Grandma's Chit Chat: Senior Hiking #385

Jan 3, 2011…Schweitzer Nordic Trails …
hike # 385
by Betsy

Schweitzer had a lot of good snow this week, and we went up in search of it…with very cold temps the snow was so light and fluffy and adding to this perfect day was an all day snowfall…and no wind! We dressed differently this week, more in tune with the weather conditions…in fact it wasn’t long before I had to take the down vest off. Feeling mummified is not comfortable so I was willing to take a chance that I would not be too cold.

We met two cross country skiers today…both in awe of the about perfect snow conditions…in fact, everyone had big smiles on their faces, even the little kids. We did see a family unloading in the parking lot as we were and the youngest was three years old…the mom said he started when he was two years old. We saw them later going on the lift up to the medium runs…and not the Musical Chairs beginners run. Amazing.

The snow just kept coming down…it was so pretty, and the snowflakes were so lacy and well defined. When I noticed a bunch of them all clustered in the top of Jim’s backpack, it reminded me of a bowl of cotton seeds. They were so light and were easily blown away.

When we got to Wolf Ridge, the last trail to hike, we decided to go over to the ski run and walk up to the large 6-pak chair lift to see what was going on. Although it looked really steep, we have done it before a few times and it only took 20-25 minutes. At this point I was going to layer up more as I was getting cold but knew the hike upward up that run would warm me. Up at the chair, a snowboarder came over to us and asked how to get down to the village…funny. From there we walked down to the cat track and then into the village. Not too much going on, so continued on down the last run to the truck. None too soon because I was getting cold…everything was cold, and I never did put my vest back on but I did finally put my heavier hat on…that helped. The temperature was now officially 14°. The face mask stayed on all day, and the couple of times I took it off, within minutes it was back on my face.