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Paradise Glacier, September 30, 2006
The Turns-All-Year Sychronized Skiing Team goes left . . .
It was the last day of September and skiers were coming out of the woodwork, desperate to keep their monthly ski streaks intact. Kam and Allyson blew in from Virginia to get two months in two days, and we convened at Paradise mid-morning. Cinnamon had her friend Patrick, who had just relocated from Boulder, along. John Mauro and Ross strolled by as we geared up. We could see two large groups of skiers ahead of us on the Muir Snowfield, and as we hit the first decent patch of snow above Pebble Creek, Oyvind and Joe E. skied by, as well as Bill and a friend who knew Kam and Michael from a hut trip in the Selkirks a few years back. It was quite a scene.
Seeing the bunches of skiers above us lapping various patches of the Muir Snowfield, we decided to head climber's right to what members of our group referred to as "Ron's Leg" instead and put on the skis and skins. The "Lower Leg" had melted out substantially since last month, and the thin snow finger to the "Upper Leg" under the cliffs had melted out, so we settled on the . . . er . . . "Middle Leg," which was smooth, wide, and only slightly dirty.
The skiing was remarkably good, considering the time of year, and we lapped it twice. On the way back, we stopped at an improbably small patch near the trail at Kam's request, where six of our group performed a unique sychronized skiing routine. Most of our group stopped off at Michael and Corrine's house on the way home to watch their son Luca jogging around the living room, then it was home to change into pirate garb for Skip's birthday party. Arrr! September turns are in the bag, Matey!
