Play Me That Mountain Music

As the snows begin to melt and the rivers and creeks begin to rise in the Colorado mountains, we prepare to take our leave and head east and back to Europe.

It’s been a great winter home. In my full time working days I’d often thought about what it would be like to ski whenever I wanted, to be choosy about a ski day based on the weather, not based on a calendar full of meetings. To snowshoe on busy weekend days on the mountain to avoid the crowds and find solitude among the creeks and pines and drifts of snow. To focus on fitness vs emails and to-dos.

This was my first winter being able to do that, truly, and it lived up to expectations. I am ending the ski season just shy of my target days on the mountain mostly because I tweaked my ankle over Christmas week snowshoeing into a deep, hidden boot hole and didn’t want to make it worse by skiing and because we were gone most of January and March, but despite that, the winter lived up to and exceeded expectations. It didn’t hurt that the central mountains of Colorado had record-nearing snowfall.

We will miss the alternating snowy, cold days and nights when all you want to do is to stay in and be warm and those with brilliant blue skies reflecting sunlight off of a fresh white, curving blanket below. Miss the sound of the Gore Creek tumbling and trickling below the snow covered rocks before the real melt begins and it’s deafening rush is all you can hear as it hustles by. We will miss the coming of spring, with its melt and mud and flowers and the arrival of the summer’s hummingbirds. Miss the warm summer days and cool nights sitting out and watching the stars appear after the late afternoon rain showers disperse. And we will miss the golden hues of aspens replacing their bright greens creating a concert of colors before a windy autumn afternoon pushes them away and clears the way for winter.

But now it’s time to leave, pack away the boots and poles, ski pants and goggles until the next winter season when we are lucky enough to get to live in the mountains.

Auf Wiedersehen Vail, bis zum nächsten Mal.