Painting wild places...

I managed to get out to the Paul Smith's College VIC late this afternoon to ski - the first time since the rain and the ice and the -20 degree wind chills. It was calm and a balmy 10 degrees. January 8 - mostly overcast and grey with a few light spots in the sky and even a couple little patches of blue sky and pinkish clouds where the sun tried to poke through. There was about 2 inches of new snow on top of all the ice. I avoided the hills. It was calm and quiet and the light was very flat. The new snow was a consistent pale, light-grayish purple - but in my newly cut tracks slicing through it was brilliant white, with just a faint gray shadow along the edge. [...]