There’s something about making your first turns of the season that’s always special. No matter how bad or icy the snow, how crowded the “white ribbon of death” may be, how long it takes to skin to the spot that only affords you a couple dozen arcs, or how many years you’ve done it– it’s always fun.

Today I once again got to experience the first turns of my season, up in Montezuma Basin. And of the aforementioned shortcomings, because the road was buried by snow it was about a three hour skin to get up there, so after a little quick math, I determined I made about one turn for every ten minutes of approach. Nice.

If you were wondering, yes, it was worth it. It always is.

I wasn’t alone in deeming the effort worthwhile, either. Jason and Arabella hiked up as well, and Lou and Scott were also there in search of their first turns, and the whole bunch of us agreed that it was great to be skiing.

And the snow was actually pretty good, too.

So far, the season’s been great. Let’s hope it continues.