Earlier in the week, Joe offered me an opportunity to try out the “Ski Train” that runs from Denver to Winter Park. This morning I drug myself out of bed after a mere 4 hours of sleep and managed to slither down to the train station. I ate a breakfast burrito, juice, and slammed a cup of coffee. I was lucky enough to have two seats to myself. Even after the coffee soaked in, I stretched out and fell straight to sleep. Yes, I was that tired.
The train ride was really wonderful. The times I woke up and looked outside, I was met with breath taking panoramic views all scrolling by. The train was smooth enough that it seemed like we were moving along slowly, but we got there quickly enough. Every once in a while the train would enter a tunnel and the world outside would go black. Those moments seemed so peaceful – especially when you’re as sleepy as I was! Eventually, we pulled into Winter Park and unloaded.
Old Marry Jane was not in her finest today. We found some slightly deteriorated powder stashes back in the bowl, but most of the runs were packed snow conditions. It’s starting to feel a lot more like spring (because it is), so at least the packed snow has a certain “give” to it. While it’s somewhat soft, it’s also a tad slower. Overall, we had fun conditions – but nothing to write a blog about… Oh wait.. oops…
So we play all day and have a blast. On our last run of the day, I almost get tagged by a girl’s snowboard as she’s flipping over and strapping in. One comment lead to another. I think it went something along the lines of:
– her: “sorry”
– me: “it’s all good, at least you didn’t hit me”
– her: “well, I was trying to and missed, you’re too fast!”
– me: “what?! well bring it on then! I triple dog dare you!”
– her: “watch out…”
At least, that’s the best I can remember… It went something like that, and then she slid by and tried to blow some snow on me. Game on! I took off through the trees and down a drop to cut into the trail she was headed down. I cut her off, went down the trail a little, and shot up into the woods on the high side. From there, I was able to send a couple of snowballs her way before racing down the trail in front of her.
I thought I’d lost her and was waiting on Joe and Christina. My new nemesis was right behind them, snowball in hand and on a mission for a powder spray. We chased each other down the mountain for a while. I finally scooped up a snowball behind me, went for the hook shot, and very irresponsibly shot off over the lip of a black run. I guess I was in “show off” mode because I rode significantly more aggressive and accurate than I had all day. As far as I could tell, she was no where to be found.
I scooped up one more snowball and stalked around near the base where the runs converged, but she never came. When Joe and Christina showed up, I decided to head the rest of the way down with them. For some reason, I didn’t drop my snowball.
Sure enough, not 5 minutes later while conversing at the base, she comes sliding up beside us with a snowball. Good thing I was still packing. I tried to dodge after my throw, but she was on target and we managed to nail each other. Laughing and giggling, we introduced ourselves and had a good hug. After some conversation, I found out that she was late getting down because she’d been hiding behind a pole waiting for me to catch up!
I’ll never forget day 40. A special thanks to Becca for the hook up!
60 days left…
56 Days in 07/08
Today was the answer to life, the universe, and everything – day 42. It was a slow start this morning, but we worked our way out to A-Basin for some morning turns. After some warm ups on the front side, I took Roger and Cynthia to the Montezuma Bowl. The ridge was windy and there was lots of snow blasting us in the face. Once we dropped a couple of hundred feet down the bowl, the wind was gone and the run was awesome.
