The weather today was like an indecisive woman in a shoe store.
First the weather was snowy with zero visibility (I want the Christian Louboutin sparkly platform peep toe stilettos).
Then the weather was sunny and clear (I want the Lilly Pulitzer sandal wedges).
Then the weather was cloudy with flat light (I want the silver Tory Burch flats).
Then the weather was sunny and clear again (I want the Lilly Pulitzer sandals but in red).
Seriously weather, make up your mind! Now I know how men feel when accompanying women on shoe shopping excursions, though I don't know many men who would willingly participate in such an activity.
Mom, who was feeling much better today after her convenient sick day yesterday, and I arrived at the mountain at around noon (whoops) after Shane had already been there for 3 hours. He woke up early to attend the Power Clinic to get in some fresh powder tracks. Oh, did I mention it snowed about 10 inches last night?! Yes, there was powder all over the mountain, and it was glorious. Unfortunately, my late arrival to the mountain didn't enable me to make any serious fresh tracks for myself.
Let me tell you what I forgot about powder. It. Is. Heavy! Snow flakes are so light and fluffy when they are falling to the Earth from the sky, but when they all accumulate on the ground, they get quite weighty. Factor in skis and snowboards mushing the snow up down and all around and it's a regular mess. But a good, hot mess!
I pushed through and glided over the best powder I can ever remember skiing in my life. OK, except that time when I was 13 and in ski school in Vail and we went powder hunting through the trees. However, I'm not counting that because I can't remember if it was trail powder of just tree powder. Regardless, today was a powder day!
Being in the powder made me act like a child. Seriously. I found myself skiing up on the banks of catwalks in order to get some fresh pow and even going out of my way onto flat land to see my skis buried inches under the snow. I even made "snow cookies" in the powder... Mom rolled her eyes at that one. Snow cookies are the pieces of snow that are formed when the powder is broken. I also am a fan of making sand cookies in hard sand. Yes, I know, I'm weird. Powder makes me playful, what can I say?
Because of my late start, the powder slowing me down (yes, it does that), and Mom missing a turn off long before Shane and I noticed (whoops), I only skied 14,692 vertical feet today. I'm happy with that though. I can feel my knees burning at this moment from all the "driving" they did today.
Tomorrow we are going to The Canyons, a new mountain to all of us. It's a massive mountain so Mom has already been studying the map trying to figure out the best places to ski. Suggestions? Until then...
Shane's lovely helmet hair at lunch made ma laugh out loud.
I love reading all the blogs! I don't ski, but hearing about all the runs and "powder" details is making me feel like trying it is a MUST!
ReplyDeleteThe shoe analogies in this one....oh boy....I'm shopping for shoes as we speak....talk about subliminal messaging (ski read to shoe shop)! Keep up the great work!
If skiing is half as exciting as shoe shopping, I'm in.
ReplyDeleteYup, I learned the "powder is heavy" rule the only time I skied out west, in Jackson Hole. Being used to mountains in VT and the usually icy trails that cover them, I was whipping down a great double blue at Jackson Hole when my ski tip caught in that powder that I *assumed* was light and flipped me, literally, head over heels. ouch.
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