I met my husband when he was living in Florida, but I quickly learned his heart still belonged to Colorado. We met and hit it off in DC but he soon headed back to Florida. Luckily he was a persistent fellow and we started to date long distance. It was new for me but I enjoyed getting to know him over the phone, through emails, and through traveling together. One of my first trips with the Mr was a visit to his home state of Colorado. He wanted to take me skiing so I would know the joy of Western powder rather than Eastern ice. I know everyone raves about powder but I grew up skiing short, icy slopes, where the toilets and hot chocolate are a short distance from the start of the run. The Mr always tells me our mountains look more like hills and I just tell him they're more mature. I survived the first experience of skiing Colorado but not without a story!
I made it back from Colorado with no injuries of any significance- my hip was bruised from falling on a 6 year old child who used my skis as his exit ramp from the lift and my ego was pretty injured from skiing with the race champ, aka: My Husband. I must admit there is something different about the Colorado slopes; namely length and steeper gradation. Something about those two factors rips away any skiing confidence a VA skier might have once had. Our greens are their bunny slopes, our blues are their greens, our blacks are their blues and finally their blacks are out of this world- not to mention their double and triple blacks.
I was trying to adjust to my first day of skiing the CO slopes at Loveland ski area (a popular location with locals). It was taking a bit longer than it normally would in VA to adjust, but I was doing alright. Mr was patient and so were his three high school friends (who'd all grown up on their high school ski teams) who met up with us a bit later. They helped me by challenging me to follow them down much steeper slopes than I'd normally attempt by myself. We stopped for an early lunch and I was thinking about how much I was enjoying the day and varied slopes. Then we headed back out, took a couple quick runs off more steep slopes and then everyone eagerly suggested lift 9 as our next venture. They'd been skiing with me all morning and so they had gotten a feel for my level of skiing, or so I'd thought...
As we got off lift number 9 I was informed it was the highest quad lift in North America and I cautiously followed the gang over to the beginning of the slope. They all stood at the top and looked back at me with consoling looks and yelling something to Mr about not remembering how steep this slope was. Now the beginning of the slope would actually be defined by any normal person as the beginning of a cliff, but it's all relative I guess. So the other three raced down the slope in a matter of seconds and disappeared quickly over the next ridge. Mr stayed at the top with me, a nervous quasi smile on his face. I stood there hands shaking and realizing the only way down was to attempt to ski it. Mr stood there saying I should go first in case I fell and lost a ski he could then grab it and that way I wouldn't have to climb back up to try to get it-- 'thanks for the vote of confidence' I muttered.
So finally pushed myself forward and made a whole turn and a half before tumbling over and sliding down the slope head first on my back. I was sliding pretty quickly for awhile and decided if I moved my feet forward I might be able to plant my skis and stop sliding. So I slowly rotated my body as I continued to slide and tried to plant my feet. I lost a ski and decided it was actually better going head first because less snow went in my jacket through the neck than around the waist and so I rotated around again. I know what you're asking yourself at this point, "She was sliding for a long enough period of time to make the decision to rotate, find out that wasn't better, and then rotate back again???" I tell you, yes, yes I did. I had a steady wave of snow spraying above my head and onto my face and decided to wave at a few people on the lift above as I continued to slide. Eventually I stopped and sat up in shock with my face completely covered in a sheet of snow. I was wiping off the snow as best I could when Mr skied up with my ski and asked if I was alright. I was shaking again but not from fear, rather from pure anger. I shakingly told him it was taking every ounce of strength I had not to cuss him out at that moment and then stood up to put on my ski and whimpered on his shoulder as I desperately tried not to burst into tears. He laughed a little and told me I did fine and he was really impressed, but it felt more like an obligatory comment rather than a earnest one.
I managed to ski down the rest of the slope back to the beginning of lift 9 where the other three were waiting to go back up. Mr was there and told them we wouldn't be headed up that one again. I apologized and they told me it wasn't a problem and I did really well for a person who only skied maybe twice a year. I asked if they had also fallen because they had snow on their coats but they explained to me that they had fallen while they were attempting 180s and 360s- not quite the same type of fall in my opinion. They told me if nothing else I could go home and brag I had skied a double black diamond in CO over the weekend, "d...d...d...did you say double???" (although I don't know if you could define what I did as "skiing" per se). Mr and I skied down to an easier lift and while we were riding it he pointed out the black ant forms traversing the very ridge of the mountain peaks and told me that's where we'd been skiing and all of a sudden I was angrier than I had been just after I fell- "THAT'S WHERE WE WERE?!?!" I was more freaked out after seeing it from a distance than I'd been "skiing" it. In fact my hands are sweaty now just remembering the image in my mind... Nothing a couple beers couldn't cure though!
I informed the Mr it would take a very long time and many gifts for him earn back my trust. Check out lift 9 and the slope called Patrol Bowl on the map- (far right on the south view map and far left on the north view) - luckily no trees:
http://www.skiloveland.com/themountain/maps/north_view.aspx
Now he just has to watch his back when we're near cliffs...