Appreciation in a Season of Frustration

As I sit here now I have slipped back into a state of aggravation and frustration. It is way too warm outside, the snow is melting, and I was cycling today when I should of been skiing. I’m sure however, that within the next couple days it will get cold again and it will DUMP snow and the mindset I am in now will be replaced with an ear-to-ear grin and a deep skin track.

On a happier note the past two weeks for me have been fantastic! The mountains around where I live received some really nice snowfall which made for some fantastic backcountry skiing and touring. The other day I was thinking to myself how awesome the conditions have been and it totally erased all the frustration of not having snow up to this point, all it took was some fresh snow and a couple good solid days of skiing and skinning to forget the pain!

This past Friday morning when I woke up, down here in the valley there was a small dusting on the ground and I wasn’t really feeling it at all. The local ski mountains were reporting around 6 inches of fresh snow so I decided to check it out. I drove up the mountain  to a lower elevation hill that contains a lot of great lines, and coupled with the base, it had along with fresh snow we just received,  would allow me to get in a bunch of laps before heading to work in the  afternoon.

I had just taken a run and stopped around mid mountain to put my skins on when I heard the distinctive sound of a helicopter. I looked out to the northwest and saw two military helicopters flying side by side above the ridge line. The way they looked against the backdrop of the mountains was awesome! All I had with me was my iphone so I snapped a picture that unfortunately didn’t come out.  As they flew closer to me, I lifted my arm up and  pumped my fist to the sky while letting out a loud whoop. Much to my surprise the two choppers slightly altered their course and flew right over the top of the mountain I was on  cruising just above the tree-line! As I looked up the hill  they were so close! They couldn’t of been any higher than a two- or three-story house! Of course I had already put my phone away so I couldn’t take this awesome picture. It was  such a simple thing but to see these large helicopters up close and in action was amazing! Call me a dork but it really made my day!

When your outdoors you never know what you’ll experience, that’s the great thing about it. So get out and see what you’ll discover!

—Greg