Monday, December 3, 2018

12 degrees last night at my friends land near Mt. Shasta city

I opened my window at the hotel a couple of times to get fresh air during the night because I'm at a higher altitude than I'm used to at sea level. Mt. Shasta city is around 3500 feet in elevation by the way. As I was unloading my vehicle it was about 37 degrees around sunset but within an hour it was already down to 29 degrees and by midnight or so it was about 20 degrees and it kept going down from there to 16 where I was staying.

Today I drove up to Bunny Flats and went skiing to try out my Ski legs for the first time this year. It is sort of like riding a bicycle (you never forget) but you have to sort of refresh yourself regarding any new equipment or any physical changes you have gone through in the last 8 or 9 months or more since you skied last.

And if you are on mountaineering metal edged skis set up for cross country travel or mountains you are not usually on manicured snow so you have to be prepared for literally ANY kind of snow conditions that day brings. If it is a sunny day often that will make the snow crusty or slushy depending upon the temperature and clouds in the sky and how much sun there is that day. At night you likely want a headlamp and you don't want to be skiing alone for a variety of reasons for safety.

Many many people still ski alone in the back country these days but they usually do it during the daytime not at night. I saw one guy with a split apart snow board so this way you have the best of snow skiing combined with snow boarding if it's good enough for those conditions that day in the back country.

IF you have never seen a split apart board it is a snowboard that splits apart for skiing and then you can put it together if you want and it's also a snowboard as well.

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