It is still snowy, and even better, it’s weekend! Although a bit windy, nothing we can’t handle. Minus twenty-two with the wind chill? Our having-lived-in-Canada training should make sure we are able to handle that.

Our destination was a little hill that would not be of any interest in the summer, but that worked well with the avalanche conditions and because it had a bit of a road as approach, we figured it might actually not be as bad of a wade through deep snow as other walks might be.

Lucky for us, some diggers had gone up the moor not too many days ago, so the trail we saw on the map were actually indeed made a little solid by them. Some snow banks had swept over the tracks, but it was easy going.

Once on the steep bit it became easier, as the wind had blown most snow off the hill. The top of the first hill was flat and required some wading, though not too severe.

From there it was down to a saddle, and then up a ridge to the main top. We enjoy this, it’s always a surprise to see what lies behind what we can’t see. It never gets old.

Though it may not get old, it does get cold. While I put on new gloves that have no sweat in them and are the thickest pair I own, and enthusiastically start photographing all kinds of beautiful snow structures, Leigh got grumpier and more impatient every second. Once I realized he was just getting cold, it was an easy problem to solve. I quickly snapped a few more photo's. The wind had been very strong, and snow settled against the wind to form the most amazing structures on poles and rocks. The wind during the last snow storm came from the right in this photo.

Leigh put another layer on and we got going. He warmed up quickly, and so did his mood. We decided to go straight down, and walked the road back to make it a loop. It was fun going down, we were even able to bum slide some of it. The big bonus question of the day was... would it be time for new goggles???