Up Up up.

It's definitely getting colder, growing dark earlier and there's snow on the peaks. I'm so happy. As you all know by now, I'm not much of a warm-weather person. Really, though, more than the weather, I'm just excited about skiing. We're very lucky, in Salt Lake, to have almost immediate access to the backcountry, and last night, Ed and I were talking about the dozens of absolutely wonderful ski partners in this town. Here's an image from a day, two years ago, when Brad, Ed, Bill B., Anna R., Matt T., Dylan F. and I skied Bonkers, one of my favorites.


Dylan must have taken that picture, because he was ahead of us most of the day...it could have been Bill, though...so the credit goes to one of them. I should be careful to give Bill the credit he deserves, because as you can see, he's not one to tangle with:


I remember the day getting off to a rocky start. I forgot my boots and didn't realize it till I was at the trailhead, so I was 30 minutes behind the group (see what I mean about easy access, though? I drove home, got my boots and was on the trail skinning in just half an hour). Brad came with me, so I felt bad about cutting into his ski time (and thus became Katie the Mean, or rather, Katie the Guilt-Ridden). It was so beautiful, though, such good snow and such great people, that my standard, pre-skiing nerves ("will I be able to keep up?" "will I be good enough?" "will everyone be laughing at me behind my back and wondering why Brad married me?") (Ahem, I know what you're thinking, and for the record, I'm already on medication) faded away in 30 minutes. Which is like, a record for me.


Either a Brad or Bill photo, Katie the Happy.