Why we love it here...reason #22

Mount Emily in the winter.













Even when the snow flies it's not much more than a fifteen minute drive through farm and range land up the foothills to the trailhead in forest land. From this point it's a beautiful ski up the mountain.













I took these shots while skiing alone on Christmas afternoon. The snow laden boughs make for some evocative and sculpted images. Bowed hooded figures, some standing others kneeling,

intricate interlacing patterns of dark branches framing snow in a miraculous manner,
they conjure an immense abbey ensconced in downy solitude.





And then, in the process of transferring my camera I mistook the strap on my ski pole for the camera strap. Thinking it was strapped to my wrist, I released it and I watched disbelievingly as it dropped out of sight, swallowed up by the deep powder. I plunged my hands in the snow bank and quickly fished it out but the remaining photos were all a bit cloudy due to condensation...I had to put away the camera and just enjoy.
K