Photo of the Week: Crust Cruising

One of the great things about a little rainfall in the middle of February is that it sometime leads to the formation of a nice supportive crust atop the snowpack. If we’ve got a good base to work with, this can be especially fun, as the crust allows you to go nearly anywhere, and fast, on skis – along creek beds, over fence lines, across fields, through open hardwoods… In these conditions, even a 2 degree pitch in a farmer’s field can get the adrenaline flowing, especially on pair of skate skis. And when a little fresh snow – i.e “dust on crust” – invites us to carefully ski again on the steeper slopes of our higher elevations, the crust down low makes it easy and fun to explore the endless lower angle terrain leading back to our roads and rivers at valley bottom… and thus, enabling some of the longest ski runs of the season. -Brian

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