Who needs brakes when you have 60cm of powder

I had so many ideas for the title of this post....
- The snorkel won't attach to my helmet
- I never thought I'd actually like snow in the face
- Your pole-plants are useless here....

But I like the one I've used. We got a massive dump Sunday night, 50cm in 12 hours...just overnight, and I had to work the next day. I did get to enjoy it though.

The ski patrol had to do avalanche checks before they could open my side of the mountain so I had to open my lift really early. I got there for 6:45am and it was a heck of a trip by snowmobile.
The runs were not groomed because the groomers simply couldn't keep up with the snow so I was riding through 50cm of powder.

So there I was with snow piling over the cab of the sled (the snowmobile was a plow at this point), covering the headlight, making it pretty well useless. On top of that it was still dark out so I couldn't wear my goggles, since they made the very very dim light coming from my headlight even worse. Then the spray coming over the windshield made it worse. SO.....there I was in the dark, standing on the seat, driving by memory on how the trail goes, because I could barely see where I was going, in deep powder. It was still fun though and everyone was impressed that I made it there with no problems, even the maintenance guys. Although I apparently took a while to get there. Normally a 20min ride took me 35min. Well forgive me for not wanting to get stuck or roll the sled. My sled has a 4-stroke engine, and for anyone who doesn't know the annoying trait of a 4-stroke engine is that if you roll the sled you CAN NOT just re-start it. If you do, the engine will destroy itself since. So I'd have to get someone to come get me and maintenance would have to do a lot of work on the sled to get it running again.

For anyone curious, the sled I drive is an Arctic Cat Panther 660cc.... It's not the best. It is very heavy, turns horribly, is tippy, and doesn't have guts. The best part? The Arctic Cat Panther has LEOPARD PRINT seats......yep........stylin'...

But I've grown to like the beast.....we get along.

Today though (Tuesday) is my day off and we are getting another storm. I got to ride in more fantastically deep powder today and tomorrow is going to be insane (getting another 30cm). I'm getting up really really early to catch first rides. Apparently no one else is getting the snow we are. On the satellite pictures there is a yellow blob of a snow storm over Silverstar and that's it.......fine by me!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.........

Love Mike