. There were patches of snow and gravel and ice and all sorts of funnery on the road down.

The road has a handful of serious switchbacks. I'd like to report that I railed into those turns at speed, but with the stream of traffic in the opposing lane, I figured it wouldn't be a good thing if I missed the line or drifted through the turn into (or under) a luxury SUV. So I played it cool.

And then there was yesterday's happy fun snow time with Glen and Joe. This was great because it was driving snow. Generally, I like the Pugs for dirt time more than snow time. But the conditions yesterday -- about 4-6 inches of freshly fallen snow -- were pretty much perfect for low-pressure, fat cruising.