No, really, she wanted to go.
Sunny, but still a bit cold. Chose Aspen Vista because it's out-and-back, so we could turn around at any point. Plus, it's exposed and gets good sun. Turns out we were out for probably the best part of the day — it started out cloudy and ended that way; while we were out, so was the sun, but its occasional duck behind the clouds was welcome, too.
Used a sale coupon to pick up the new Massive Attack for the drive up. One listen, still not convinced. Sure, nothing will ever be Mezzanine, but the jury's very much out …
The drive up the mountain was uneventful, she was fidgety while I packed and shod up. Ready. To. Go. Now. NOW!
Snow was well packed, but still gave the quads a workout; in a bit of offroading, I fell in up to my knee, so there was that much snow at least — it's all so covered that it was tough to judge how much there is, though the basin's claiming an 87" base.
The conditions were actually pretty good, good enough that we continued on further than we'd gone before (by about ten minutes). We met one hiker on the way up (she was heading down) and, in answer to her question about where the trail ends, had to admit we'd never made it that far.
We did make it to the point we did last time. And with the Gorillapod; though with the polarized glasses, I couldn't see the screen; with the glasses off, the snowblindness did the same thing.
Pushed on a bit beyond; we were at about an hour and, though Cheyenne was still straining at the end of the leash, I thought she might've been tiring. I know I was.
On the way down, one snowboarder, two pairs of cross-country skiers, one hiker with two dogs on the way up; one skier with his dog on the way down. About 1:50 total when all was said and done.
After depositing the dog in her bed, a big falafel lunch at Cleopatra Café, where I met Danny to work on some comics.
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