Winter, continued

I’m writing blog entries when I should be painting. Painting is supposed to be my first priority now, so anything else produces guilt. But, I feel compelled to stay in touch, and tell you about another trip into Mineral King. As usual, it provided more inspiration, recreation and good times with Michael in the snow.

There has been avalanche activity in the valley. First, a slide came down off spud mountain. The real name is Potato Hill because it reminded the Irish miners of rows of potatoes in the fields of home. Those rows are avalanche chutes. Here is one result:

This is a little shed that prolly needed rebuilding anyway. . . out of respect for my friends and neighbors, I will leave this without identification, and will also not show the cabin that got knocked off its posts. (It doesn’t look nearly as dramatic in the photos as real life anyway!)

Another slide came down Chihuahua, which is the drainage across the valley from Spring Creek (about 1/2 mile before Crystal).

It is all snowy, so how do you know this is a slide instead of just snowfall? It is fan shaped, like an alluvial fan but made of snow instead of dirt. And, it covered the creek that is exposed in other parts of the valley:

There are also broken branches and other debris, but it isn’t that pretty in a photo, so I skipped that part of today’s lesson in Mineral King Winter. (There won’t be a test or any homework, no worries!)