We arrived at the mountain around 9:30 after a fairly brutal drive over the Grand Mesa. The blizzard had started rolling in, but we still wanted to get to Powderhorn to enjoy the snow, regardless of the icy drive. You know you’re a Coloradoan when…!
Unfortunately, all did not go as planned when we arrived at the ski mountain. While my sis, my mom, and I all own our own gear, Sang does not. Missy and Sang went to rent his gear while mom purchased her local’s lift ticket and I purchased my half day pass (I had decided to be safe with my back; I agreed to teach Sang all morning instead of trying to ski hard. I figured this would be much safer on my back!) However, when we came back to the rental shop, Sang and Missy still hadn’t moved in the line. Turns out, a lot of issues came up and between pushing ski school kids in front of them AND the rental computer systems crashing, poor Sang and Missy waited for rental gear for two hours! They finally received the gear around 11:15 which was only 45 minutes before my half-day pass ended. Pretty freaking ridiculous!
 |
| My sis lay on the ground in front of the ticket window; it was her own version of a protest! |
I had spent the morning hours skiing the mountain with my mom, totally enjoying the powder. I realized that a lot of fresh powder meant the skiing hurt my back less, so we all agreed that I would purchase the upgrade to a full-day ticket so I could work with Sang in the afternoon. It wasn’t a huge deal, but Powderhorn’s inefficient service really killed my sister and Sang’s day. They ended up comping his rental which did help a bit, but they really need to work on their customer service.
After that whole mess got sorted, I took Sang over to the magic carpet to work on the basics of skiing with him: stopping! Much to my surprise, Sang picked it up pretty quickly. He was stopping and turning after only three magic carpet runs, so we decided to head up the beginner ski lift to give a “real” run a try. Even more amazing? He got on and off the chairlift twice without falling down a single time! Seriously y’all, that is pretty amazing for a beginner. Most people crash when getting off the chair, so I was so impressed that he navigated it as well as he did. Hawaii has skillz!
I would have loved to ski through the rest of the afternoon, but the blizzard was building and I knew we still had the drive over the Mesa. We left the mountain around 2:30 and began the looooong drive home. Surprisingly, while snowpacked and freaking cold, the pass wasn’t too icy….as long as you drove slowly. Missy and I stayed around 35 mph while coming down the backside and had zero problems. We did, however, see two cars run off the road and get stuck in the snowbanks on the side. Both of them had sped past us, so clearly they have a lot to learn about mountain driving 😉
 |
| Me, my sis, Sang, and my mom |
15 Comments
I haven’t been skiing in years so I feel like I would be starting all over. I really want to learn how to snowboard though. Like badly. Love that your family all did it together!
Funny that you linked the magic carpet. I only have experience with tow ropes and lifts go when I saw your photo yesterday I was thinking “where’s the tow rope?!” Now I know. 🙂
I figure that most non-skiers have no idea what a magic carpet is 🙂
I have a feeling when I go to Utah in a few weeks they won’t be saying florida girl has skillz they’ll be saying can someone just take her inside now?!
Too bad you aren’t coming here! I’d come teach you!
omg look at all that snow!!! Looks like you all had a fabulous day despite the customer service and rental hiccups. When I was younger, my family used to spend Christmas on the mountains too and I kind of miss it!
Oh man… people drive crazy when the roads are icy.
You look great in those pink pants! You should totally run in those at night for the relay!
Thanks! They might be a little toasty, but don’t worry– I have my light-up running tights too 🙂
I used to cross country ski a lot (when I was fat!) but I haven’t gone in a looong time since I started running out in the cold and snow. I have been thinking about seeing if I can find my old skis (we’ve moved 2x since I last went…) and also thinking about some snow shoes (I got some $ for Xmas in exchange for gift cards…long story 🙂 )You look like you had fun despite the issues!!
Oh, you should definitely pick both sports back up! I don’t own cross country gear myself, but it’s really a lot of fun. We even got my mom a set for her Christmas present! And I do love to snowshoe– I love taking Tals into the woods and playing for the day 🙂
Glad your back allowed you to have such a good time! Looks like it was a COLD day!
Im sooo learning to ski this year since we’re moving closer to the mountains!!
Skiing! Although I’ve done most of my skiing on the East Coast (aka on ice), so when I did make it out to the powdery snow of Colorado a few years ago, I fell down ALL THE TIME. It was a total blast, though. I’ll take tumbling down a Colorado mountain over crunching down a Vermont icicle any day! 🙂
Snowboarding, but I really want to learn skiing too! 🙂
LOVE your pink ski pants (I think that’s you? Hard to tell with the googles haha). My aunt from Denver spent Christmas with us and now I am DYING to go visit so I am obsessively checking flights to find a cheap one so if I do I expect some of those instructor skills in April!