Having fun on the mountain with my first telemark ski lesson on the road. A little different than cross-country skiing. Baby steps for me, as I'm out of my comfort zone again. :)
Some of our earlier snow had melted off during a warm spell, so we started out driving on bare ground, then hit ice where it had rained and frozen recently (time to put on tire chains), and eventually got to snow as we continued to climb in elevation.
At various places along the way while driving up the mountain, the view opens up to the valley below and the Sapphire Mountains on the other side.
Driving through a hallway of bushes and trees makes it interesting.
We didn't get our ski rack put on for the season yet, so we had to put the skis inside. It was kind of a tight fit, but it worked. :)
St. Mary's Mountain has two main roads with a connecting road that runs between. The road to the right goes to the trailhead. We took the road to the left to ski. You get a view of the peak and fire lookout tower from the switchback road that runs between.
Up, up, and up we go. Where we'll stop, we don't know.
(We've been to the end before, but we're not sure how deep the snow will get.)
Overlooking Big Creek Canyon with Ranger Peak disappearing in the distance.
Not much room for turning around or meeting vehicles on the upper part of the road.
Gotta be prepared for backing up if necessary.
View of the ridge between Big Creek and Glen Lake.
As the road gets narrow up high, the bushes and trees tend to stick out in the way a bit. (Sometimes much more than just a bit.) You can't be too picky about getting roughed up a little if you come up this far, as the mountain is likely to leave its mark on you. :)
We made it to the end of the road without the snow getting too deep for us.
Time to give my tele skis a try. :)
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I was a bit nervous starting out (afraid of falling and tearing my MCL's again), but I had fun learning to ski back and forth down the road. Jamie's a pretty good teacher. :)
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Eventually we got back to the icier part of the road and had to stop for the day. I'm definitely looking forward to getting back out for my next lesson. Lots more to learn, and lots more fun to come! :)
