Jughandle Mountain

NOAA said warm and sunny with a 20% POP. All I heard was 'sunny'.

So after a bit of persuasion that he wouldn't die, Craig signed on. A few minutes of sorting through the gear bins for some skins that fit his new skis and we were off. Feet on the ground at 9:15.

Sunshine.

We were hoping that the warm temps would ameliorate the funky snow conditions. Ruby and Dakota didn't seem to care.

We worked our way up the trail, and then into the open glades on the upper mountain. The frozen whatever-you-call-it allowed great climbing. But if a dog sat down, they would start to slide off the side of the mountain.

Mostly I was edging with vigor. But when the slope eased for a bit, I caught a photo of Craig right by Dylan rock.

Note that despite stomping vigorously, in places I couldn't break the crust. On the steeper sidehills, this crust issue made things a bit dicey.

These pictures taken over my shoulder lack a certain, let's say, levelness? But I would have had to do a kick turn to face Craig. We'll get enough of kick turns on the way down.

Lunch on the summit. Dakota was on a leash so that Ruby could eat hers.

We had to maintain social distance for our summit shot.

No man-hugs due to the 'gina-virus'.

Long Valley including a frozen Lake Cascade. There's Jug Reservoir down there on the right, which is where our almost-daily ski tour takes us. If you look closely left of center, you can see the runs at Tamarack, which is closed due to the pandemic.

My happy place.

And then a long side-slip back down. We tried a few tentative turns, but the somewhat grabby and somewhat supportive crust put enough doubt in our minds to put us in caution mode.

It ain't pretty but we call it survival skiing.

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