Wow! I don't know if any of you Ohio skiers have skiied anywhere else, but Rocky Mountain skiing is a whole different ballgame. Crested Butte Ski Resort (see the resort from the slope) is having a promotional ski free from Nov. 25 - Dec. 15 where your lift ticket is free. (After Dec. 15, it is $80 for an adult lift ticket!) We thought this was a great deal and made the long trek north on Sunday as a unit. We had to go over Monarch Pass which was a bit snow covered and made the trip longer because of we had to drive slower. That is the problem with
living in the Valley - everywhere you go, you have to go over a pass. We left at 7am, arrived around 11:45, got our (free) lift tickets, ate a sack lunch, rented skis, and were on the slopes by 12:30pm. Jeff had skied back in high school and was
very unsure about trying again. Claire hadn't skiied since high school either, but was more enthusiastic. David and Emmy had come to Crested Butte with their friends on the Sunday after Thanksgiving; there was very little snow and only 1% of the slopes were open for skiing. Jeremy and I had skiied within the last year somewhere in the midwest. The mountain was beautiful (see left). It had been snowing - there was about a 46 inch base with about 6 inches of powder that had fallen the night before! I have never seen
that much snow. We hopped on the lift and headed up, up, up. The first time down the green slope (called Houston) was pretty slow going as we taught Jeff and Claire the basics, and I
relearned them myself. David (pic to right) tried to ski off trail in the deep snow - unsuccessful on attempt #1. Jeremy (pic to the left, looking frantically for his buried skis!) was also unsuccessful in the deep snow when trying to follow David (whose second attempt was successful). Emmy and I were the only ones to remain upright the whole way down; although, I did almost topple trying to ski
and laugh - two things I can't do at the same time. The next time down a different green slope Claire had a memorable run. She was flying down the slope so fast and a little out of control when she lost control, hit the deep snow and came inches from the trunk of an Aspen tree (see pic to right). Later,
Jeremy, David, Emmy, and I went up on the highest lift. It went so high; I thought I might throw up! When we got off the lift, I realized that I would have to ski down. We started on a pretty steep blue slope, which I wiped up 2x on (no one has a pic of this, since I was the one with the camera). Then, we ended with a pretty easy green
called the Yellow Brick Road. I was mostly scared of being hit by the crazy people coming down the black diamond and double black diamonds and taking me out on the way. We made it safely to the bottom, but my legs were burning by the time we got to the bottom (about 20 minutes down on skis). I included a picture of me with my awesome ski goggles on. It was an amazing day of skiing. We wrapped up around 4pm, the slopes were closing, and the sun was going down. It felt good to take the
ski boots on and head back to the car. We had supper in Gunnison, drove slowly back over Monarch pass, and trudged through the front door at 9:30pm. I fell into bed and didn't wake until Monday morning for work.
Wow! I don't know if any of you Ohio skiers have skiied anywhere else, but Rocky Mountain skiing is a whole different ballgame. Crested Butte Ski Resort (see the resort from the slope) is having a promotional ski free from Nov. 25 - Dec. 15 where your lift ticket is free. (After Dec. 15, it is $80 for an adult lift ticket!) We thought this was a great deal and made the long trek north on Sunday as a unit. We had to go over Monarch Pass which was a bit snow covered and made the trip longer because of we had to drive slower. That is the problem with 
living in the Valley - everywhere you go, you have to go over a pass. We left at 7am, arrived around 11:45, got our (free) lift tickets, ate a sack lunch, rented skis, and were on the slopes by 12:30pm. Jeff had skied back in high school and was very unsure about trying again. Claire hadn't skiied since high school either, but was more enthusiastic. David and Emmy had come to Crested Butte with their friends on the Sunday after Thanksgiving; there was very little snow and only 1% of the slopes were open for skiing. Jeremy and I had skiied within the last year somewhere in the midwest. The mountain was beautiful (see left). It had been snowing - there was about a 46 inch base with about 6 inches of powder that had fallen the night before! I have never seen
that much snow. We hopped on the lift and headed up, up, up. The first time down the green slope (called Houston) was pretty slow going as we taught Jeff and Claire the basics, and I 
relearned them myself. David (pic to right) tried to ski off trail in the deep snow - unsuccessful on attempt #1. Jeremy (pic to the left, looking frantically for his buried skis!) was also unsuccessful in the deep snow when trying to follow David (whose second attempt was successful). Emmy and I were the only ones to remain upright the whole way down; although, I did almost topple trying to ski and laugh - two things I can't do at the same time. The next time down a different green slope Claire had a memorable run. She was flying down the slope so fast and a little out of control when she lost control, hit the deep snow and came inches from the trunk of an Aspen tree (see pic to right). Later, 
Jeremy, David, Emmy, and I went up on the highest lift. It went so high; I thought I might throw up! When we got off the lift, I realized that I would have to ski down. We started on a pretty steep blue slope, which I wiped up 2x on (no one has a pic of this, since I was the one with the camera). Then, we ended with a pretty easy green 
called the Yellow Brick Road. I was mostly scared of being hit by the crazy people coming down the black diamond and double black diamonds and taking me out on the way. We made it safely to the bottom, but my legs were burning by the time we got to the bottom (about 20 minutes down on skis). I included a picture of me with my awesome ski goggles on. It was an amazing day of skiing. We wrapped up around 4pm, the slopes were closing, and the sun was going down. It felt good to take the 
ski boots on and head back to the car. We had supper in Gunnison, drove slowly back over Monarch pass, and trudged through the front door at 9:30pm. I fell into bed and didn't wake until Monday morning for work.
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