Fwd: snow day - flexing at least half day

It snowed all day Sunday and most of the night.  This morning we had over 12 inches of fluffy powder, so I decided to take the day off and celebrate Martin Luther King Jr Day by playing in the snow (my version of ebony and ivory).

Julie, Michael and I went out for a couple of hours hiking and sledding before breakfast.  Horn Pond Mountain is just a short walk from our house; Horn Pond Mountain isn't as big or steep as the mountains in this Mad River Rocket highlights video, and we don't get crazy air, but we do have the Mad River Rocket Killer-B sleds and deep powder, so it was a good morning.

After breakfast, shoveling the driveway (the only downside of 12+ inches of powder), and Michael's wrestling practice, I went back out with Nicholas.  Nick a bit of a daredevil and coaxed me to go off some small jumps.  That went well, so then we went off some medium size jumps.  Then Nick upped the ante and went off a 12-footer and I decided that I'd rather just take the video.  (The video is from my cell phone so quality is poor, but you get the idea.)  In addition to several shorter runs, we did 5 top to bottom runs.  We are both exhausted now.  Not sure how we'll survive skiing Jackson Hole if we get tired sledding at Horn Pond.

We decided to start naming the trails. 

• Gubba Gully - the site of Nick's daring do.
  
• Yak Trak - the main trail up the front side of the mountain, because Nick found one of the traction devices Julie lost this morning at the bottom of this trail.
• Crossroad - crosses Yak Trak and runs past the Old Stone House.
  
• Backside Bowls - =tThe open face down the back of the mountain, but since the slope goes over steep slabs of rock and ends at the Head Trauma Center we should be able to come up with a better name.
• B&C - the area with the boulder and rock cairn.
• Flat Tire - the trail where we popped a snow tube a couple weeks ago.  The trail near B&C, not to be confused with the Downhill Jump trail, where Eric popped another tube the same day.
• Downhill Jump - a fun run that ends on Crossroad with a crazy jump that some downhill MTB dude must have built.
• Whole Paycheck - the trail we took to Whole Foods for a late lunch (need a better name for this one too)
  

The photos show Nick on the rock before the major drop, the old reservoir where Michael and I fell through the ice a couple of weeks ago, and a hill we sled down today with lots of rocks and trees to avoid.  I included the reservoir photo, because falling through the ice ruined my brand new camera and I had to shoot these photos and the video on my cell phone.

In case you haven't heard it, here is the "fell through the ice" story.

The reservoir is no longer used and we like to hike down into it and clamber over the rock sides.  Usually there is a marshy section at the very bottom; sometimes it collects water, but never more than ankle or knee deep.
So we walked across the ice at the bottom and as we got near the opposite side the ice cracked and Michael and I (who were in the lead) fell through.  A hole opened in the ice, about 6 feet in diameter and suddenly we were standing in water (very cold water) up to our armpits.  I tried to climb out, but the ice kept breaking (just like you read about).  Fortunately, there were tiny trees (maybe sumac bushes) growing in out of the water and we used them to pull ourselves out and back onto solid ice. 
We walked home quickly (about 10 minutes), washed all our clothes, and took hot showers.  No real harm (except to Michael's phone and my camera) and we learned first-hand about the risks of winter hiking, and my desire for an adventure was met.