Storm Turns on the North Side

Today was a good day to be at Moonlight Basin. Wait, let me rephrase that... Today was a great day to be at Moonlight Basin. After skiing a couple laps off Big Sky Resort's tram, I thought I'd found the deepest powder of the day on the South Face of Lone Peak. Riding solo, I spun back around to the tram line, where I heard the teensiest murmuring of face shots on the north side. Quietly I waited to load my car, with a recently hatched plan to assault the North Summit with fellow local Wild Bill. Our wait at the summit was brief, as it tends to be on low-viz days. After signing out, we sideslipped down the snow fences, bypassing the entrance to Big Sky's Big Couloir, and regrouped at the top of the Snowfield. The visibility was vertigo-inducing. I cautiously made my way off the ramp into the skier's right side, where I was greeted by a blast of snow to my face. Then another, and another, and another, until my face and goggles were packed with snow. Oh well, I thought...Nothing to see today anyways, except kaBLAM! Snow in my face, and POOF, more snow in my face. We met up again at the bottom of the snowfield, and the stoke was mutual. Upper Tears somehow had no tracks in it, so I dropped in and was instantly rewarded with my deepest turns of the day. Lower Direct came and went all too quickly, and before I knew it I was at the meeting trees where Wild Bill was waiting. "Go for another?" Bill asked. "Hell yeah!" I replied, digging snow out of my collar and temples. We rallied around to the Six Shooter, up the Headwaters chair, down the LRT to Big Sky's triple chair, and raced for the tram line, knowing we'd catch the last sign-out slot if we were lucky.  The clouds still hung heavy in the air as we ascended to the summit of Lone Peak, signing out at exactly 2:30 PM.   Round 2 proved even better as the clouds lifted, showing off all the untracked pow still left. We beelined down Rips and over to the same area. Hero turns all the way to the meeting trees once again. As we made our way out the drainage, I couldn't help but think to myself, this is what I live for.