A (71st) birthday ski on May Day

My 71st birthday portrait

An empty Showdown ski hill waiting for our tele-turns

Drifts on the Mizpah ridge that created unusual west slope cornices 

The warming cabin was drifted in by the deep snow

Gordon Whirry enjoys lunch on Mizpah Ridge 

The glorious ski across the top of Mizpah Ridge

I did my birthday ski a couple of days late this year because on  the big day (April 28) there was a big blizzard, big enough to close roads and trap me at home.
It was more than made up May 1 as skies and roads cleared and there was a layer of more than 10 inches of new powder in the Little Belts calling me.
Showdown Ski Area had closed more than two weeks ago so the powder was untracked and the new snow fell on a hard base making the snow in the backcountry some of the best of the winter.
We had hiked last Wednesday and counted 11 wildflowers in bloom, so skiing was a big physical and psychological adjustment.

The car thermometer as we approached our trailhead

As we were driving to the trailhead the car thermometer dropped to 6 degrees!  Later in the day I discovered that just a few miles south, at Newlan Creek, the temperature was Zero.
It was so clear that we could pick out the individual peaks in the Crazy Mountains to the south and the mountains in the Little Belts were as pretty with snow as I've ever seen them.
Our Wayne's Wednesday Walks group started off to do the 5-mile Trail 747 loop, but by the time we reached the Porphyry ridge line and the 747 trailhead Jasmine Krotkov recommended that we do the longer Mizpah Bowls ski instead, taking advantage of the open vistas along the way.
It turned out to be an excellent suggestion.
The snow was easy to break and the brilliant sun warmed us considerably.
I did several short tele turn runs as we went up the ski hill to Porphyry Peak.
We were surprised to see what the wind had done to the Mizpah Peak ridgeline, sculpting enormous drifts and creating cornices on the forest side.  I don't think I've ever seen so much snow on this ridge.  The warming cabin, where we stopped for lunch was shrouded in a drift, but still invited a stop.
With the tele turn yo-yo-ing I covered 8.4 miles and gained and lost 2,200 feet.
I was delighted with the beautiful day and gratified I could still ski like this at 71.