Day 5: Skiing the Mank

Cotton Candy Dawn

Our Agreement this winter is to ski tour together at least one day a week. Snow or shine. Our one day last week put us in a bit of a time constraint but I heaved myself out of the world's most comfortable bed and got with it before it was light out, a dusting of snow on the quiet streets as we drove out of town.

This is a time of day I prefer to be drooling and slumbering, so to see town so quiet and vacant was charming and bizarrely motivating.


It was surprisingly not that cold (I put a lot of trust in the Plum Line shell) and we marched on up to the top of Jane's, the black diamond skin track that draws you up through the dark evergreen forest, then through the aspens, up and up across sun-baked shoulders and slide for life kick turns. We had just the right amount of not too cold air and a trace of new snow that we could get a little grip and enjoy the toe prints of snowshoe hares be-bopping around looking for each other as the light rose.

I was dimly aware that the skiing would be challenging as we neared the top and I was not disappointed! We managed to get a few decent turns in here and there, including a big Jay's Meadow bypass of some sketch section, but we took our time and gradually worked our way to the bottom as we got colder, and colder, and colder. By the time we were back at the car we realized the early morning cloud cover had wafted away, and the humidity and temperature had dropped another 10 degrees or so and we were f-f-freezing!

Then back home by 9:30 for Second Breakfast and the remainder of the day on the ski area, tooling around on Chair 9.

As JC said that day: "Anyone can ski powder, but can you ski the mank…. and have fun doing it?"

The answer is yes. To see the sunrise over Waterfall Canyon with fluffy cotton candy clouds and imagine the lynx lying in wait on a branch over the trail while fluffy cottontails leave a whisper of a footprint strewn about, to feel the strength of your legs and lungs as you steadily  make your way to the top of the slope, and then to enjoy each and every turn, even the manky ones, just because you are outside in the dawn's light talking about maple syrup…. yes. Just yes.