Survivin'
So, a brief report now that we have had some time to regain the use of our legs rest.
Steamboat was AMAZING. Despite the first day being full of new heavy snow (which would have made me drool had I brought my Atomics), making the move to tele-marking out in the mountains from the mid-west a bit of a trial by fire, the area was beautiful and the new snow made for perfect conditions for those in our group who had brought powder skis. Saturday did throw us a bit of a curve ball, with a lower ceiling than we expected, most of the upper runs were literally in the clouds. Combined with driving snow, that lack of visibility made it a little difficult to 'get to know' Steamboat. Unable to feel my knees, and accompanied by my comrades in mutual apres-ski soreness, we journeyed to this lovely place for an evening of R&R. It was great to have an evening to decompress, kick back in OMG hot water, and just be surrounded by wilderness. As we were leaving and got out from under the steam that was rising from the pools, you could see the stars *SO* well, and it made me realize how badly I am going to need to get back out here to camp. Had we not journeyed down to the pools from the truck in t-shirts, we might have stayed for awhile to stargaze, but it was becoming apparent that we needed to get the truck warmed up and get going before we all froze where we stood, so we headed back to town.
What Saturday may have lacked (I can't really stomach the idea of calling new snow 'lacking' in any sense, but the low visibility really was too bad) Sunday made up for in spades. With even more new snow firmly plastered to the trees, a bright blue sky as a backdrop, and a little more confidence in my new equipment, I had a really amazing time. tekfox and deccadoggy demo'd some nice fat skis for the fluff as well, and seemed to have quite a good time with them. Several of us skiied the infamous Christmas Tree Bowl, and much fun was had in 'Closet' and 'Shadows', runs that faded from evergreen to aspen glades that were, simply, amazing. Everyone was completely kicking ass in the glades, I'm gonna have to step up my game to keep up with the Colorado crew, who have become ridiculously good skiiers.
Despite the temperature Sunday night dropping very rapidly, we managed to venture out to have a truly wonderful dinner at an upscale brewery in town, and then scarfed down some phenomenally good breakfast at Winona's the next morning. The drive back to Fort Collins was breathtaking, and I got some video of llamaslug enjoying himself on some of the twisty parts of CO-14. Thanks for driving slug <3.
Steamboat was AMAZING. Despite the first day being full of new heavy snow (which would have made me drool had I brought my Atomics), making the move to tele-marking out in the mountains from the mid-west a bit of a trial by fire, the area was beautiful and the new snow made for perfect conditions for those in our group who had brought powder skis. Saturday did throw us a bit of a curve ball, with a lower ceiling than we expected, most of the upper runs were literally in the clouds. Combined with driving snow, that lack of visibility made it a little difficult to 'get to know' Steamboat. Unable to feel my knees, and accompanied by my comrades in mutual apres-ski soreness, we journeyed to this lovely place for an evening of R&R. It was great to have an evening to decompress, kick back in OMG hot water, and just be surrounded by wilderness. As we were leaving and got out from under the steam that was rising from the pools, you could see the stars *SO* well, and it made me realize how badly I am going to need to get back out here to camp. Had we not journeyed down to the pools from the truck in t-shirts, we might have stayed for awhile to stargaze, but it was becoming apparent that we needed to get the truck warmed up and get going before we all froze where we stood, so we headed back to town.
What Saturday may have lacked (I can't really stomach the idea of calling new snow 'lacking' in any sense, but the low visibility really was too bad) Sunday made up for in spades. With even more new snow firmly plastered to the trees, a bright blue sky as a backdrop, and a little more confidence in my new equipment, I had a really amazing time. tekfox and deccadoggy demo'd some nice fat skis for the fluff as well, and seemed to have quite a good time with them. Several of us skiied the infamous Christmas Tree Bowl, and much fun was had in 'Closet' and 'Shadows', runs that faded from evergreen to aspen glades that were, simply, amazing. Everyone was completely kicking ass in the glades, I'm gonna have to step up my game to keep up with the Colorado crew, who have become ridiculously good skiiers.
Despite the temperature Sunday night dropping very rapidly, we managed to venture out to have a truly wonderful dinner at an upscale brewery in town, and then scarfed down some phenomenally good breakfast at Winona's the next morning. The drive back to Fort Collins was breathtaking, and I got some video of llamaslug enjoying himself on some of the twisty parts of CO-14. Thanks for driving slug <3.