By New Year's Eve, the avalanche danger in the backcountry had finally settled to acceptable levels. So, with a fantastic forecast, Panpan, Matt, Debra, and I set out to do some mellow alpine touring on the slopes above Vail Pass.
Panpan had just spent the previous four days with me learning to ski at Keystone, and she was doing really really well. Matt is great skier, ex-ski racer and instructor, but this was his first time actually earning his turns. We left Vail Pass and skinned north, aiming for a lower angle slope looker's right of Uneva Pass which I'd skied before.
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| Skinning from Vail Pass |
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| First lap |
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| Intense cookies from Mary's Mountain Cookies in Breckenridge |
We skinned maybe half way up the slope before switching to ski mode. Since this was Pan's first time in powder, we didn't want to kill her on the first lap. Everyone skied well, though Pan had more than her fair share of struggle trying to dig herself out of the snow. We skied to the bottom, and skinned up again for a second lap.
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| Panpan cranking a powder turn on the first lap |
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| Debra floating on cloud |
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Matt showing us how it's done |
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| Panpan returning for a second lap |
Lap two went as smoothly as lap one, though we were getting pretty tired.
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Exhausted, but still able to smile
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