Day 3 began with the usual 0630-ish arrival at Timberline, found a parking spot near where I had parked the last 2 days. I've found the rhythm of this place and was no longer astounded at the crowds. I recognized a kid that I rode the lift with yesterday. The same kid who kept asking if Olympic skier Ted Liggety was still at Timberline. No, Ted left several days ago.
What was different about this morning was the weather.
At 0637 this morning the temperature was 71F — approximately 16 degrees warmer than the previous two mornings.
Here at the top of the chair around 0730 there was virga (make sure that is spelled correctly because one spelling, the one I mean here, refers to a weather phenomenon; the other way is a dirogatory term in Spanish), which indicates downdrafts from building cumulus clouds.
Precip appears to be reaching the ground in the distance.
Shortly after we began our warm up drills the lightning storm began in earnest. The lifts closed and the skiers were herded down to the safety of the lodge, where we admired the storm and attempted to photograph lightning strikes.
It became clear that the storm would be around for a while so heroic staff took down the race course markers and brought down all the backpacks. We were dismissed. So it goes with me and lightning.
The good news is that the drive home went quite smoothly. And the cat was very glad to see me after being by herself for a few days.