I ended this mountain-tastic weekend with a golden hour Pugsley ride up in Waterworks. The busy crowd of snowshoers, hikers and skiers had tracked out the trail network over the weekend, and then abandoned everything to go watch their football game. Seamus and I had the place to ourselves.

Riding soft, squeaky snow. Singletrack snow biking. Pink sky and golden mountains.

Saturday’s snowfall still lingered on all the trees, waiting for the wind (or possibly rain) to knock it off. Such a gorgeous end to a brilliant weekend of mountain living.

Earlier in the day K and I had gone to Bolton Valley for our first turns of the season. This year he’s got new boots and a new, longer board and has picked up right where he left off last season. Though I didn’t end up getting a season’s pass for us, I’ll be watching the discount offers closely so that we can get our chair lift time this year.

The open trails have coverage, but overall the snowpack is really sad this year. Check out the above photo. Those are benches behind K. Last year there was so much snow that the benches were completely covered, this year you’d have to be a giant to sit on them. There are still many trails yet to open, but I have to admit that conditions were perfectly fine today for green run cruising and it really wasn’t crowded.

Felt like I really took advantage of living in a mountain town this weekend. Saturday I made it to the dump and then rode snowmobile trails for two hours despite the bitter cold. Greensky Bluegrass at Higher Ground on Saturday night. Sunday riding and riding with a stop at the local pub in between. Good times indeed.