We had a crazy January this year. It got as warm as 55 degrees in Girdwood and almost all the snow melted. That has inspired me to start winter running, and I've been at it pretty consistently three times a week. I will usually just run with ice grippers on my shoes but by the end of our month and a half without snow I didn't even need those. It was fun to get out and enjoy the sunshine and warmth, but I didn't feel like I'd really paid the price of a long winter to appreciate it as much as I normally do. We started out OK in October with this:
Unfortunately it didn't last. And then all the rain we got while it was warm really washed any snow we had away. Drew took some pictures to remember our year it hardly snowed:
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| Needless to say we haven't exactly had to break out the snowblower much... |
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| Usually the bike trail along this mountain is closed for avalanche danger. It was wide open and ice free. I even broke out my bike a few times. |
One positive of all the warm sunny weather was that we had some beautiful clear days and nights. We drove up the arm one night after we'd each spent the day outside (hence the clothes) just to take some pretty pictures at sunset:
Despite the lack of snow I did get in a cross country ski day or two early on, and Drew kept skiing the ice whenever the resort was open. He took a professional ski instructor class this year so he is official now. He's been having fun volunteering at the adaptive ski school and he found the classes really helped him with his own technique.
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| I love getting to spend a morning or a sunset afternoon cross country skiing here. I like to go alone, listening to classical music on my Ipod. It's totally peaceful. |
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| It's been really fun having our friends Tim and McKenzie here in Girdwood this year. (They own the dog we watched this summer, Wren.) |
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| Gotta love the water view from the top of the resort. |
