End of the line

End of the line
Originally uploaded by surferdwa.

The snow is disappearing slowly off of the Sangre de Cristo mountains, so Nikki and I made a run up this afternoon. I skinned up under Super Chief, across to Gayway, and then boot packed to the top of the Radio towers. The sky was incredible, the snow fabulous, and Nikki was a riot.

Nikki started out super pumped, running around like crazy. About half-way up she realized I wasn't close to being finished, so she started going at my pace, and on the ski down I would stop and wait for her to catch up... crash into the snow... pant... eat snow... get up and be ready to run the next section.

No easy way up today

No easy way up today
Originally uploaded by surferdwa.

The day started around 3:45 am. I woke up with anticipation of my alarm going off at 4:00 signaling a start to an adventure. I cooked some breakfast, packed up the car and headed up to Ski Santa Fe without waking up Tiffany.

Putting the skins on by headlamp and starting the ascent in the pre-dawn clouds which hung over the mountain was amazing. Quite. The only sound was the wind in the trees and my skins on the snow. I headed up the Millennium lift stopping for pictures and to catch my breath in the 18°F morning.

The descent was beautiful. Sticking to the steep trees for the first half, I was able to score un-skied powder turn after turn. The second half the sun had begun to peek through the mist and I bombed some blue runs, eventually finishing my run at the car. Gotta love it.

Southern New Mexico Weekend

Trekking
Originally uploaded by surferdwa.

Tiffany, the girls and I all packed into the Jetta for a trip down south this weekend. We attended Brett and Kristy's wedding on Saturday, crashed in Las Cruces Sunday, and took the long way home on Monday through Alamogordo.

Highlights of the weekend were:

Watching Andy groove out to his music ahead of us on the highway.
Reception in super old las Cruces.
Drives through the pecan groves and hikes a long the Rio.
Hucking off of dunes at White Sands
Hiking on lava flows in The Valley of Fire
Picking up a 5 lbs. bag of pistachio nuts at "Heart of the Desert".