In the Alps above Innsbruck

A perfect winter day

People who say they hate winter cannot ever have been out on a day like this. Fresh powder, brilliant sunshine, crisp air, and spectacular scenery everywhere you look. This, and the next few photos were taken during a late March ski trip to Alta (Utah) with my kids.

The "kids"

Older son (right) spent this particular winter working at Alta after college (note Colby sweatshirt). 

"Not serviced by lifts"

Note that the skiers are going uphill. Especially impressive since, at 12,000 feet, there isn'a a lot of oxygen up there.

This was a mistake

Things drop off very steeply to the left. And there's no way out of the bowl for a mile or two. I made this mistake only once. Got down it in one piece, but slowly. Can't say it was a lot of fun.

Cozy retreat

I could live here.

Mount Rainier

I know that Seattle is supposed to have terrible weather, but every time I've been there the weather has been like this. One of our kids is a college teacher in Seattle, and a fanatical bicycle racer. Currently, it's cyclocross season. I have to get out there for a visit and do some race photography sometime.

Summer is gone...

View of Mount Mansfield, looking east from my canoe in Malletts Bay. At this time of year I have to make an effort to remember weather like this, since much of November and December in the Champlain Valley of Vermont is pretty gray and disgusting, and the days are much too short. But the good news is that Mrs G and I are escaping to the Caribbean soon, to do some snorkeling and beach-walking.

The snow is already starting to pile up in the mountains, and the ski areas have had a couple of feet of snow in the past few days. Stowe and its ski areas are on the far side of Mt Mansfield, about an hour's drive from Burlington.

Fresh snow at Alta