Post-impression of a storm

The trails at Alturas lake were groomed twice at the very end of 2018. On the 30th, as old groomer Davinius was just finishing smoothing out 5 inches of new snow from the night before, a swirlling, roiling, ominous black wall of cloud raced up the valley consuming the landscape, the trees and the ski trails in a blasting smear of sideways snow that enveloped the groomer and the day’s last skiers in a frigid vision of impenetrable, indecipherable whiteness. After 20 minutes the blue sky suddenly returned and happily, everyone limped to the highway. By the next afternoon, the birthday of Henri Matisse and the last day of the year, only a snow drifted post impressionist memory remained of the monster storm, as regroomed corduroy and classic tracks returned a sharp edged reality to the trails. At Park Creek, Adam also got everything re-groomed for skating with classic tracks down on most of those trails.