I boarded my first Blue today at Powderhorn....and didn't get killed!

Yesterday was my first boarding since having my cast off, I was a little nervous that the splint would protect me like the cast did. S I picked up Roby and the kids at their house and we were on our way up to Powderhorn. We talked about everything from me going to Germany, to his job, and the market. We got there around 9 am and got another sweet parking spot. We changed at the car and I took Katie to the ski school while Roby took Kaleb to get his rentals (a completely whole different story that process is). Everyone had their tickets and we each went our separate ways. I headed over to the easy rider and they headed to the quad lift. I made it off the chair lift 3 of the 4 times on my board on the easy rider lift, SCHWEET. I took a couple of runs and only fell maybe twice, then I headed back up and waited to see if I could get pictures of Katie because it was 1030 and that is when they start lessons. I waited for about 10 min while my but froze, but then she showed up and I got pictures of her getting off the lift with her instructor Lynnette. Then I headed down a couple more runs only falling once. I saw Bob, my instructor, we talked a bit he was there with his girlfriend, good people I tell you. Around 1130 I headed over to the Quad lift and got video of Roby and Kaleb coming down.




Katie with her instructor after getting off the lift.



Roby, Katie and Kaleb before heading up.


Roby was riding his new board so I took Kaleb so Roby could take a few runs. Kaleb and I went to the shop so I could buy some more socks as my boots are a little big, what a huge improvement in my turning capabilities with an extra pair of socks. Kaleb and I were then going to go get lunch from the car, but realized Roby had the keys. So we found Roby and I told him to take another run while we went and got the lunch.

Kaleb sliding down the hill on the way to the car for lunch.

So Kaleb and I sat at our lunch eating area and waited for Roby around 1210 no Roby so I started giving Kaleb his lunch, 1215 no Roby. There was an employee with a radio standing near us and her radio was talking about dispatching the patrol from the top, so panic set in what if it was Roby, then like 3 min later here comes Roby with no jacket on covered in snow from head to toe literally. Wish I had gotten a picture. He said he fell into some powder, he looked like a red bearded snowman. We ate lunch and I went with Roby and Kaleb up to the top of the mountain for my first blue run, yeah. I dumped when I got of the lift and landed somewhat on my wrist, which is a little achey today. But we got strapped in. The run we took and a few level places in areas which dumped me once and I had to unstrap twice. But other than that I think I only fell one other time. Here is the map of the run we took.

You'll have to click on the image to enlarge it. I highlighted the run we did in Pink and my huge crash in blood red dot. Kaleb did really well, he'll need to start working on parallel ski from side to side of the run. He does really well in snow plow turning and controlling his speed. He had one crash that sent him flying. After we made it past the flats, I did quite a few turns on the steeper sections, then when I felt uncomfortable I would just heel edge or toe edge "falling leaf" across the run and then do some more turns. As we were finishing the run I was feeling pretty good about myself and started doing faster turns, well at one point I didn't let my board get vertical with the mountain and caught an edge. Literally in slow motion I did a right knee plant into the snow, my board flipped up and over my head flipping me and I landed about 10-15 feet from where I knee planted. I got up laughing and Roby was like are you ok. I said yeah, I guess that helps with cockiness, lol. That's was about 1:50 when we finished the run. I told Roby and Kaleb to go up again. I went to the bar and got a drink because I was sore....was even more sore after I had to pay 6.50 for a hot chocolate and bailey's geez. So I sat outside watching people and drank my hot chocolate. Then I went over to the quad lift and got video of them coming down. I told them to go up again and I would take pictures of Katie then meet them at the lunch area.

Kaleb and Roby

So I went back over to the easy rider lift and waited to take pictures of Katie. I stood there about 20 min and no Katie. It was like 2:30 and she was to be in lessons until 3pm. So I went over to the children's learning center and they said she just came in. So we got all her stuff, her report card said she was now a level 3. She has one more lesson left and then we will be taking everyone up. We waited for Roby and Kaleb and shortly they came down. The ride back was pretty uneventful. Roby and I were wiped out and the kids seemed to be gaining energy the further away from the mountain we got.

It had snowed up on powderhorn maybe 16 inches from Thursday to Sunday. Saturday they had a terrain park competition. Saturday when I checked the base it was 52 inches. When we got there Sunday it was 50 inches. It was a gorgeous sun shiny day. When we left it was 44 degrees. This morning when I checked the website they were down to a 47 inch base. It is supposed to snow up there today through Thursday.