December 31, 2003, paradise

Julie and I got to the longmire gate at 10:15 hoping to cruize on in but we still had to wait 20 min till they opened it. Left the parking lot in paradise and only about 6 cars in the lot the snow was coating the paking lot nicely and we skinned right from the car(safest option,the parking lot was slick) the snow was amazing dry deep and untouched. there were a couple skiers headed for mazama ridge,and the rest of the vehicles carried workers or sledders. We headed for edith creek basin to check out the goods. A few quick pits, a shovel shear and a rutchblock later we decided on bundys blunder as a safe spot to play. Every thing on west and east aspects had good bonding of new snow but a little wind loaded for my tastes south facing seemed in a little better shape.  All around the the top 10-12 inches were new and light. We began to harvest some of the most fluffy dry snow I've seen in this area. I have a few amazing shots of waist deep snow, turns blowing over our shoulders. As soon as I figure out how to post pics or links to pics I'll post em. The 195 swallow tail I got myself for X-mas was realy just the thing in these conditions. I've never moved that fast in snow that deep. All in all a FANTASTIC way to wrap up last year.
happy new year to all and I wish all of you a day like that.