Vacation - Third Base Thursday

Rounding third, heading for home....

Thursday was a slow day. I think I was up late playing Star Wars on the Wii the night before, so it was hard to get up. And, of course, my legs were tired. I did some work as well, so it was just after noon when we finally got out. Laura had gotten a rash from the hottub, so she volunteered to stay home with the kids while Andrea & Brian went out in the morning. Pete and Tracy were having fun playing in the snow with Pierce, but they and Brant and I were happy to go find A&B for a last hookup. (A,B, T, and P are going to Yellowstone tomorrow.)

We caught up with them on the back side of the mountain and took a few green runs (another run down Ponderosa, where Tracy had fallen earlier in the week). Andrea had spoken of the powder on Sacajewa (an unremarkable green) so we went that way—only to find cut up mush with little powder on the sides. So I suggested we head over to the Lone Moose lift, where hardly anyone goes and the powder is ubiquitous. I suppose I should have state more strongly the tough route to get there, but…hey, everyone loves powder. Here we are, pre-trek.

One way to get there was Bighorn, once a favorite of mine, but now routinely cut up and mushy; it was not great today either, and the girls had a rough time of it. Tracy made the mistake of following me up and over a little hill and, in short order, slide off the main trail a bit. It was surreal. I had gone up very high on the edge of a hill to watch everyone’s progress—I felt responsible since Lone Moose had been my idea—and got to see, almost as with celestial clarity, Tracy go off uphill and Pete execute a textbook faceplant farther downhill. Bizarre.

We eventually made it to the trail leading to the LM lift, but no one was happy about the longness nor the flatness of it. (I believe I described this part of the mountain in an earlier post.) But once we got there, the run itself was … outstanding! Just as earlier in the week, hardly anyone had been on it. We pushed over to Little Dogie and found several inches of powder in the middle of the run, and at least a foot or more of it on the sides of the trail. Andrea, who had been out all day and was tired and ready to go home, got excited at the end; she caught a little air and landed safely with a loud whoop. The guys loved it as well; only Tracy had a spot of trouble. Once again, she followed me and Brant into the deep powder on the sides of the run (instead of just enjoying the easier stuff in the middle), and discovered the fundamental difference between skis and snowboards. The lesson involved catching an edge and plunging face first—or so the report goes—into the deep stuff. Fortunately, the rest of were taking turns being the cow’s tail, so Brian was there to help her dig out; nonetheless, swimming through powder is tiring.

B&A were ready to head home to relieve Laura, so they headed home while the rest of us pointed back to Little Dogie for one more powder shot. Unbelievably, they had strung a rope across the run and put up “Area Closed” signs—we still had 15 minutes before the lift closed! Given my experience with Area Closed signs, I paused…but only a moment. The others went on, but Brant & I would not be deterred by a little tape. Under and down we went, for another exhilarating run to catch the last lift up. Then on towards home.

Brant resting at Lone Moose hairpin turn.

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We had just enough time to blast down Ambush (the steep blue run next to the half-pipe) and catch our final run up the Ramcharger lift. I still don’t know how we made the run so quickly, but every time I looked back to see Brant gaining on me, I gritted my teeth and pressed on. Damn, that kid is quick. And he has young legs to boot. Guess I’ll have to find some nice trees to drag him through….