After Capitol a few weeks ago, I decided I was hanging up my skis for the year. It just made sense, at least from a timing standpoint – I needed to be at work the next couple weeks, I had the Walker/Konsella wedding to attend the following weekend, and an Ironman the weekend after that. And surely I would require weeks of recovery before I could think about getting back after it in the mountains, right? That, of course, was not intended to be a factual statement. Just a few days later I started going stir crazy, and started planning for the weekend. I had been talking to Kim about conditions on Grays, and we both had Huron in mind, and settled on Saturday.

I started hiking from the lower TH at 6am; Kim, worrying that I was already at the upper TH, had driven up there a few minutes prior (my car doesn’t have sufficient clearance). Two miles later I find her, getting ready to start on the way up.

There was no rush on this morning, though we still cruised along at a good pace – even with Kim carrying several pounds of unnecessary gear, and me only six days out from my Ironman.

The Three Apostles looked amazing, and I hope to be able to pack in some spring and spend a couple days skiing them.

Huron looked dry when we broke treeline, but we knew the East face would have plenty of snow.

We moved well, gaining over 1,000′ an hour. I was constantly amazed at how much snow is left up high.

Apparently all the training I’ve done over the past several months has done my legs good.

We seem to be at least a month behind usual as far as snow coverage goes. I’ll take it.

We got a look at our line when we hit the saddle at 13,500′. It’s thinning out fast.

I hit the summit at 10am.

There were quite a few people on the mountain, most surprised at our reason for being there.

We slowly transitioned as the hikers eagerly awaited our descent.

I went first, with dozens of eyes on me. The turns were silky smooth, the snow pretty much perfect.

Then Kim dropped.

She also enjoyed the turns.

The snow didn’t go continuously as long as we’d have liked, and it was easier to climb back towards the summit rather than to the saddle. So we did.

I have fairly long legs. Kim does not. I forgot about this when booting back up.

After getting back up, we traversed over to a strip of snow that would take us all the way to treeline. Our timing for this ribbon was perfect.

The snow dried up when we hit treeline, so we switched back to hiking shoes and beat feet for the car. An hour later, I retrieved the PBR I had cached at one of the stream crossings.

I decided I needed a day to sleep in, and would be taking it easy on Sunday. (Not intended to be a factual statement.)