First Backcountry Ski Trip of 2007

This is a route up near Stevens Pass, called Jim Hill Mountain. Once again, our good friend Leo joined us. It was -1 degree when we started, but the snow was SWEEEEET. We skinned 5.5 hours up, for a round trip time of 7.5 hours. We would have taken more pictures, but the camera stopped working becuase of the temperatue. That was a major bummer, becuase there were some beautiful shots that will have to remain only in the memory.



At the end of the trip we drove down to Leavenworth for dinner at Mozart's Cafe. I'd never been to Leavenworth in the winter, so it was a real treat. The only thing it lacked was roasted chestnuts, one of my favorite foods.

Did you know that chestnuts are like the perfect food? I'm serious. Unlike other nuts, there is only a trace amount of fat, they are loaded with vitamin C, have no cholesterol, are low calorie, high carb and protein yummies! We went crazy over them this year becuase we found them in the Metro Market. We made roasted chestnut bisk, chestnut and olive oil pasta, and made a batch of chestnuts several times per week for about a month.

If you've never tried 'em, you really should! They are the bomb (no pun intended: be sure to cut a slice into them before roasting, otherwise they will explode). :P