Despite extremely cold temperatures, we got some really good snow over the past 2 days and I decided to dust off the skis and take them for a spin in the monument. The roads are still a bit slick, and so I made the short drive over the U Street carefully, parked the car and hit the trail. I would estimate about 10 inches of snow on the ground and a temperature of -3 at the time of my ski. I would be skiing the Prairie View Trail, which is really the only skiable trail in the monument.
The scenery looking towards Mitchell Pass was extraordinary.
It was nice to see the monument look like winter. We can really use all the moisture too, as its been a really dry winter so far. Setting tracks was hard work and slow going. Still, it felt great to have the skis strapped to my feet again. My first time on skis since winter of 2019 in Minnesota! I made my way west to the visitor center parking lot, then turned around and skied in the tracks I had made, stopping every now and then to take a look back at the scenery to the west.
