About two weeks ago, I went back to Wolf Creek for for a three full days of surfing and skiing. I still love that place.

I organized a trip for 8 or 9 friends and scored this great place in Pagosa Springs. Luxury. The kitchen was huge, the ceilings were high, and the craftsmanship was beautiful. If you’re ever staying in Pagosa Springs, definitely consider Lisl and Dan Keuning’s homes; they take really good care of them and are very hospitable. Even though our house came with a hot tub, we spent our warmer moments over at The Springs. There is nothing like having your hair freeze while your body is soaking in hot water and your muscles are unwinding.

The week before we arrived, Wolf Creek got pounded with snow…again! No avalanches this week, but they had about 140″ base on Friday and it was still snowing! Though most the runs got packed out by our second day, there was still tons of fun to be had between the trees. On Saturday, the sun came out and the trees were looking fabulous. At the top of Treasure Chair, there was a particular grove of evergreens that were blanketed by some of the thickest snow I had ever seen coated on trees. I unstrapped from my board and just went wandering around taking shots. It was pretty surreal.

On Sunday, James, Erin, Julie, and I strapped on our telemark skis, slapped on some climbing skins, and blazed our own trail at the top of Wolf Creek Pass. It was my first time cross-country skiing with my telemark skis and I loved it! Some of my favorite parts were having the winter silence occasionally broken by gentle “whooophfs” caused by large quantities of snow falling off a tree into deep powder. My personal milestone that day: I took my first backcountry telemark turn down a gentle slope…and bit it. I still have a long, long way to go with telemark skiing; luckily the season is still long.

Sunday was also the first time I got to play with my new toy: a Garmin eTrex Vista HCx. With it, I was able to track our XC route and when I imported the track file into Google Earth, I was able to get this terrain map. Pretty sweet!