IN THE DEEP

"It's just easier on me if we go fast, I can let the ski do what it wants to do," adaptive instructor Derrick Charpentier tells me after we've caught up with him, in the STARS office that is. Because keeping up with him and Amanda on the mountain, was, well virtually impossible.  And I don't ride slow myself.

We rolled out this afternoon for a few runs after a morning of work for me and a morning off (IE on the couch) for Craig - much deserved of course.  We met up with Keith, who I am very excited to see back - after a hip replacement at a too-young-43 - on his 195 Doughboy (things like a freaking Liquid Shredder, I don't remember it being that long), and we had to stop into the STARS HQ to pick up Craig's rig.  It's never just a brief stop into the office - of course that applies to everyone - but especially for Craig. Questions, scheduling, chatting, clients, ski donations, you name it, even at 1pm, when all the lessons are out on the slopes on a slow day, that office is a beehive.

But luckily we did stop in, because Amanda and Derrick were just coming back from lunch; it was her first day on the hill.  Amanda, in for the umpteenth year with her family from Florida, is someone we always look forward to skiing with. Her ear-to-ear grin is contagious, and she has one mission when she hits the slopes: GO FAST.  So she requests Derrick, and that's what he gives her.  Amanda skis on a bi-ski because she has CP, but her disability sure doesn't limit the way she enjoys the hill, and this, my friends, is exactly why Craig and I got into this business ten years ago. What a blast!

Straight out haulin' down Rainbow

And then down into the mini pipe.

YEAH!  I hear more snow is on the way... do your dance, we can always use more.

Mt Werner crested over the 200" mark today with the new fallen snow, and after a week of straight stormin', the sunshine came out for a Groundhog Day visit.

The mountain's enormous terrain is in impeccable shape; from buttery smooth groomers to powder stashes in the trees, it's all guaranteed to give a serious attitude adjustment. Not that we need one, living in winter wonderland and gifted a week like this last one, but the smile coming down the hill is always larger than the one going up.

I got a bit of a late start and rode the Gondola with visitors from all over today - Cayman Islands, Cleveland (shout out to our ATAB homies!), Jackson Mississippi and even Rangely, and it always reminds me how grateful I am for living here. I headed straight for the Sunnyside stashes and hit Sundial first... knee deep and glorious!

"The Captain was here!" Look at that blue sky!

Then down to Ramrod, Southpeak, and Westside.  I love the days when we get it all - beaming sunshine, surfy groomers, and powdery gifts in the trees. Another Sundown lap took me to 12:30, where the stash is always, ALWAYS, predictable:


Wanting to get a bite in before my noon Imbolc ceremony with the Goddesses, and seeing the Sundown line was already like Macy's on Black Friday, up Elkhead I went, straight for Valley View. And good what a good call it was. O. M. G.

There's nothing quite like 30 miles an hour down this one. If my attitude wasn't already adjusted, I was ear to ear by the time I got to Lower VV. Both upper and lower Valley View were g-love-carvin' magic, gifted with left side corduroy just for me:

The continual hammering snow this week has been straight from heaven, and I hear there's more on the way. Phil saw his shadow in Steamboat today, so whether it's sooner or later, those storms are now sealed with the Groundhog Day guarantee.  I got three words for that: BRING IT ON.

See you In the Deep -