I haven't posted anything for a couple days, because it had been snowing pretty constantly and I didn't much want to go out and get cold. Paul took the opportunity of going out to enjoy himself in the blizzard, and on Saturday 8th skied very hard with old acquaintances at Copper Mountain. He was in a small fast group, and came home so exhausted about 6.30 he had to go straight to bed! In order to visit Copper without a car, you need to catch a bus down to Breckenridge station, another from there to Frisco, and a third to Copper Mountain. And of course, it's the same in the reverse direction. The journey took him about 2 hours each way, so no wonder he was tired! However, I persuaded him against renting a car, as I thought the driving on these difficult and snowy roads, through blizzards, might just be a bit too demanding, especially after a hard day's skiing!
It was still snowing on Sunday, but I decided to go out anyway, as the snow was absolutely beautiful, deep and powdery. Being Sunday, it was of course very crowded, which makes things more difficult. It's amazing the number of people who elect to fall over just in front of you, necessitating very swift evasive action.
The visibility wasn't very good, as you can see
This was taken about lunch time, through the driving snow. I have just stopped on a fairly flat area to get my breath, before heading over to the left on a trail through the trees to get down to the foot of the slope, in the valley which you may just be able to see in the centre of the photo. Also on the left are the pylons of the chair lift; any chair lift is a bleak cold experience in the wind and snow. Paul wears a balaclava and face mask; I can't contemplate a face mask, I already find breathing at this altitude quite difficult, so I just have to hold my gloved hand over my mouth and lower face on the way up in the lift. This isn't nearly as efficient as a face mask, but at least I can breathe!
After about 7 long runs, my legs had turned to jelly and we skied down and caught the bus back. Paul then went back out for some more demanding skiing on his own.
The snow continued to fall;
this is the view from one of our bedroom windows, showing the thick snow on the roof and looking across to the parking lot of the Father Dyer church - you can see the huge heap of snow behind the car.
In the afternoon, there were very loud rumblings as huge amounts of snow and enormous pieces of ice slid off the roof of the Inn. One big heap fell heavily onto the smokers area, but fortunately there were no smokers standing there.
The heap has completely buried the ashtray. The ski propped up in the snow heap has a notice on it warning there is a risk of falling snow from the roof.
There was heavy snow overnight on the 9th, and by next morning, the heaps of snow were even higher. This is the latest view of the church parking lot, taken through the blizzard and hence rather dark.
There are cars buried under some of those heaps of snow!
This is the view directly across the road from the Inn.
The trucks that take the snow away aren't keeping up with the volume of snow, and walking has become quite difficult at times. The snow can be thigh deep, so it can easily get down inside your ski boots. The trucks keep rumbling past, one every few minutes.
But the snow is falling really heavily at present, with 5 inches predicted for the day, so I think it's a losing battle. Apparently, Tuesday is forecast to be clear and sunny with no snow for a change, though the snow will be back later in the week.
I know I posted a photo recently of the outside of the back of Inn showing some really long icicles. Here's the most recent one, taken when it wasn't snowing at breakfast time, showing how much deeper the snow is getting.
The stairs at the right, the one the fox usually uses to reach the roof, are actually the fire escape! Nobody has seen the fox recently, though he was seen the day before we arrived. Perhaps he, like me, prefers to stay inside in this weather!
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