Dawn patrol POWDER day...in May?!

As April is the new March in Colorado, so is May the new April. On the 10th it snowed a tiny bit but yesterday (the 13th) it snowed a good bit - about 8" up at the house! The mountains look and feel just like early April, a solid base and relatively light powder on top. You have to get there before the sun ruins it so DV8 and i headed out for a dawn patrol mission to the familiar ridge where Peanut Bowl and Benji's Trough lie. A tip from a co-worker had us going up the backside of the ridge (secret shorter skin up!). We had the fast & light setups - DV8's new Skitrab uber light rando setup and my Karhu Guides - I didn't have to put on the skins until we reached the last pitch...i love these skis.

Pretty spectacular morning. From seeing the two moose's browsing on the willow at the corner of the new road to watching the sun rise as we drove to the trailhead to cresting the ridge as the sun illuminated the divide exposing the windswept clouds blowing east down the drainages. Another storm is moving in! They're calling for another 4-8" by tomorrow afternoon...and then 60 degrees the next day...hmm.

Here begins the DV8 picture show. Start of Benjis after descending from the windy ridge top. It was one of the first times I've skied this area with SOFT yet-to-be-windslabbed snow just off the top of the ridge.

Again, this is May 14th! Look at the powder turns he's getting!

Towards the bottom of le Trough. Skiers left = powder on rock, skiers right...just right.

After the Trough turns we traversed and proceeded to search (and not really find) more turns of a northerly nature that would get us back to the truck faster. Like usual, we took what we thought to be the shorter route home, but it ended up being longer cause we've never tried the route before.

All said and done, it was 6:30am to 9:45 on skis, still got to work for my meeting after rushing down the canyon and swapping clothes in the office parking lot 45 minutes later. One can't go to work with the ski pants on! "...where've you been?"