Close, but no cigar

Snow, thaw, three weeks of rain, a week of sub-zero and then two days of snow. It's been a typically mixed bag for Bergen as winter marches on.

I left my house in the dark this morning, fully intending to be up top to capture the sun rising over the snowy peaks to the east. I got up in time but the sun didn't, lazing as it was behind a thick duvet of cloud and a dull, flat dawn. My head torch swung from side-to-side flashing across pristine, glowing perfection.

Ground conditions were trickier off the graded trails and above the trees. The unconsolidated snow was not established or thick enough to warrant the snow-shoes I lugged up the hillside. Every footfall broke through the cover to hidden rocks and unfrozen bogs. Back down at the reservoir the Sunday foot traffic and seasons first skiers had pounded the snowy trails into something eminently skiable.

Time to clean those ski bases.