I have never skied alone – that is, until Turns All Year Month 93! With limited availability and a lack of desire to coordinate with anyone, I scooted up to Mt. Rainier solo. The skiing was a far cry from the best July turns ever last year, but hey, it was skiing. I count it.
Thursday, July 4, 2019 – Muir Snowfield, Tahoma (Mt. Rainier)
I was worried I wouldn’t have any fun skiing alone. Turns out, I know myself well, but not for the reasons I thought. Getting up super early was unpleasant, but fine. The six hours of driving was delightful. I caught up on podcasts and blasted show tunes and made a few friendly phone calls. The two hours and a half hours hiking were superb. The scenery was stunning as always, marmots scurried about, and I even made a few new friends on the skin track up.
But the skiing… the skiing was a sufferfest. I was greeted with no-good, very bad, terrible conditions, and my legs were SO TIRED. Apparently doing legs at crossfit the day before is not a good idea. But I made it up to about 8,200′ and back down to Pebble Creek on skis. I even made a few movements that resembled parallel turns. When my quads weren’t screaming from the horrible suncups, sticky snow, and leg blasters the day before, I almost had fun. And almost is good enough to count for Turns All Year Month 93.
