Dear Diary: First Flakes Flying

October 25, 2010 - There's nothing like the build up for the upcoming winter season: new ski movies, scoping the new gear that you probably don't need/can't afford, checking the weather, memories of lines you charged and those you can't wait to dominate... All that anticipation hits me like a ton of bricks even before the first flakes of the season. Today I'm one step closer to what we're all waiting for; Three wet inches isn't much but it only serves to excite the passion for snow I suppress for what seems like most of the year.

That passion is something that didn't fully take a hold of me until four years ago. In the last four years I have skied the majority of the "big" mountains of the east. With fond frigid memories of Jay Peak's tree runs,

ripping down Tuckerman's in May,

3' of fresh in the secret stashes of Loon,

4' of pow at Sugarbush, and over 5' of ultra dumps above timberline on the snowfields at Sugarloaf,

I am uncontrollably excited for my first season here in Jackson. That excitement is only fueled harder by the fact that I've never set a ski outside of the east. I quit my job, put my relationship on hold, and said goodbye to my friends and family in hopes of having an unforgettable winter. Thankfully this wait will be short lived as in Jackson the skiing starts in November and doesn't end until early summer. We are actually going to scope the ski scene at The Pass later today as there's 30" up around 9,500 ft. (7,808 ft. Snowking behind our house this morning)

Being in the midst of the Grand Teton National Park and surrounding mountains, the search for long, steep terrain is already over. It's just time to watch the white stuff pile up; winter is almost upon us.