More of the same

Jim Heckel and Wayne Phillips contemplate the slopes

H. Wayne Phillips cuts some tele turns

It was more of the same Saturday, only just a little colder.
We sped out to Showdown Ski Area to take advantage of some pre-season hiking to the top and yo-yo telemark skiing. The area doesn’t open until Dec. 14, some two weeks yet.
Yesterday it was minus 16 in Great Falls. It was warmer today, but the air still had a minus bite to it. Jim Heckel’s sandwich froze in his pack, as did my apple and the water in my water bottle.
It had snowed some since the last time I skied the hill about 10 days ago. I could still see my ski tracks from my pre-Thanksgiving runs on Upper Quicksilver.
We did several runs on Quicksilver again, and the snow was unpacked and quite good.
But then we moved over to Speculation and the snow was even better. It is a steeper and longer run than Upper Quicksilver.
During the ski season both Quicksilver and Speculation get hammered and get considerable moguls on them and are a bit tough for this old telemarker to handle.
It was good to see about 8 snowboarders, 2 alpine skiers, and one other telemark skier on the hill, who hiked up to enjoy the area before the crowds.