And it's about time, too. It's mid-December and it's finally beginning to snow. Until today the mountain was basically barren of snow excepting the three groomed runs filled with man-made snow. So far this season I've skied 8 days - 4 on alpine and 4 on telemark. Of those, two have been blower powder days, five have been on the worst snow I've ever skied, and one has been above average.
Just to get this off my chest, let me list several adjectives describing my feelings for man-made snow. Terrible, horrible, no good, very bad, crowded, scary, awful, sketchy, awkward, brutal, harsh, painful, like a sheet of glass, let's play hockey, rubbish. After the rain saturated the opening-day mind-blowing fluff, my ski days have been limited to one of three blue or green runs which are described by the aforementioned adjectives. I quickly came to understand the full extent of how spoiled Colorado has made me. Last year I skied 25 days, at least 20 of which were full-on powder days. Frankly, I didn't know snow could get so hard. I'd simply never seen it.
So, the past week has been interesting. It has been excellent for my technique, leg strength, and in spite of itself, quite entertaining and rewarding. I've gained confidence skiing impossibly bad snow on both my alpine and telemark equipment, and when the resort opens fully I will be strong and ready to rip. Also, my co-workers are, as I suspected, exceptional skiers and wonderful people. I have learned tons from them already, and if skiing this crappy snow can be so much fun, I can't wait till the mountian opens.
That said, today was spectacular. I skied with French Paul. French Paul is one of the three most interesting people I've ever met. He does and says things that I would never in a million years ever conceive of doing. He is an exceptional, and I mean exceptional telemark and alpine skier (he's lived in the French alps for four years so he'd better be). Needless to say, he's fun to ski with. Today we rocked the teles from 9-2 until our legs were screaming and we could scarcely walk to the gondola. It snowed all day, and FINALLY this is beginning to look like a ski resort. I finished the day feeling confident on my skis, and utterly worn out. SNOWSNOWSNOWSNOWSNOWSNOWSNOWSNOWSNOWSNOWSNOWSNOW!!!!!
Just to get this off my chest, let me list several adjectives describing my feelings for man-made snow. Terrible, horrible, no good, very bad, crowded, scary, awful, sketchy, awkward, brutal, harsh, painful, like a sheet of glass, let's play hockey, rubbish. After the rain saturated the opening-day mind-blowing fluff, my ski days have been limited to one of three blue or green runs which are described by the aforementioned adjectives. I quickly came to understand the full extent of how spoiled Colorado has made me. Last year I skied 25 days, at least 20 of which were full-on powder days. Frankly, I didn't know snow could get so hard. I'd simply never seen it.
So, the past week has been interesting. It has been excellent for my technique, leg strength, and in spite of itself, quite entertaining and rewarding. I've gained confidence skiing impossibly bad snow on both my alpine and telemark equipment, and when the resort opens fully I will be strong and ready to rip. Also, my co-workers are, as I suspected, exceptional skiers and wonderful people. I have learned tons from them already, and if skiing this crappy snow can be so much fun, I can't wait till the mountian opens.
That said, today was spectacular. I skied with French Paul. French Paul is one of the three most interesting people I've ever met. He does and says things that I would never in a million years ever conceive of doing. He is an exceptional, and I mean exceptional telemark and alpine skier (he's lived in the French alps for four years so he'd better be). Needless to say, he's fun to ski with. Today we rocked the teles from 9-2 until our legs were screaming and we could scarcely walk to the gondola. It snowed all day, and FINALLY this is beginning to look like a ski resort. I finished the day feeling confident on my skis, and utterly worn out. SNOWSNOWSNOWSNOWSNOWSNOWSNOWSNOWSNOWSNOWSNOWSNOW!!!!!
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