New Year's Afternoon Skiing

It was late in the afternoon on New Year's Day. I decided that if I wanted to go cross country skiing this day, I'd better hurry.

So I drove up the Chalk Creek road into the mountains, to a parking area just a short distance from St. Elmo. On the way up there, I saw a sleigh being pulled by two horses on the side road along Chalk Creek that serves as a residential street. That sleigh had probably not been used for about five years--the approximate length of our drought. Back to back snows (though well short of the blizzards in Denver) have changed the scene a little around here!

I arrived at the parking area near St. Elmo at about 4:20 pm, and the days are still short. Putting on the skiis, I went up the road another hundred feet or so, and turned onto the Hancock Road. The snow was plentiful and excellent!

Never in my life have I said a kind thing about snowmobiles. But even I must report that on that day, they had left a very skiable track--not full of porpoising as usual, but good. A single ski track in the snow would have been even better, but I'll take what I can get.

I stopped worrying about the end of daylight, because I noticed a nearly full moon over my shoulder. Sometimes I'll go skiing in the moonlight on purpose. Hmmm....maybe tonight!

I stopped after not too long, because I really just wanted some exercise. Gliding back down felt good. I often ski on the Old Monarch Pass road, but that's steep enough that I'll need to slow myself. Not so on the Hancock Road! The slope was just right.

This had been a good thing. After that, I took myself out for a holiday dinner in Buena Vista.