What an awesome, busy week it has been! Last Friday after work, Drew & Jamie, Jimmy & Courtney, Stephanie, Brittany, Chris and I packed up our gear and headed (in two vehicles) to Dumas, Texas, our temporary destination. Probably the first time "Dumas" and "destination" have ever been used in one sentence. Now, I am not one for road trips, but I make an exception when it involves SKIING! I also was able to bear it with my new Nook and our handy portable DVD player. We kissed Noah goodbye and left him with Nana and Pandy for the week, where he was quite content to be the center of all grandparently attention 24/7.
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| Hiding my true feelings about being in a car for more than a few hours |
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| Yes, this is actually our cabin, not some picture I found on the Internet |
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| Shopping at the Rainbow Grocery |
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| Chris has hot chocolate from a rainbow mug |
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| We may have allowed Drew and Jamie on the trip, but they were excluded from all fun. Sorry. |
Sunday morning we woke up to a beautiful day for skiing. We got all suited up for a cold day on the mountain and had breakfast. Forty-five minutes later, when Jimmy and Courtney were ready... we left to make the 20-minute drive to Wolf Creek! After my first run, I trekked back to the rental lodge and stripped out of one layer of thermals. It was warm! Highs were in the mid-twenties. Drew and Jamie hadn't skied in about thirty years, and Courtney had never been, so we took a long, easy green route first. Unfortunately, the trail went along the boundary of the ski area and therefore had a pretty steep drop-off, and Courtney kind of freaked out. After a few runs on the bunny slope, however, she did great.
Chris and Jimmy picked it right back up, and I took my time acclimating again, but I felt like it had only been a couple of months. I barely felt sore over the next two days, and found I am really comfortable on skis and with picking up more speed than in the past. It helped that Wolf Creek was virtually empty except for us; you could ski a run without having a single snowboarder whip past you or stop and fall right in your path! What a concept!
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| Matching. How cute. |
Sunday after lunch, Jamie and Steph went back to the cabin because Steph developed a bit of altitude sickness, but the rest of us made it a full day. I skied some blue runs with the guys--Drew picked it back up in no time, even on the different style of skis--and Jimmy was able to try his new video camera, the Go Pro Hero. This contraption attaches to his helmet (or ski, or wherever) and has some kind of built-in shock absorption. It's waterproof and wide-angle, and takes gorgeous video with minimal wind noise, etc. It was perfect at capturing Chris and Jimmy's wipe-outs (videos to come later).
Monday was a nice day but not quite as warm and blue as Sunday. Still, it was great skiing and REALLY empty at Wolf Creek! I skied with Chris most of the day and managed to lose a pole getting on a lift. We discovered some great blue runs like Tranquility, which you take from the lift to the peak. Unbelievable views. Later on Monday, Chris and I met up with Jimmy and Drew to try a new run called Thumper. For the record, it was my suggestion. When we got off the lift I dropped a pole (again) and was lazily trying to scoop it up while slowly gliding on my skis. Well, I should have looked up to see that I was skiing straight into the fence that surrounds the lift operator's stand; I didn't, and instead ended up with a ski on either side of the pole. While Chris and the other two stood there with mouths gaping, a good-looking lift operator RAN to my side and helped me up and got my poles all situated. I tried to assure him that I was fine, but he had this great line: "I know you're okay, I just want to make this as easy as possible." Brittany and Stephanie decided they needed to start falling more. Well, I should have seen that fall as an omen and opted to take a different run down the mountain. See, I love the blue (intermediate) runs because they are fast and interesting without being suicidal. I can go as fast or slow as I need to and feel in control, and typically I can avoid moguls or at least only encounter a few shallow ones. My one beef with Wolf Creek is that apparently, deep moguls that go on for at least 200 yards are not deserving of black diamond status. In fact, Wolf Creek doesn't bother to designate this hazard on a trail map or sign ANYWHERE. So here I am, having a great time, skiing along, when--DUN dun DUN--moguls as far as the eye can see. And trust me, there is no way around. I stood there debating whether to fake an injury now and call ski patrol or just take a deep breath and go for it. I chose door number two... BIG mistake. Ugggghhhh. These moguls are the kind you just have to parallel your skis and go for it, full speed. I am the kind that does not go for anything full speed when I'm on skis. As soon as I try to slow down, BAM, my ski catches on the mound of snow or in the rut and I'm down in some awkward position again. At one point I fell on top of my poles in such a way that my skis were stuck under me and my arms couldn't move because the poles were around my wrists and pinned beneath me. Hmmm. That might have been when I sprained my wrist. Anyway, I think I have devoted enough of this blog to the moguls from hell, so suffice it to say that I did in fact make it down the moguls (crying is allowed in skiing) intact and with a shred of my pride remaining. I did one more run for kicks (NOT that one, though) and called it a day.
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| Eating lunch Monday (brrr)... this is before my infamous mogul run |
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