Winter pleasures

Glancing ahead, Ben took a sip from his water bottle. In that split second of lost concentration, my balance failed, and down I tumbled, skis over poles, into a quicksand of powder snow. Ben couldn't hear my struggles from the crest of the hill above, as it took me over ten minutes to dig myself out. "What took you so long?" he asked, as I crested the ridge. We'd been chugging upwards for several hours, and my legs were begging to stop. But the beauty surrounding, sugar coated peaks, deep, deep powder, and the bowl to ourselves, kept us trekking. We were skiing the bowl I gazed upon countless times from town below. At the top, trepidation filled me as the seemingly "gentle" slope, now didn't seem so gentle. But with a deep breath, a few timid turns, and then another run, I regained my ski legs. We glided down the mountain, a glow with our meeting of fluffy powder. Soon we trudged over muddy streams and fall leaves in our ski boots, returning to civilization, hard to believe we'd just experienced such a serene wonderland.