Saturday, April 09, 2011

Short strokes

The end of the ski season is pretty much here. Last couple of weekends we have lucked out and had excellent weather - sunny and warm - with cold nights to keep the snowpack intact. The skiing was really nice and the "warm rock sitting" was first rate. Sadly, no matter how nice it may be, the end is almost nigh and time to think of summer activities.

Yellow line peaking thru
The yellow line "bleeding" through is never a good sign

Skied today along Ridge road and the ribbon of snow was broken in a few places. In some spots it was only a few feet while in others the walk was a little longer. I only took my skis off once and trudged along the grassy banks in others. Tomorrow (at some point) the rains are going to start and a couple of days of warm rain should transform those small portages into large ones. Overall the season has been pretty good. I skied 72 times which is pretty much dead on average for me so I'll take it. With the tiny amount of snow we had back in January I didn't expect to get up that high. Luckily, the second half of the season caught up nicely and the spring skiing this year has been top notch. While I ski on the weekends now I'm also following the spring classics in Europe (Tour of Flanders, Paris Roubaix...) and my bike keeps looking hopefully up at me from the corner of the basement.

Not quite cycling season just yet
Time to tune up the bike?

I often say if I can ski into April it's been a good year. Well, that mission has been accomplished so, while I might get out tomorrow... and maybe once next week (just to see what's left when the rain stops) I guess it's time to put on the storage wax and pack the skis away.

Moon rise
Sun setting on the ski season