It seems every time I go to the desert, it dumps snow at home. There was hardly any snow on the ground when I left for Abu Dhabi and now there’s well over 3 feet in the backyard – deja vu to last December – and it just keeps coming down.

Our front yard on Dec. 25

Not that I’m complaining. I was glad to trade the sand for snow and start my winter training regimen. After a few days off with a nasty chest and head cold left over from Abu Dhabi, Juniper and I enjoyed a nice skin up and ski down the road – something we had both been missing since last winter. Juniper is getting bigger (and therefore heavier), which means towing her in the Chariot is an even better workout.

It was snowing so hard Ian couldn't keep the snow off the camera lens.

By Christmas Eve, the plow truck finally made it up the road so I was able to get back out ‘hobnailing‘ through the neighborhood. I hadn’t run since Abu Dhabi so it felt great to get out and push the legs even if they were a bit sluggish. We definitely enjoyed a white Christmas with some family sledding and more ski touring through the neighborhood. Ripping my skins during the tour reminded me just how much I need to practice my transitions for the upcoming COSMIC races – I’m pretty rusty and slow.

Sledding down the driveway.

Ian and Juniper with Zulu's chasing in the foreground

Happy mom, daughter and Hank the dog.

The snow kept hammering down throughout Christmas day and night and dumped 17″ on Aspen Highlands (more like 24″ in the Bowl) so Ian had a great day skiing with the boys on the 26th. However, by the time he got home, there was over a foot of new snow in the driveway and he couldn’t even drive the truck up to the house. So, I set out for some more ‘training’ with the snowblower – pushing the heavy machine through that much snow for 2 hours makes for a pretty decent work out.

I threw snow all over Ian seconds after this shot. He didn't think it was as funny as I did.

Lastly, I got an email from my teammate Mike Kloser earlier this week regarding snowshoe racing this winter. Unbeknownst to me, Mike had been working with Adam Chase and he managed to get us both on the Atlas Snowshoe Team, which was a nice surprise! Yesterday, I tried out my new Atlas Race snowshoes in the Pedal Power Paddy’s 10K Holiday race in our old ‘hood, Eagle-Vail. I’ve always liked Bruce’s Pedal Power races because he always routes the course through deep snow and keeps us off the packed trail. My new shoes were great off trail and on the short, fast packed sections and helped me to place second behind my friend and La Sportiva pro, Keri Nelson. Travis Macy won the men’s race and Mike got second as well (not bad for a guy who turns 49 next week!).

Mike Kloser (with poles) and I starting the snowshoe race.

Heading to the finish

Next up is the COSMIC race at Sunlight Mountain…basically our backyard. I’m hoping to get out on my skis lots more between now and then.