Adventures In Underskiing

It’s a brilliant May afternoon, and though the ski season officially ended weeks ago, I’m making the ten-minute walk through pools of snowmelt and over a rickety wood bridge to the shuttered local ski area, still encased in snow. At the base, I gaze up at its modest high point, four hundred feet above, and smile at potential lines down its short but steep headwall, flanked by towering ponderosa. The sun is beaming with the promise of spring, so I’m clad in the minimalist f