Backside

Nice view as we stop at a "vertical drop" on a side trail this morning.

"Nice view, but time to turnaround!" I am saying.
"What's wrong with the vertical drop in front of us? Come on Dad!" suggests
Jack & Rudy looking over the edge :)

We have had a slow start to this 2021/2022 season with less than average snow on all our trails. To date, we've been doing high elevation and known snow deposits for our outings: Boreas Pass, Rabbit Ears Pass and Peak 7 near/above 11,000 feet elevation. Today we decided to venture down and see what some of the lower trails were looking like. Well, we still need more snow!

On the sun exposed side of Prospect Hill, we encountered numerous patches of thin (to no) snow cover for slow and cautious skiing. Luckily, Jack & Rudy slow to my speed whenever we encounter sketchy conditions!

All three of us hugging the right side of the trail trying to find enough
snow for my skis to continue!

But, after a series of up/downs (mostly ups) on the sunny, front side of Prospect Hill, we transitioned to the backside. Wow, what a difference! First, the backside only gets a quick shot of early morning sun and is then shaded from the hot afternoon sun. Second, not many people make it to the backside as it is far from town. 

The result? Well we were finally treated to some great conditions following a snowmobile track on the backside of Prospect Hill! Yay!

Finally on some good conditions as Jack & Rudy are opening up
the throttle and catching air in a soft snowmobile track.

A little further along and an even better result... Untouched snow for a few miles once we got far away from the popular frontside of Prospect Hill.

Perfect conditions the further we went!

Come along for a fresh tracks romp along the backside of Prospect Hill. Jack & Rudy are so in tune with my skis, it is fun to watch. Note how they slow (without command) whenever they hear the skis scraping or feel me slowing a bit for safe passage. Such fun partners! Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Let's go tell Zorro about the front vs back side of Prospect Hill!

"I remember - front side has too much sun for thin cover!" Zorro is telling me.
"But we still had fun!!!" adds happy Jack and extremely focused Rudy.

Unfortunately, we still need more snow for trails that are not high mountain passes or high elevation terrain. So, this morning was a creative beginning with some nice stretches once we finally got onto the backside of Prospect Hill: 7.9 miles traveled with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 18 MPH.

2021/2022 Season to Date: 18 days on the trails covering 138.6 miles with 13,200 feet of elevation climbed.