It was a beautiful fall weekend in Missoula.

Thursday is ping-pong night. I was working at school and it was time to bike the mile to the Union Club. A few minutes before departure I observed it was snowing outside, hard. After a bit of mandatory complaining I figured the snow wasn’t letting up and ping-pong was awaiting. Besides, snow was bound to be more pleasant than the 7:30 am soaking I received biking to school in the rain earlier in the day.

After a few blocks biking in the squall I was off campus and crossing the Madison Ave pedestrian bridge. It was still snowing hard, but sunlight had started to stream all around me. Looking west out over the river the sky was bright blue, while to the east it was still completely grey. I spent the next 5 minutes standing there observing the blizzard get sucked into Hellgate Canyon. White was quickly replaced with blue.

I have a tendency to whine about the weather in Montana come April, as I can count on one hand the number of days the high has been above 60 degrees so far in 2011. However, the variability of the weather in Missoula is exciting. Not knowing whether to expect sun or snow 10 minutes in the future forces you to be vigilant.

The previous week has brought to Missoula colder temperatures, shorter days, and the end of a fall season that was amazingly pleasant for so long. The only constant is change and vigilance will be necessary to maintain.

Mostly shots from the plane on the way back to Missoula and around the Denver area.

The best freestyle kayakers in the United States were in Missoula last week for the US National Team Team Trials. Click on the picture below to see more.

See the results here