After sleeping til 10 am we all met at my house over on the west shore. We loaded up the cars with all of our ski gear and, of course, our bikes. We drove a couple miles down the west shore and parked next to a locked forest service gate. We packed up our ski packs and slung our ski boots on our back too, and jumped on our bikes. The snow, you see, was still six miles from where we parked the cars, and uphill the whole way.

Clearly this wasn't my first time to the biking with my ski gear on my back rodeo, but it may have been for Oscar, Charlie, and Rylan. Having an extra 40 pounds or so on your back while riding your bike for a while will be sure to put the hurt on your "sit bones", so be sure to wear padded shorts, eh.

After about six miles of uphill skis on the back riding on a closed forest service road we reached the point of no more biking. The sneakers went on and after about a mile of really easy snowy road walking later we were at the top of the pass and very close to our goal. A half hour of boot packing later and we were on the top of the ridge with numerous steep, short chutes to choose from, and not another person for miles....

We briefly took in the view and dropped in for our first run, hoping to get in three and still get Oscar and Rylan to work on time. Eight turns and 400 vert later we were switching over to bootpack mode to head on back up for more. The skiing was good, and I mean really good. I can't think of a more random and fun way to spend a day in the late late spring. Sure the mountain biking is off the hook right now, but the skiing won't last much longer, so get it while you can.

--Jeremy