The snow.

We have had a few days in the fifties around here which to Alaskans is kind if like summer. Our just two inches shy of record breaking snowfall this year has left berms taller than our street signs and the median of the highway so full you couldn't see the other side. But those aforementioned fifties have leveled things off a bit.

As we speak.. er... Write... I am sitting in one of my favorite spots. It's at the top of Agony Hill on what I have come to call "Prayer Bench." and since I am typing on my phone and uploading a few pictures from it hopefully you'll see it somewhere in this post;). And as a side note, when I ran these trails in the fall before the snow fell, I was shocked to see how tall this bench really is. Without snow I can't touch the ground when I sit on it.

But all winter as I clamber up this rather aptly named hill, I stop at the top. I drink in the silence and stillness that only comes from a thick blanket of snow and dark. And I always pray.
I give thanks for two strong legs that carry me up here. For a heart beating fast and pumping blood to warm my fingers in single digit weather. I am grateful for the tremendous beauty that surrounds me and the utter peace I find out here. I marvel at the stars and the moon do bright you don't even need your headlamp.

It has been a place of refuge. Meditation and solace.

It's a sacred place for me.

So as the temperatures rise and my trails get icy, I will have to hang up my skis. Hopefully the peace I find out here can be taken with me in my heart and pulled out for those rainy days ahead.