brownie in AK: Ruby Slippers

there's no place like home. especially when it snows. Us poor Fairbanksans have been laboring under a thin veneer of snow which simply hasn't cut it for those of who ski. cross-country ski, that is. none of that easy down-hill stuff (i can just hear my Outside friends snickering!); i'm talking about gliding across snow on skinny little rails under only your own volition. good stuff. but until a few days ago, our snow was seriously suffering. In Fairbanks, we get snow by mid-October. but for the last two years, we've had precious little snow. according to the weather guys, Fairbanks has seen half the amount of snow it normally does by early December. half. i stopped skiing. so when that magical white stuff fell again from the sky, we did this:

we got out there, as the Princess Cruise commercials command us to. Here we are at Ballaine Lake, about 1.5 miles from our house, strappin' on the gear. not only did we have snow, we had awesome temps. "awesome" for us is about 15F, according to the KBRW radio station in Barrow thermometer about 1 K down the trail.

with all this snow, we were downright giddy with happiness. Cob demonstrates proper form (or at least according to the skiing guy that hangs out on all the trail markers!)

everywhere there was snow. covering the slick ice spots that had emerged under too many pairs of skiis, hanging in heavy clumps on the spruce boughs. it was like a dream - somewhere over the rainbow, even. my ruby slippers:

we ran into friends on the trail - Lisa and Andy. Andy's an amazingly solid athlete, churning his way through many a back-country adventure race. Lisa's a scary good skiier. Last year she competed in the Susitna 100, a 100 mile (not kilometers, folks) race that you can ski, run, or bike. she skiied it. she crushed it. she's awesome.

not quite the bad-ass skiier Lisa is, i'm still pretty happy with all this snow, even up hill. look at that trail, look at those trees, look at the snow. i tell ya'...