Okay – I can now officially lead a snowshoe trip up White Queen with blindfolds! Yes, I can. Today was probably my 5th trip up in 3 or so weeks and my second day in a row!

The good news about all this is that it is still crazy beautiful and I do NOT get tired of it. Also good news, I thought I might be a tad slow today, given the second day in a row. Nope – felt stronger that ever.

The company was lovely. And tonight is New Year’s Eve! And you know what that means! Yes, it means cheap plonk bubbly and drunken scrabble.

I now have a new ambition at Whitewater – and one I need to sort out very soon: I think there is actually a way to get up Evening Ridge that will avoid all possibility of avi danger – which is good because it will allow everyone to get up without fear. We spotted a ski track near the Hummingbird mine going to Hummingbird Pass and then straight up the ridge. This quick dip and up should solve all issues. I now need to explore that pronto!

In the meantime, however, on Wednesday it will be an exploration of a different sort with Rick – an alternate way to the Lemon Lookout.

And that means tomorrow is a day off (when did hiking become my full-time job?) – day off – baking, cleaning, laundry – hmmmm.

Thanks to Cheri who reminded me to choose my word for 2019.

Courage.

The courage to be myself and that means being as fucking big as I am. It’s time to stop reining myself in.