The single biggest high-light of the winter break was Friday, bar none! Instead of the team heading up to Eldora to train, they had scheduled a “Free-skiing” day at Vail where everyone could get discounts. (Vail is bragging on being the costliest day pass in the country at $81.00 per day. WHOA!)
Fortunately, we went through the Vail Ski Club and only paid half that.
While the kids and coaches found every cornice and cliff they could, yours truly looked for every “easy” by-pass. With a bum knee, I’m not about to have to see my doctor again for at least a few years. I figured, better not speed that visit up. Hey… I’m no slouch, but I don’t do cliff jumps. The end.
If you’ve not ever been to the back-bowls of Vail, then you’ve missed a treat. This was my very first ski visit to Vail. I was there years ago. Okay, many years ago. Well, a very long time ago… but never to ski. Maybe it’s this year or maybe it’s just that I hadn’t been in that spectacular of a bowl, but it was the best skiing I’ve experienced in a while.
Probably the best thing the team had going was it was something different than looking at gates all day and only being able to free-ski Eldora. There’s something to be said watching your coach biff it off a 20 foot cornice only to have to one-ski it down to the bottom of the bowl to fetch a ski. I know I’ve gained a new respect for a few of the coaches, kids and even Dylan watching them ski stuff most mere mortals would walk-away quaking in their ski boots.
At the end of the day, everyone was exhausted, including me, but all had huge smiles on their faces. It was worth the 3 hour drive there and back.
