October ski - put a fork in it!

Signed, sealed, delivered. Right out the back door.

Time to get the kids real XC skis, I think.

the excellence of adjustable poles

but first: snow angels

second: snowman

then skiing

we shall call him "Juniper Breath"

2017 - September ski - we're not proud, we hit St. Mary's again

Our ski oracle said to rejoice - new snow had already hit the Northern Rockies and even graced Steamboat and A-Basin with some skiable (for us) snow. Our oracle said: wait and yee shall be rewarded with convenient, though, thin, fresh pow. Believe! Have faith!

HA! Our oracle is always saying things like that. We know it's always better to not wait until the end of the month and stress over what's supposed to be a fun outing. We took a school holiday and tagged our September ski at St. Mary's Glacier. Again. When you're hungry, even a fast-food burger tastes good and St. Mary's did not disappoint: lumpy and dirty on a lovely warm Fall day. Bonus: Fall colors!

our new BFF secret parking spot

we ski up the gully around the corner

We had a great ski.

The drive back, however, was just horribly, painfully, slow owing to a car ahead of us on 93 bursting into flames. Road closed. Go back, go around Rocky Flats (we were almost to 128 - it would have save an hour), wait in line at every light. Countless light cycles before getting to turn...ouch!

2017 August ski - St. Mary's Glacier once again provides

A ski rack on the car in August — we're legit.

it was busy

I imagine that if St. Mary's Glacier had a voice it would sound like Quasimodo: "Do you find me REPULSIVE?"

pleasant skiing

N is loving it!

T hams it up with a slushy last slide in

Put a fork in it! August, done, uuh!

July ski - bagged!

People sometimes ask me if our monthly ski has to be any particular length or vertical drop or time...

nope

The Lefthand Reservoir snow patch was smaller than we hoped this year. Life's rough.

The kids wanted to wear capes. Uh, OK. Wouldn't want to be 'cape-ists' now would we?

N blasts off

O sends it

T shuts it down

I know this looks preposterously aggressive for this little patch of snow but I got FOUR turns in. those turns don't happen by themselves. you've got to BE the turn.

the view above from the dam. a nice day

June 2017 monthly ski - RMNP Trailridge Road snow patch

Trailridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park is a much appreciated go-to ski for June. It didn't disappoint us: almost warm, breezy, easy hike to corn snow patch - we even got a close-in parking spot.

the tundra rolls right to the sky 

reminds me of old gunslinger pictures

we get great clouds in the Rockies

N bags his June ski

go N, go!

I did not photoshop out my poles. really. why would anyone do that?

O say can you see

just a dollop of corn snow

O nabs June

T gets the dramatic backdrop

hero shot