Powder.

Soft, fluffy, fresh, deep powder.  It's something I've heard Mike talk about (often), but I had never really experienced it myself.

Until today.

Last night we rode up the street to snap some shots of the storm rolling in over the mountains...

This morning, we woke up to 3-4 inches of freshly fallen snow at our house.  The ski resort was reporting even more accumulation (they are higher in elevation), and the forecast called for the snow to continue ALL day.

Needless to say, my husband was a little bit excited.

Since we've lived here, we really haven't had any good snow accumulation.  We have gotten a few "storms" that delivered a few inches of snowfall at a time but then the temps quickly warmed up to the high 40's for DAYS afterward, so it would melt quickly.  I was actually excited to get our first real snow storm. I wanted to know what all the fuss is about.

So we got up early... left the house by 6:45 am and headed for Kirkwood Ski Resort.  We drove through Carson Valley to get there, so some of our drive was "snain" = snow + rain.  As we got closer to Kirkwood, it started looking more like this:

The last picture is a little dramatic.  It was definitely windy, and snowy, but overall the visibility was fair (at least I thought it was fair... but Mike was driving so he may have a different opinion).  

Because of the wind, a LOT of the resort was closed this morning.  Winds were gusting up to 45 mph at the base, and according to a Kirkwood employee, ski patrol was having a hard time just standing up on top of the ridge.  They were up there to assess the winds and potentially to set off some "hand-held charges" aka bombs to trigger slides in areas that were potentially hazardous.  

So, because of the limitation of lifts open... I actually got to ski a few runs with Mike.  I'm glad he was there to give me some pointers.  I was skiing his hand-me-down pocket rockets which are longer, wider, and fatter which = harder for me to control.  After all my practice on nicely groomed trails, I was back to beginner status when it came to skiing powder.  I wiped out.  At least 3 times that I can remember.  But it didn't hurt!  Because it was powder.    HOORAY for POWDER!  

When the winds calmed down a little, they started opening other lifts which meant: "Bye Mike.  See you in the lodge for lunch.  Have fun.  Be safe."  I kept skiing my same little lifts, practicing my turns in powder, and even getting some practice skiing trees.  It snowed.  ALL day.  You would take a run, and by the time you were riding up the lift, you could see your tracks getting filled in... slowly disappearing.  It's mother nature's version of "free refills."  

At the end of the day, I was cold and exhausted.  My quads were BURNING because apparently I lean back too far when I ski powder... I'm still working on that.  But I had SO much fun.  All day long I found fresh tracks to ski.  And when my skis would sink below the snow I really felt like I was floating.  It was awesome.  And a little addicting.  While riding the lift I would say: "Ok, one more run and then I'm gonna go warm up in the lodge."  But while skiing down I would think, "This is awesome!  Ok, ONE more run."

So, when we got home... tired and achey from our day of fun... we had approximately 6 inches -1 foot of snow to shovel from our stairs, walkway, and parking pad.  A workout after working out all day.  

So, in a nutshell: Powder is awesome.  I'm not so great at skiing it, but at least it doesn't hurt to fall.  And... I think I NEED more practice so I guess that means I'll HAVE to go skiing again tomorrow.  Oh darn.  

Miss ALL of y'all back east!  Come visit us SOON!  We have powder!