I have been feeling the breezes get colder for sometime now. The daylight dwindles away and seems to just drop off the planet here in Portland as winter approaches. The leaves are falling. The leaves have fallen. This is my favorite time to skateboard. I don't do tricks, and I don't go to parks. A sloped sidewalk layered in colored leaves is all I need. A good slash through something like this can put a happy end to the worst day.
In the past the coming of snowfall has always made me run to a new place. In the past I would find a home at the base of a mountain to climb it continually throughout the duration of winter. First was hood, then Tahoe and it's peaks, Mammoth mountain, June, Big Sky, and Baker. This year I am in the Willamette Valley. It doesn't sound too steep. I don't have a car; I have a bike. I don't have a pass; I have a splitboard. I am in class for nine hours, two days a week. I work the other five days. I have seriously made a life change, yet ever so increasingly try to add my old lifestyle within this one. No longer are the years of 300+ riding days, multiple boards and pieces of clothing, hook-ups from reps and friends.
I am living the life that our society wants us to. Yet, I will always find a way to make an ascent for a good time. I looked at the NOAA forecast today. 43.5 lat., 123.4 long. They have snow posted in feet; 1' to 3' it says. As some people's knee starts to hurt when it is going to rain, I always get sick after a snowstorm.
