This was, perhaps, one of the very best skis of my life…certainly the best ski of the year for me, and the best day of the year so far.

Details of note:

-a nearly five hour skijor with the dogs

-linking summits — Crystal Summit with Scout Mountain

-the bird songs!

-going high enough to where the sub-alpine fir begin to tower in fuzzy cones, and then beyond into areas with gnarled and twisted douglas fir, forever changed by lightning strikes

-running a tremendously steady two dog team, Farley was looking strong and energetic

-the only other human presence was the very distant hum of a snow machine I could hear for mere minutes

-we were craving adventure, something out of the ordinary, so we skied trails we didn’t even know existed, winding higher and higher into the wilds

-skiing in and out of isolated flurries

-the view from up top, oh, the view

-tree lines rising upwards in furry layers, to meet the sky

-the quietude

-reading animal tracks

-a sunset blazing through a squall

-a rusted fir

-that quiet, downhill corner where I could not shake the snow from my eyes