Another winter day, and yet more snow! I've lost track of how much has fallen with this storm... but when it snows for days it kind of packs itself down as it goes. So it looks like it's condensed into maybe 20 inches of fresh... which added to the base gives us about 32 inches on the ground. Not bad, not bad at all.
Ben and I have had a running joke for years that we might have to divorce to get it to snow again. The last really great snow year was the year before we met... and 1999 is a long time ago now. Luckily, we won't have to sign the divorce papers to be able to get out and about in this year's winter wonderland.
Of course, we could still use some more snow to really cover up the brush, and make travel bombproof. But we're off to a pretty good start. I read that yesterday was the largest 24 hour snowfall on record in the month of December in Valdez... 38.7 inches. Three plus feet is alot of snow in a day.
Yesterday I had to make a trip down the mountain to post a package, and it was a bit of an adventure. There was enough fresh snow on the trail that the snowmachine was pushing it up over the cowling, and the road out to the community was churned up by sleds... so much that my four wheel drive struggled a bit.
Normally I would have just left my truck at the end of community road, but tromping through an extra 1/2 a mile of unset trail with our toddler wasn't appealing- especially since I had strained my mid-back by using a chainsaw overhead to cut trees off the trail. So I managed make it up to our regular parking place and then used the snowmachine to pack down the road in case I needed to get out for an emergency.
I think my back needs one more day to heal without heavy work. If Ben hasn't made it out by tomorrow (he probably won't... there's just no flying in these conditions) then I'll shuttle the truck to the end of the road so we don't get snowed in- if we're not already, that is.
Today we're just hunkering down... lots of stretching, plenty of tea, and much gazing out the windows at our growing snowpack. I'm going to have to move a little snow, strategically, to keep things visible and passable, but otherwise- we're hanging around and resting up. And we're so grateful to be able to do it.