photos by David Halterman

In what was beginning to seem like an eternity without precipitation, Skadi, llr and the rest of the snow gods and goddesses blessed the region with a solid two days of the white stuff, or the wet stuff if you were stuck in town. While many people found their way to Wolf Creek or Purgatory, happy to wait in line for their turn to take some turns, many kept going up, up, up into the high country for a bit of freedom and frolicking in more than 4 feet of fresh powder. And with many parts of the country experiencing rather serious drought conditions, last weekends storm was truly a blessing.

Casin Ward and Hank Stowers, members of the Purgatory Freestyle Team, get some footage atop Molas Pass on Sunday afternoon. Stuart Saslow, along with son Elliott and dog Masey, make fresh tracks near Molas Pass on Sunday morning. A line of cars sits along the side of the road near the entrance to Andrews Lake as a cross-country skier makes his way along the path. Keith Richardson, bottom right, and David Hilgenfeld, of Grand Junction, dig a Subaru out of a day-and-a-halfs worth of snow and plow pack early Sunday morning, just north of Cascade Creek. Keith was forced to abandon the car on Friday night as road conditions became too treacherous. Nolan Stowers, 10, goes Daffy on Sunday afternoon near Molas Pass. Nolan, along with other members of the Purgatory Freestyle Team, were getting a jump on their season, which officially starts on the 15th.