Vacation - Happy Monday

Upon waking, I found it snowing. A good sign. We got to the lifts about 11 (got to fix that) and immediately hit the powder. It was not spectacular, but still magnificent. More blues, darker blues, my gradual expansion to reach full potential and Dave's learning at an accelerated pace. Very much akin to the progression Brantley had between our trip to Vail (when he hurt his foot) and the 2006 Snowmass trip, but on a smaller scale. The name of the game is speed control. Met up folks and did a few runs in between the lessons for the munchkins, and had lunch (excellent—at MRHummers). Then Dave and I went to the almost top—one lift short—and took the blue run down from there. I can't recall riding in such conditions in a very long time, if ever. The run was reasonably steep and had some interesting slopes, but the visibility was ZIP. I could barely see the tip of my board. I could only tell when to turn by how much speed I was getting—not a comforting feeling. We managed to get out of the clouds with no injuries and only a few falls, and the rest of the run was excellent. I am looking forward to doing that one again later in the trip when I can see where I'm going (and with Brant).

The next hookup was with Laura and Tim, who were skiing. We fiddled around on some green runs and I was playing with some 360s. Kid stuff. Except for that tree I couldn't get around. Seems I zigged when I should have zagged. But I was going slow and it caught just the front of the board so no harm done, except to my ego. This one was a real tree, about 6" in diameter, not the little saplings I had been abusing yesterday. I tried a little switch (riding reversed), but, except for the Ride Through the Clouds, the only times I have really fallen are when I'm riding switch, and then always on my butt. Dave has a helmet, but I just need a mouthpiece. A little blood in the mouth in the morning…..

When Laura and Tim went home the easy way, Dave and I decided to try the run just above the house (War Dance), to see (i) if it was a reasonable way down at the end of the day and (ii) what type of black diamond it really was. We arrived at the trailhead to find ropes and an Area Closed sign. That should have been a clue that, just maybe, we should reconsider. Of course not! We can sideslip anything (or so we thought). The first part of the run was tricky but not very steep, and we weren't too concerned until we got to…."the Ledge." Looking down what seemed a vertical slope, with its dotting of tree roots and small pines, we began to have second thoughts. Maybe walking down was a good idea. OK, fine, let's walk. Dave took off his board and, for lack of a leash, it shot down the hill like nothing I have ever seen. It caromed off moguls and trees and picked up speed in a terrifying fashion until the last jump, a flipping, twisting crash into the snow. Spectacular… but…uh-oh. Now what to do. Of course we did the only possible thing for two macho studs trapped in a life threatening situation—we slid down the hill on our butts. Lest you think this was easy, I should say that this entire run was covered with powder that in places was probably 2 to 3 feet deep. We planned our descent to be able to collide with pine trees in case we got sliding out of control. The avalanche gates (did I mention those?) were very helpful in slowing our descent. Roughly 2/3rds of the way down it was less steep and I strapped in again, only to find Dave had climbed halfway back up to rescue his board. A lesson indeed! If the trail is closed…this means YOU (or me anyway). We parted with Tim and Laura about 4 PM and got back to the house at 5:45, snow-covered, tired, and much wiser. But smiling. There's snowboarding for fun, and snowboarding for survival.