Caribou Lodge - The Puppy Tour

After ushering in 2009 in a moldy, half-frozen yurt, we made plans to close out the year in comfort and style. Caribou Lodge had been good to us despite poor skiing conditions in March and it came through again for New Year 2010.

Anastasia and I piled our gear in the van and rolled out of town on the 30th with Becky, Pete and Hopi, heading east. The meager snow conditions we've had so far were evident as we crossed Snoqualmie Pass, but we were hopeful that a cold front to the west would overtake us and deliver some fresh snow to the Idaho Selkirks during our trip.

Andy and Mica met us in Sandpoint on the tail end of their winter roadtrip (on which they got engaged, WOOT!!). Chad and Mary were wrapping up their usual Portland --> Spokane holiday tour and we caught up with them in their hotel before celebrating Andy's birthday over Mexican food downtown.

We met Mark and Lynn early on the 31st and began the seven mile ski into the hut after loading our provisions (lots of food, lots of alcohol) onto the snowmobiles. The trip in seemed much quicker this year, though it quickly became clear that the Selkirks weren't doing much better than the Cascades for snow. The skiing would again come up short, but the lodge is so cozy and well thought out that we happily embraced our relaxing vacation and read, drank, laughed and ate. Rinse and repeat.

For Anastasia and I, the highlight of the trip was Hopi's first real exposure to ski touring. She had her best friend Tundra along to help her control her enthusiasm and proved up to the task of skiing in deep snow, to our great joy. Careful application of paw wax kept the snowballs at a minimum, with the help of an emergency forearm-fur trim (she was carrying an extra pound or two of snow on each leg).

As usual, a fantastic trip with good friends and good food. Eventually the skiing will pan out, but I'm hard pressed to complain when I spend so much time laughing.

Best Buddies

In Uniform

Emergency Snowball Removal