Ski Trip

Last weekend, my sister, brother and sister-in-law took a day trip up to Sundown for a day of skiing. We’d had temperatures hovering around zero for a couple of weeks, but for the weekend we got a reprieve. The weather and ski conditions were actually pretty good, but the roads were a little slick and patchy so we spent a fair amount of time in the car. Even so, we had plenty of time to ski.

Since it was a nice day, the hill was pretty crowded. Lift lines were pretty long and tables in the lodge were hard to come by. I hadn’t been skiing for a few years, but I don’t recall people being so inconsiderate last time. It seemed like there were an inordinate amount of people line jumping, getting in the way (i.e. congregating at the dropoff point for the ski lifts or in front of jumps), and generally being rude.

Enough complaining… Overall, the good outweighed the bad. My sister and I stuck to the beginner and intermediate areas while my brother and his wife (i.e. the ones who have actually been skiing on MOUNTAINS) tackled the more advanced areas. We made a number of attempts at capturing a photo of Nathan jumping in the terrain park, some of which you can see on the photos page. Bethany and I tried the small jumps once – I made it, but Bethany had to go after her skis and poles! Nathan managed to take Erin out once after turning around backwards at the bottom of one of the steepest sections. All we could see was powder flying everywhere!

According to my skiing companions, the most entertaining thing of the day was my failed attempt at a small jump. I was up the hill only about 50 vertical feet above the rest of my group, so I yelled down to ask whether there was a jump near the edge of the course. My brother pointed at a spot so I headed down at what little speed I could muster from the short descent. As I approached the jump, a small dip followed by a steep berm about 5 feet high, I prepared for the possibility that I’d end up flat on my back. To my surprise, I found myself flying parallel to the ground for about 10 feet and landing on my belly. Before I even hit the ground, my brother was rolling on the ground laughing. Apparently one of my skis got stuck down in the little dip and came off. I still don’t know how I ended up in that position, but Erin summed it up best when she attributed the humor of the situation to the fact that such a simple obstacle led to such a dramatic outcome 🙂

All in all, it was a good day and no one got hurt. I can’t wait until next time to tempt fate again!

I posted a few photos at on the photos page.