Can't I go and ski too?

We woke to the news that there had been more snow up at Mt Charleston so decided it was a day for the ski slopes. Kymba and I were going too this time so that I could give her a good walk while the others donned their skis. It only took us about 30 minutes to reach the car park from the outskirts of Vegas, a third of which was through the stony desert until we took a left and started to drive up into the snow covered mountainside. In fact the road out of town is the same one my son takes on his way to work - it is a wide straight road, with only one minor bend, and with desert on either side and ahead as far as the eye can see. The car park for the ski centre, at 8,000', was fairly full and in no time the skiiers donned their boots, helmets, goggles etc and set off for the slopes with Kymba and myself, equally well muffled against the cold, ready for our wintry walk. As the path gathered height we were able to look back towards the ski runs and I love this shot of Kymba, looking back to see where her Mum and Dad were. If you can view in large you will be able to see the ski runs better with skiiers and chair-lift - also the snowballs already on Kymba's tummy.

Soon after we set off along the trail Kymba joyfully leapt off the trodden snowy path and was immediately confounded by sinking past her tummy into deep snow. A few cumbersome leaps later she was back on the path looking a bit sheepish! Kymba is the aunty of Cara, my golden, who is being looked after by JimH. Bruce is being looked after by MeaMo and I am so grateful that they are keeping me posted with regular blips so I can see that both my chums are happy. I so enjoy still having a dog to walk out here and today I had her all to myself in the snowy wonderland. As we walked higher I felt a bit light headed and reminded myself that we were high enough for oxygen to be a bit rare, but anyway I had to slow down as the path became less obvious and the snow much deeper. In fact I was only able to walk where others had gone before on either cross country skis or snowboards - and I met folk using both of these modes of transport. I was certainly wishing that I had ski poles to help me keep my footing. The area was well wooded and the walk was magical following the heavy snowfall; it was very silent with no birdsong at all and apart from the occasional snowboarder, Kymba and I were in our own frozen world. I have posted a couple of photos of the scenes as I climbed higher into the wood here and here.

After an hour I realised that the path was becoming less defined and as I kept sinking up to my calves in drifts, decided to turn and head back down. Once back to the car I popped Kymba in the boot and having removed as many snowballs from her coat as possible I made my way to the cafe beside the start of all the ski runs for a very welcome hot chocolate with cream, to await the return of the skiiers.

This is such a holiday of contrasts!