First ski tour of the year!

Last night brought us here in northern West Virginia a lovely sugar coating of snow! In Morgantown I stepped out to the car to be greeted by 2 inches of snow and lots of ice to clear. I had some paperwork at the University, so I went to take care of that only to find no one in the office. With that I knew I had my chance to go big, Coops style (-: Skis, boots, poles, hot tea and Ipod shuffle loaded in the Volvo I headed up to Coopers Rock State Forest.

After a quick 20 minute drive I was pleasantly surprised by not a sugar coating, but full-fledged powder conditions! At about 2,200 ft (675 m), Coops is distinctly higher than Morgantown and as so gets blessed with much more snow. The average depth during my ski tour was perhaps about 4 inches, though in some places it was as shallow as 2 inches or as deep as 6 inches in drifts. There were no other skiers today either, a bit strange, but perhaps not because it is a Tuesday and most have to work. I took a moment to rig the camera on a stump to shoot this Kodak of me (in ankle pow!) on the trail:

I skied from the front gate near Intersate 68 to the overlook via the roadside trail. I am not sure how long it was, perhaps 6 or 8 miles all together- enough for a fun, mid-week, mid- morning ski tour (-; The view from the overlook was stunning. I arrived to find the clouds had cleared and to take this photo from the overlook block looking down the Cheat canyon:

After a rather agonizing tour back to the car (the inside of my heels were rubbed raw from the ski boots) I made quick time back to Morgantown in time for a brief meeting with my advisor at WVU. I had previously scheduled a meeting for the morning to discuss jobs in Colorado. I hope our area gets more snow and more ski tours come soon!