Pleasant Surprises - both before and after the storm

The driving actually wasn't too bad because they had plowed to dirt on Friday - no slush on ice

Sunday morning I looked out the window to a hard rain and driving winds.  The trees were all shaking and there were whitecaps on Mill Bay.  It looked like a day for staying inside by the fire with a book.  I had the good book and really did not want to go outside.  

I put off going outside until 11:30 and got soaked getting in the car.  My plan was to go skiing in the rain, and come home to a hot shower.

But then something amazing happened.  As I got closer to the mountain the rain turned to 'cat's paws' and then full on snow.  By the time I got to the parking lot it was a full on blizzard and there was almost a half foot of new snow.  

I climbed to the very top.  For some reason it had not been windy on Pyramid and the snow was not wind effected up high. Nobody but me on the mountain and I got to make the first tracks down the mountain.  Deep powder - I had to limit the turns to keep my speed up! 

What a pleasant surprise!

This is the parking lot and that's my car on the right

The next day I was in for another pleasant surprise.  I drove up to the pass expecting a rain crust, and indeed, at the parking lot everything was icy and rock hard.  I was sort of bummed I had not brought my skate skis.

I had Brewster with me and climbed on up the mountain.  And not too far up above the parking lot I found that it was all POWDER.  REAL POWDER.  The kind you don't usually find on Kodiak.  And glorious sunshine.  When Brewster followed me down the mountain he was disappearing under the snow between bounds.  It was unbelievable.

So 2 days and 2 very pleasant surprises.

Patrick

My friend Dale's powder pic taken with his phone