Monkey

I went to Crystal today with Bill, Simon, and Peter. This was my first day snowboarding this season (I’ve been slacking) and it turned out to be a fine day. There was, well, a blizzard at Crystal. NWAC says it snowed 11” while we were there, and I believe it. It also shows that the winds gusted to 31mph mid-morning, and I think that’s conservative. Up on the ridges it oscillated between low visibility and pure white out depending on the wind. But down off the ridge on the slopes back towards the Rainier Express it was glorious. Nice, deep, fluffy powder, perhaps 18”+ deep, and reasonable enough visibility to fly down the mountain. I choked a bit on powder more than once. Coverage is excellent for this time of season, and good for anytime of the year. We spent most of the time lapping the Rainier Express, and then took a run down Exterminator then stopped for lunch. Exterminator was good, but much more tracked out than I expected… lots of people had the same idea we did. I didn’t go back out after lunch… my legs were just too tired, as I’ve done nothing to prepare for the season. Peter went back out for a half hour or so, and Simon and Bill stayed out for another hour before we packed it in and headed home.

I was pretty pleased with how my left knee feels after today. I damaged it last spring, it turns out pretty badly. It needs surgery that will keep me off the leg for 6 weeks, and then take 6 months to rehabilitate to the point where I can ride again. I’m putting that off, though, on the theory that some boarding is better than no boarding. I’ll have it done in the spring. It felt fine in the powder, but in firm bumps it was extremely painful. I’m gonna have to pick and choose my days carefully this season, but now I know that I have some fine days ahead of me this season.

A few pics from today. I didn’t take many since, well, it was friggin freezing, windy, and hard to see.