Punching powder at 30 below zero at 12,000 feet - Greeting card
Mountaineering skiing carries you into the throne room of snow-mantled peaks draped in elegant aspirin-white gowns. Their sheer sophistication romances you into trance-like locomotion. You push through wooded glens sparkling with diamonds while the rising sun lifts into the frigid cobalt sky. Your lungs suck deep gulps of crystalline air. Your legs press into the mountain with Zen-like grace. Your heart beats to the music of nature. At 12,000 feet, puffy clouds fill the valley behind you. What carries you to this altitude? Why do you brave 30 below zero temperatures? Why? To you, the mountains offer a retreat from civilization. You find the wilderness a testing place to rediscover yourself. You ski to renew your body and spirit. You realize that nature teaches a powerful lesson that your life and your destiny are linked to the entire natural world and that nature provides you with salvation for your soul.
Winter hut to hut, 12,000 feet, Homestake Peak, Mt. Holy Cross, Colorado © 2012 Frosty Wooldridge
Al, Frosty and Scott pushing through fresh powder on our way up out of the Grand Valley headed toward Homestake Peak at 13,209 feet at 40 below zero F. at the top. After five hours, we reached the summit. We saw mountain peaks 100 miles away in a 360 degree circle. To reach the top of a mountain in mid winter makes for one of the greatest delights in a mountaineer’s soul. It's a Colorado Rocky Mountain High! Pure satori!