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Jen blushed.

"Don't be ashamed," Sam smiled, "I'm not. Look at it this way, you just found yourself the world's greatest wingman, or woman, if you prefer."

Jen started to laugh.

"There you go!" Sam said, laughing too, "Now, I'll bet you lunch that with a little bit of coaching, you'll be able to get a guy to carry your skis up the hike."

Jen smirked. For some reason, Sam being gay didn't really affect how Jen thought about her. Strange considering Sam had walked in on her naked, cleaning herself, and not so much as hesitated. If anything, Jen liked her even more.

They talked the rest of the ride. The cable pulled steadily onward. The tension pulled on Jen's legs and she was glad when the reached the top. She slid of the cross bar and ducked left under the cable towards a stone Patrol hut and a small group of people gathered around an access gate with a red rope across it.

Sam pulled Jen to the side of the trail. She pointed out an attractive male. He was an ermine, more appealing for his physical condition than actually handsome. He was wearing black ski pants with the Ridge logo embroidered on them, and a red and white Spyder jacket which his thin, white, tail poked out of. His ears protruded out of a gunmetal helmet with built in ear phones.

"That's your target," Sam stated and winked, "go get 'em girl."

Jen pushed off with one ski and glided over to the access gate. "Confidence," she said to herself. Jen stopped close to "her target." Far enough away that it wouldn't seem obtrusive, but close enough that he couldn't help but notice her. She had loosened her belt a little, exposing a thin line of her underwear like Sam had suggested. Now she just felt awkward.

After a short time, which felt like an eternity, the young man turned to her.

"I just can't wait to get up there!"

He looked it too. H seemed to be shaking with energy.

"I know." Sam replied, "All that untracked terrain."

They talked for a while about snow, and the Crater Chutes, and skis. The boy introduced himself as Ryan. Jen saw a patroller skiing up to the gate.

"Finally," Ryan said.

"I know. I only wish it wasn't such a long walk, and carrying ski makes it so difficult."

Ryan looked uncomfortable, "I'll carry your skis for you."

"That's sweet."

She handed him her skis just as the patroller she had met earlier, Geoff, took down the rope barring the gate. Jen felt only a moments sorrow for Ryan as she sprinted forward up the trail. Then the cold mountain air filled her lungs, the muscles in her legs strained against the slope, and her mind was racing away from such mundane matters.

Jen was in her element. She was born, bread, and raised for the mountains. She stripped off her boots and ran bare foot up the ridge. Her large paws displacing her weight and allowing her to fly up the unmarked trail to the top.

It only took her seven minutes to navigate the mile long hike covering an accent of over 600 vertical feet. Jen finally stopped when she reached the top. She was standing at 13,000 ft. above sea level. Though Jen wasn't acclimated to the mountains yet, her lungs only stung a little in the thin atmosphere. She took in the spectacular view that the top of the peak provided. The range spread out to either side of her. To the west, across a valley and the interstate, lay Ore Mt. To the east, the continental divide stretched out as far as the eye could see. Below that, the town and resort was spread out at her feet, Jen's high perch making the lower slopes appear almost flat.

She stood up there for more than ten minutes alone, reveling in the solidarity. It had been so many years since the last time she had stood here. Finally, Sam's head appeared over the top of the edge of the summit. Jen paced over and took Sam's skis from her. She placed the skies safely on the snow and then went back to help Sam up the steepest part of the climb.

"Impressive," Sam panted, still carrying her gear, "your skis should be up soon. Good job."

"Thanks," Jen grinned, "it was easy."

"I told you so. By the way, you owe me lunch."

Jen laughed, "Okay, but let's ski some more first."

Ryan climbed up to the summit a minute later, gasping for air, and struggling with the two sets of skis. Jen and Sam waited patiently.

Jen beamed at Ryan and took her skis. "Thanks so much," she said in her cutest voice.

Ryan smirked, "No... Problem..." he managed to get out in between breaths.

Jen and Sam skied the Crater Chutes for the rest of the morning and into the afternoon. They shredded through the Zute Chute, Hucked the cliff faces in Zero Chute, and dodged rocks in Crazy Ivan. The snow was unbelievable. The wind had blown it into the curved walls of the crater making the powder deeper than anywhere else on the mountain. Jen even took face shots. She passed Ryan once who waved at her. Sam laughed.

They finally stopped for lunch when they were both getting worn out and starting to make mistakes. They stopped at one of the nearby restaurants at the top of a high speed Quad lift. Jen decided she had worked hard enough this morning to afford a few extra calories. She grabbed a thick burger, fries, and a cold beer. She paid for her and Sam's entirely overpriced meals and then walked out to the open patio.

The sun was hot, and they were still warm from making multiple laps on the long hike. Jen and Sam stripped down to their base layers, much to the enjoyment of a group of college boys sitting at a nearby table. Jen, who normally wouldn't have been so bold, didn't care. Being with Sam seemed to calm her down and make her more assured about herself. She even flirted with a couple of the guys why Sam was in the bathroom.

They skied for a while longer that afternoon, but they were still tired form the laps on the summit, and the snow was getting tracked out from the weekend crowd. The lift lines were getting ridiculous and the sun was making the lower runs into soup. They decided to call it an early day and headed home.

Jen pried off her sweat drenched ski cloths and climbed into the shower. As a rule, she didn't like showers. Too much water, it got into her fur and took forever to dry out. Jen defiantly preferred to bathe herself, but after a hard day of skiing, nothing was better than a warm shower for washing off the grime, and loosening up the muscles. She got out of the shower and toweled down. Then Jen walked to the bedroom to lick herself dry and fluff her fur back up. She grabbed a fresh outfit, lamenting the fact that she only had a few plain looking t-shirts.

That evening, they thankfully went cloths shopping for Jen. Knowing that Sam was a lesbian, Jen was surprised to find that she didn't care that Sam helped her pick out underwear. A few hundred dollars, and five shopping bags later (Jen's old cloths balled up at the bottom of one of them) they ended the evening by going to a sushi bar for dinner.

"The Mountain Flying Fish?" Jen asked.

"Yah, it's one of the best Sushi restaurants in North America."

"I thought all the fish had to be fresh?" As a cat, Jen loved everything fish, especially sushi.

"It is! They fly it in every day."

Sam laughed at the skeptical look on Jen's face.

"You'll see."

Sam was right. The quality of the food was superb. They sat at the bar and watched in awe as the chef, a short, fearsome looking lizard with a friendly attitude, prepared the food right in front of them. They finally walked home, sharing a bowl of ice cream for Cold Stone.

Jen Lay in her underwear beneath the down comforter thoroughly exhausted. If there was such a thing as a perfect day, this was it. Great skiing with the best friend a girl could ask for, an amazing evening on the town, and she had more confidence in herself than she could have ever believed. Jen fell asleep that night with an image of Sam laughing, as Jen lay in the powder where she had just whipped out, laughing as well.