Ski trips: day 4

Day four! We are really taking our time with this progression.

Because we’re feeling a time crunch (closing day is right around the corner—April 4!!!!), we decided to make time to go on a Friday afternoon. This is pretty spicy for us weekenders!

Day four: 3/5/21

Allow me to set the scene: afternoon, early March, temperatures between 45 – 50 degrees, the sun is out.

There’s no better way to start the weekend than with a ski day at Sunlight, where the blue sky is bright, the crowds are thin, parking is prime, and the snow is groomed.

We packed light, swapping out our ski parkas for light layers. Chad didn’t even wear gloves all day. When I packed all of our gear, I forgot Chad’s ski poles (feeling absolutely horrible), but he didn’t want to rent any and made it work without them. Even forgetting an essential piece of gear didn’t stop us from having an amazing afternoon on the slopes.

On the slopes

Everything was wonderful during this trip. Thanks to a quiet crowd, Chad and I were able to squeeze in several runs, and they all went smoothly. We were comfortable the entire time, and had a blast making turns and having entire runs to ourselves.

We went down runs such as Ferret’s Hollow (blue) several times, which takes a little foray into a tight, tree-lined path, along with a new run Cornice (blue), which has a great variation of challenging elements.

I decided to try out my other new-to-me board (purchased this summer for $30 on Facebook Marketplace), which is larger and older and also freshly waxed. It was a little awkward and hard to control my tail end, but the extra length helped me numerous times when getting through flat areas. I never got stuck on a catwalk once, even with minimal effort and planning, which was a pleasant surprise.

I also saw my third grade student teacher, who also was my snowboard instructor for three years back then at Crested Butte. He lives in New Castle and never remembers me (lol) but it’s always so funny to see him out and about so many years later and instantly recognize him.

The highlight of the trip was Chad going out of his way to make me laugh as we were riding. Once he hid in some trees when I thought he was way ahead of me. The best though, was when he mooned me. Thankfully, we had that entire run to ourselves. He probably would’ve blinded anyone else.

Overall? Such a great idea and a special Friday afternoon. We followed up our trip with pizza and beer, making it an incredible date.

Photos

As promised, I hope to have more photos and less words as I go. 🙂 Here’s the best part: the epic and gorgeous views.