Lost Trail and Chief Joseph Pass - Sunday, Jan.18th

Olin and I decided to go up to the ski area to test out a new area I had been wanting to check out. We had never dropped in there before but I had been eyeing it for some time. Conditions set up perfectly so we opted to take advantage of the blue-bird weather and significant settling of the snow pack induced by the January thaw and drop in. Olin opted for no poles and his 65 cm Karhu little puppy skis. I went with no poles and my 183 Atomic Kailas' rigged out with G3 Targa Ascents a cople of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and a reindeer Pez dispenser in case things got dicey. We were fogged-out in the valley. By the time we got to Hannon Memorial the fog was gone and the temp rose from 16 to 29F. The day was beautiful and we wasted no time. By 11am we had nailed 7 laps on the rope tow. I made nice long back and forth wedge turns holding Olin with my arms keeping him between my. He liked to shuffle his skis back and forth as if to go faster! At the bottom he wanted to ski by himself through the line to the rope tow where I would pick him up and carried him in one arm with the other grabbing the rope back up for another run. We saw other friends: Thad and Emerson, Ben and Max, Aaron and his wife with Drew and Claire. It was a perfect place to be.

Olin was really tired so we checked out the snowmobiles and fueled up in the lodge before heading over to Chief Joseph Pass. After a few skates Olin was asleep in the Chariot. The XC trails were in the best shape I had seen them. The temps were in the mid thirties but there was a coolness to the air which kept the snow in good packed powdery form. We skied out past the warming hut to the Gold Medal Loop. Olin slept the whole way and was so tired he even fell back asleep for the car ride home after some soothing (thanks Pez dispenser!).