The terrain chosen each day is determined by weather, visibility, snow stability, snow quantity and quality. The majority of our skiing consists of challenging old growth forests and gladed bowls. The morning sky sparkles with remnants of last night's snow. The early morning alpenglow has left the high peaks and everyone is feeling the anxiety of being at the bottom of the mountain on a powder day. The group is listening to the guide as he explains the use of avalanche transceivers, but attention is divided.
Some attention is focused on that ache for that first turn.
Some attention is focused on the other members of the group - strangers sizing up strangers before spending the day in a shared experience. Then the guide brings the attention back to the task at hand - back country protocol. The chair lift isn't moving fast enough - the first chair lift of the day never does. Exiting the chair and being on the snow chases some of the anxiousness away. The ski to the snowcat rendezvous is not exciting, but it is relaxing.