Got the Guides out for ~2 hours yesterday morning in perhaps the worst snow I’ve ever tried to ski. Rain fell Tuesday evening, then temps went below freezing a while after dark, and more precip fell overnight. The result was cement with an extra-crispy crust below 4.7k, and a thicker but less snappy crust with a cm or two of dust above 5k or so. The last week of sun and high temps had also accelerated the melt of snow in the Rattlesnake, and it is now firmly in the grip of transitory conditions: not enough snow to make skiing much worth it on the interesting terrain, and not enough melt to yet make cycling of much interest. Booo.
The scales seemed to grip well, though the crust made cross country travel slow and aggravating, and downhill turning hard and frustrating, if not quite impossible. I was able to smear, step, and jump my way and get things linking a bit up high, but lower my skis were firmly set in rails once they got any speed at all, and it was straightline-crash, repeat. Not fun.
It’s tough when time is at such a premium, and driving further to get higher and firmly into the snow zone is not an option. The ensuing mental fallout is the real game these days, trying to deal with the busiest time I’ve yet had in my life to date.
Like anything, it comes down to embracing the challenge, doing one thing at a time well, and not getting psyched out when it all doesn’t fall into place the first time. I’m very glad I came to grad school now, and very glad that our faculty and profession embraces fully the notion that education is at least as much about personal growth as putting ideas in your head. I’m learning a ton these days, and in the least of that is often from the many pages I read every week. The mental game I’ve learned and practiced on the bike the last few years has let me get so much more out of the process than I would’ve otherwise. Bless it all.
Speaking of bikes, a certain spring ritual is barely a month away. Time to step up the training and a make a final push to get the pump good and primed for it.
Bedrock & Paradox 
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