This year has been a little bit of a wash in terms of outdoor adventures. In March my wife tore her knee, and the ensuing instability, surgery (which made it stable again) and rehab made a planned multi-month trip in the remote backcountry unrealistic. After that, a close family member was diagnosed with a terminal illness, so we’ve been doing hospice care every afternoon for the past couple months. It’s a gut wrenching situation that has effected me to the core. To be any good at this, I have to be disciplined about taking care of myself when not providing care, and for me, taking care of myself means spending time in the outdoors to fuel the emotional tank.

Elaine and I have been doing this “ski once a month” thing since October 2010, and her knee surgery hasn’t stopped that. She was skinning around the top of Ptarmigan Bowl in Rocky Mountain National Park in May, June and July post-surgery and the knee is now strong enough where we can hike to some very moderate snowfields and at least skin around and probably do some careful skiing. She’ll give August a shot later this week.

Because I have this consistent yet limited time slot, and because I’m looking for rich, close-to-home experiences that have meaning yet require discipline, I decided to set a realistic goal of trying to ski at least once a week in 2025. The skiable snow is close enough that I can get out during the time I have, but it’s still a challenge. And, in a time when joy is hard to find, skiing gives me moments of elation, even if only for a few seconds. Those few seconds can fuel a week of compassionate hospice care.

There is a snowfield on a prominent mountain near us that I’ve visited the last six weeks to do some skiing. Going out once a week allows a person to see seasonal changes. Once a month is too infrequent – too much changes in a month – and every day makes it hard to see changes because they are imperceptible in that short a time.

The tundra has really evolved in the past six weeks, from a bountiful, lush land of wild flowers to where it is now, turning red, an early harbinger of autumn. Six weeks ago white crowned sparrows were a constant companion, their slightly harsh chirp ringing every ten seconds or so. Now, most of the song birds have left. The ptarmigan are everywhere on the tundra, the ravens are omnipresent and today I saw a large golden eagle on the snowfield as I approached.

The snowfield changes a little bit every week. It gets a little smaller, and this is to be expected, but it’s still skiing quite well. I know these mountain snowfields are harbingers for climate change, and I thought it would be interesting to look at photos from each week to see the melt from week to week.

One of these days I’m going to go to the Boulder Public Library and see if I can find some historical photos of this snowfield. Obviously, it used to be a part of a much larger glacier, but I don’t have much perspective on its size compared to twenty, fifty or a hundred years ago.

It’s only a 250-vertical-foot run, but it provides a lot of joy. I try a pick a nice smooth line the first run and then mimic it each ensuing run. The first run clears off the summer dirt, and after 4-5 runs it gets quite fast. Today was a wonderful ski, the line flowing nicely with tight turns and a mogul run feel. It’s unique to be working on technique in August, but skiing once a week allows me to retain movements that hopefully will carry over when the season starts for real.

On the hike back down I ran into my old cycling coach Michelle who I haven’t seen in more than 15 years. We did a lot of endurance style races together in the mountains of Colorado and Alaska back in the day and she’s a nice person. It was good to catch up. Another older lady hiking the mountain told me about Gentians, tiny little white tundra flowers that bloom in the late summer. I’ve seen those all over the place but never knew what they were.

Folks are friendly in the mountains and it’s always nice to share stories. Everybody asks me about skiing and if I’m lucky somebody will teach me about flowers. It’s a good trade!