Today was sweet. NeNe and I went up to Peaceful Valley for a bit of backcountry skiing on our new skis. Midday, warm west wind, mellow tour up the gentle grade of the Middle St. Vrain Creek valley along the Buchanan Pass Trail past the Camp Dick Campground and farther west. Perfectly cloudless blue sky. Not too many people there for a Sunday. The snow was a little thin in some spots; we could always find a snow-covered route to travel, but had to leave the trail and go into the trees to stay on snow a few times. Climbed for 1 hour 45 minutes, then found a snow bridge across the creek, and descended via the Middle Saint Vrain Road (45 minutes). I love the skis. Good for backcountry, off-trail, breakin' trail, controlled descents with the metal edges, but light enough to feel pretty good on the groomed stuff. Whenever I ski at a place with groomed nordic trails I'll likely be renting skate skis and leaving these at home, so these Rossignol BC70's are perfect for what we'll be doing most of the time. We had to get back to town by 2pm, so we had to leave the place wanting more - eager to ski farther west into the Indian Peaks Wilderness. We will be back there soon.
[Yesterday, Saturday, ended up being a rest day. Got busy, distracted, lazy.]
