Still Waiting for Snow

It is January 12th and as I gaze across to the sunny side of the street, I can see mud and piles of leaves around the naked trees.  Yes, there is a small layer of crusty snow in all the shady areas and the road is slushy, but we live at 7000ft and are usually buried in snow this time of year.  The sky is clear and a perfect blue compared to the inversion in SLC, so no complaints from me about my home office.  Looking out I would guess the temps were in the 40s, but it was cold last night and has just climbed to 15F.  We are approaching mid-January and are officially in recreation limbo.  We don't have enough snow for typical "Greatest Snow on Earth" powder shots and since we didn't buy season passes, we've been weighing the cost and drive against anticipated quality and have only hit the slopes once this year.  I've even noticed that our backcountry die-hard friends are choosing other activities these days.  So, when you live in Park City and the snow is mediocre, you dig into the gear closet and make do.  We were able to ride and trail run throughout November and December with great temps and conditions.  We escaped to California for a couple weeks hoping we would return to a driveway full of waist-high snow, but alas, we are still waiting for snow.  Our friend Rob has dubbed this season, the year of La Nada and so far he's right.

Not much snow, but blue sky and just out of the inversion

So, New Year's Day arrived and instead of skiing, I went for a hike and Terry went for a road ride.  This was likely the 1st New Year's since moving here that we didn't ski and I hope 2012 is an exception and not the new rule.  The trails still had some ice in the shade and mud in the sun, but it was good to use different muscles after all the xmas cycling and get caught up on the neighborhood gossip.  I have been timid on the trails since my shoulder injury and didn't have any falls in 2011, so of course I started off 2012 with a mud slide.  I got really cold and slightly embarrassed as we met others on the trail but no injuries.

My 3yr old nephew would refer to this as "Poopy Pants"

Last Saturday, we woke up to snow and it continued to flurry all day!  There was excitement in the neighborhood as everyone felt like winter had finally arrived.  Even the dogs were overly energetic as they ran from house to house fetching toys.  Unfortunately the accumulation was so small, forecasters were measuring to the 1/4" and we didn't even have to break out the snow blower for the 2 3/4" we received.  Once we got out of the neighborhood, there was even less.  Sad, but at least we had seen snow in 2012 and there was a chance we would get more.

Tyson climbing tree to retrieve dog toy and shovel?!
We were all giddy thanks to the new snow!

On Sunday, the snow started to melt again and I headed back to the trails while Terry took out the snow bike. I tried out my yaktrax on the icier sections and had a nice run, with no falls.  The same couldn't be said about Mr. Accident Prone.  He slipped out on an icy section and went over the handlebars and bruised some ribs!  He's been thru cracked ribs before and said it isn't nearly as bad. (hmm. just thinking I should start an injury section on this blog).  He is slowly healing this week and plans to cycle this weekend since we are expecting temps in the 40s and we will still be waiting for snow.

Snow Bike (pre-crash)
No bikes were harmed in the crash - just Terry