Snow, snow & more snow

With over 24" of snow predicted for the DC area, we decided to get out of town to enjoy the snow storm up in West Virginia. We almost made it all the way to our destination before the snow started falling on Friday; the drive from Seneca to Harmon over North Fork Mountain was hair-raising! Bob's expert driving skills and a little bit of luck got us safely around stalled cars and a stuck logging truck. The roads up to Canaan Valley were fine -- they know how to keep the roads clear for the skiers to keep their mini-economy going!

We had the most amazing downhill ski day on Friday: the place was deserted, and it was snowing so hard that our tracks through the powder were covered over about every second run. We were skiing in great form also. We needed to put on the chains to drive from the downhill area to the campground (about 1 mile!) because nothing had been plowed for several hours. That was an exciting end to a long, fun day.

Saturday we planned to ski up to Weiss Knob, but the snow was so deep, it made breaking trail next to impossible. We did ski from the campground to the downhill area, and took the lift to access the trail to Weiss Knob.

We tried to use wax, but ended up putting on our climbing skins in order to make it to the top.

The wax wasn't sticking very well:

Trying to remember the trick for putting on skins in the snow:

We did make it to the top of Weiss Knob, breaking trail up through the woods. This is the third time 4 weeks we've been up here.

Starting the descent down the pipeline from Weiss Knob:

On Sunday we skied over to Whitegrass. In a continuing effort to burn mega-calories and build endurance, we skied uphill on the Bald Knob trail. The hill is too steep for "kick & glide" skiing so we had to side step the whole way! Talk about a good quad workout:

(that is someone else's downhill track next to our side steps)

It was cold, beautiful sunny day. We enjoyed a long lunch break at this warming hut, with some friends who happened to come along.

Kelly, Anna & Elizabeth:

Bob warming up his foot:

We missed seeing Chipper at Whitegrass, but we did get to talk to Laurie, and old friend Tony Barnes:

We stayed Sunday night, and had a very fun time watching the Superbowl in the lodge.

We drove home Monday, with some roads clear, some completely snow-covered, and some in an in-between state. We were able to get shoveled out, and tucked into our driveway with the help of neighbors Maggie and John.

Before:

After:

And here it is, Wednesday -- we haven't been to work all week, the snow is still falling, and we need to shovel out again!