Skiing

Oh, hey! I almost forgot to tell you about the skiing. I went to A-Basin on Saturday with Sward and my sister.

All morning we heard how Loveland Pass was closed, so we had planned to go through the tunnel and onward to Keystone. But when we got to US6, it was open, and we went over.

We had been in the car fighting traffic for two and a half hours by then, so we decided we just needed to get in the snow. We parked the car, took leaks, and headed to the top and then to the very top.

The first run we took was down Powerline. It runs right below the lift coming up but was boxed in by ropes keeping us from the rocky tops on either side of the run.

It had been skied but not heavily. No one was immediately ahead of us, and no one was delayed by our party.

The run was the first of my life where I'd ever had powder to my chest. In the steep parts with the deep parts where the snow had drifted and so had I, there -- THERE! I drove my entire body through the snow. The run was repeated and repeated again, later.

We skied of the Pali' lift too. We skied the West Wall. We skied across it; we skied down it; we skied off it -- ok, only Sward really skied off it, but the dude went off! He landed a 6 foot drop to a hidden rock with snow billowing around him, and he looked pretty doing it! He went on to demonstrate his mad skills in the terrain park pulling some solid daffy's off the lips.

Boy can ski. Need to figure out a way to slow him down.

Stopped for quick break. Sward: Burrito, beer Sister: Bloody Mary, Baileys Hot Chocolate Me: beer, shot, beer

On lift ride up, I implement a plan to slow Sward down. It is excellent but only marginally effective; the boy stil wants to ski fast. Real fast.

We go back out for a couple of more runs- hitting it from both sides of the mountain. Beautiful snow! - even if the light is so flat you can barely see. Just have to trust your equipment and your skills.

We run the courses. We run our course. We let the day run its course.

And we drove quietly back to the city.

Jonathan 12/06/2005 11:13:00 PM