Today’s sunshine brought out two SCUM who had been MIA because of 1) side effects of cancer treatment and 2) a persistent heel injury. Although both were still suffering from their ailments, they joined us today with the understanding that they could turn back at any time. However, after ascending the Tower Direct trail and Beacon Road to the FWW alpine hill, everyone except Joanna decided to get away from the dusty road and play among the lupines on the FWW alpine hill.

We took the more gradual and scenic route to the bottom of the chair lift where the mounds of remnant manmade snow was down to just two. The iron oxides from the local groundwater had been concentrated as the snow melted leaving a rusty surface for Sarah to tuck on. Once we got to the bottom of the ski hill, everyone opted to ski walk up the chairlift trail and everyone made it to the top.

The “no Y” SCUM decided to do a second ascent at a leisurely pace (set by the elderly Mom) so we got a chance to encourage our male counterparts as they were well on their way to conquering their first (or second) ascent of the season.

The sun and breeze kept the mosquitoes away from us on the FWW alpine hill but they found us once we returned to our cars in the south Birch Hill lot. However, it had been a fantastic morning and workout with friends.