Ski Season is Winding Down

There remains about one month in Schweitzer's ski season. At this point I have had 20 days of Nordic skiing and 18 of alpine. The hill is in good late season shape, and just received some snowy refreshment. However, many ski areas have already closed because of the Corona virus (COVID-19) - including most in Colorado, Washington, Sun Valley in Idaho, Whistler in BC etc. Eli's son (Nik) and grandsons (Talbot and Barrett) have made airplane reservations to visit and ski before season's end. We'll see if that plan survives. Audrey visited for 4 sunny ski days in February.

Yesterday we had a major wind storm whip through Sandpoint. Lots of trees were downed, taking power lines with them. The north wind also brought sideways snow and cold temperatures. At our house, we lost power for ~16 hours and worked our way through most of our remaining firewood. We left in the late afternoon for pizza at the winery and found our power restored upon our return home.

Nevertheless, other than the wind storm, the weather is mellowing and daylight lingers longer, so my thoughts do turn to kayaking. Matt, my trusty and dependable rolling partner, may be working in Qatar for kayak season, so my kayak rolling practice may be solo. I have a list of things to work on. Further, there are a number of us who need to work on rescue practices as victims and as rescuers, perhaps starting in June when the water returns to full pool level and also begins to warm.