Road Snowpacked and Icy - Slower Speeds Advised

Five inches of fresh (heavy) powder reported at 5 am this morning. At 11 am, it was still snowing. Trees were silent and the snow was dense. Snow flies in your eyes from every direction. Thirty-five mile per hour (35 mph) winds thrash your face. Zero visibility up, zero visibility down, and forget side-to-side. Fly off the chair to avoid its whip. It's possible you just might make it, skating uphill into brutal headwinds. Trees come out of nowhere and all of a sudden you're safe. That is, until Travis starts mini-slides at you from above. A gust of wind comes at you and the white-out is blinding - quite literally - until it subsides. The trees protect; the trees hoard. Exposed, the wind blows you uphill; up and over the ridge, down into the bowl, cutting the only tracks through knee-deep snow you plunge back into their embrace. Four hours of mind-numbing, bone-chilling wind are made worthwhile by endless stashes hidden deep in the forest. Ah, springtime.