Caught in a blizzard

Ironically, that could be the title of my life, but in actuality it was what happened yesterday during our third snowshoeing adventure in three weeks. There had been 18 inches of new snow in the past 48 hours at Crystal Mountain, with warnings of a snowstorm coming in during the afternoon. 

When the snowstorm hit we were about two hours out on the trail, and it was tough going. I voted to turn back at least ten different times, but my husband told me "just a little bit farther and then we can turn back". 

Three and half hours later and 633 calories burned (heart rate monitor), we were finally done. He thought it was exciting, I was on the verge of miserable. Cold, wet, and tired. With the wind blowing sideways, snow was hitting my eyes, practically blinding me. My face felt frozen, and my fingers, inside of gloves guaranteeing warmth at subzero temperatures, felt slightly frostbitten. I checked the temperature later and it was 26, but felt like 17 with the wind chill. Yeah, good times.

In the midst of the storm, standing in front of a thing 

they use to shoot off cannons to stimulate avalanches. 

I thought this picture was really weird. A giant snowflake, 

right in front of the camera lens, centered perfectly on my

face. Kind of spooky. Maybe a sign of a dead woman

walking?

You can't really see the giant hill behind me, but you can see 

the ski lifts to the left. We trekked up this hill to get to 

some paths through the woods, where our snowshoes sunk 

down about two feet. I guess because the snow was so powdery,

the snowhoes weren't working quite as expected. Like I thought

the purpose of snowshoes was to stay "on top" of the snow, not

 sink down two feet into it! 

Funny end to this story. My husband returned the rented snowshoes to Joe's Sports Store today (formerly G.I. Joe's). He came home all excited with his new purchases. Two brand new pair of Tubbs' snowshoes and poles. He said they were 50% off and he couldn't resist, from a mere $400 to only $200. Now we can go snowshoeing all weekend, every weekend. Wahoo.

Think God spring is almost here.