Colorado Ski Trip Day 3

Day 3 was a disaster, and I should have known from the start.

This is what it looked like when we got up this morning. It started snowing early...and it never really stopped.


This is outside the back door over the patio. Through th clearing you could see a mountain...but instead all you see is snow.


So I had a brilliant idea (in hindsight I see it was terribly stupid, but more on that later.) We would wait out the snow, and hit Keystone for some later skiing. They have night skiing until about 8pm or so. It was going to be perfect. But it never is. We started with a minor boot meltdown in the parking lot. (off to a good start) Then we had to hike 100 miles from the truck to the lifts, carrying all of our gear. Now the Gondola part was sort of cool, it was a little pod thing that was all closed in. You don't have your skis on, just boots, so you can walk on and off.


Well my legs hurt so bad, and I was not in a happy mood so I stayed inside at the lodge at the top of the lift while Jon went on a run by himself. Schoolmarm was the plan for me, so that's what he took. It looked easy on the map, and it is a green run so in theory it should have been fine. Schoolmarm also came recommended to me (you lied to me Russell!!!)

So I suited up, and we headed down. Jon said it was pretty gentle (he's a liar too) Here's the thing, I'm a superwuss. I don't like to go fast at all! I don't feel in control. And as many of you know, I'm a control freak. And on top of that, my legs were sore, making staying in control even harder. And another thing..there's even less oxygen on top of the mountain.

This is me, not having a good time. There are several steep sections on Schoolmarm..which is a 400 mile long trail. My only defense is the wedge, which is really hard on your legs...you see the problem here. Well I was doing my best down a steeper part and I totally fell. Backwards. So my skis are in front of me, still on the ground, my knees are bent and I'm sliding down on my back. At which point I took 30 cubic feet of snow up my jacket. It melts instantly you know..so now I'm soaking wet. I'm thinking this skiing thing is not for me. So we get my skis back on and I'm freaking out..once I go down, all confidence (what smidgen of it I had) is gone. Poof!
It's taking forever to get any farther on the run because I have to stop all the time because my legs are absolutely on fire. And I'm a giant wuss.

So we come to another steep part, this one is pretty long, and I swear it looked just like this..well I completely lost it. Panic attack. Great. 6 year olds are passing me and I'm losing my marbles. We managed to make it to the side of the trail where I could sit down in the snow. I couldn't get my breathing under control, because I was still freaking out. Well a very nice Ski Patrol man came over to see what was up.
As if it could get more embarrassing...because I couldn't get it together, and I knew I couldn't ski down the rest of the trail I got to ride in one of these...

This is not me, but this is what it looked like. The cushion was yellow. Yes, a rescue tobaggon. It really only made the panic worse, speeding down the mountain in a glorified rickshaw.

He had no problem. I had my eyes closed most of the time, there was one strap to hold on to, but I pretty much felt that I could dump over any moment.


Once we got to the bottom I was mostly fine again. The lesson for today...stay at Breck, it's better. The run we did yesterday was fine... comparatively..it was great. I'm not sure if we'll take a break tomorrow or not. We'll have to see how it goes.


I figure, it can only go up from here..the most embarrassing disaster ever.


Tomorrow is Friday, so it must be good.


Jessica