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| Convict Lake |
Well it was a cold 8.5 miles this morning, could have used my gloves and soon enough I'll be needing my headlamp. This time of the year always in the past brought excitement. It's getting darker in the mornings, colder as well, and the green plants are all beginning to die off. All the ski rags are publishing their "buyers guides" for all the kick ass new ski stuff. We'd pour over the catalogs and weigh the benefits of a fatter or skinnier ski, compare the new to with what we've already got in our quiver. That means ski season is coming, well, for others not me anymore. Now it just brings cold dark morning runs that are hard to motivate for!
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| dawn patrol over Lake Tahoe |
Sure miss the anticipation phase of the winter season in Lake Tahoe. And of course winter: 4am dawn patrols, dark coffee and day old donuts, breaking trail to the top of the West Shore peaks in 3+ feet of fresh snow to catch the sunrise over Lake Tahoe then laugh, hoot, and holler the whole way down with friends as you make some of the best ski turns of your life, put your skins on and charge back up. All before going to work where some jack ass thinks you're stuck inside all day on a powder day. Sorry, we skied better snow this morning than you'll ski all day riding the wires at the resort. But we keep our mouths shut, our secret safe. Besides, that guy will have a blast too skiing crud piles all day long.
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| breaking trail |
Some mornings during my run California's Sierra Nevada beckons me back. It always will. I not only miss the natural beauty and challenge of the Sierra but the friends I made there. The unfortunate thing is I don't think I will ever be back. However, I did leave once, I returned. And in speaking with one of the famed Sequoia Kings Canyon backcountry rangers, George Durkee, he told me in calm words, "you'll always come back".
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| all smiles after skiing a 6000 foot couloir |
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