Mt Snow 1/27-1/29

Well, I was all by my lonesome for a weekend at Mt. Snow. Regina bailed because she had too much due in her grad classes and Lisa just moved so was short in the pocket.

I packed my car up and was on the road by 3pm. The roads were dry all the way up and the sky clear. I had great light all the way there and it was a beautiful and scenic drive up. I got to the house at about 5:30pm. NO ONE was there. It was strange to be the first one there and have to unlock the door. I was so tired, and sick with a sinus infection. I unloaded the car, got all my gear up two flights of stairs and then reheated leftovers for dinner. I then camped out on the couch, falling asleep to the TV.

At about 9:30pm I woke up and still no one at the house. I watched some more TV, and people started arriving at 11pm. From then on, it was people streaming in.

Rachel was the first to arrive with Deborah and friend/guest Heather. Jen Mac showed up next followed by Mike and Jason. Then it was Brian and guest Patrick and Christian and his three guests. In all, we had five beds empty. And lots of guests.

Jen Mac and I stayed up watching some dating show until 4 am when we dragged ourselves to bed. We were up early, about 8am, so I was a bit tired and sick and had booked two snowboarding lessons back to back. Everyone left really early, I was one of the last to get going. I thought I had a 10:30am Day 1 lesson but it was really at 11:30 so I just hung out at the lodge. It was so warm and bright outside that I had to buy a pair of sunglasses cause I had forgotten mine in CT.

I also had the shop readjust my binding from Goofy to regular. I then went for my Day 1 lesson and 5 minutes into the lesson I knew I was definately goofy. (Hey, stop laughing!) Goofy means that you're right handed and you ride right foot forward (or left-handed and left hand forward) and regular means you're right handed and ride left foot forward (or vice versa for our southpaw friends).

I went back to the shop and they readjusted my bindings to goofy and that is how I did my Day 1 and Day 2 lessons. I had two Zone bars in my pocket. I ate one during the lesson. We never got up the lifts cause the lines were so long. The teacher said he'd never seen it so busy. It was probably the busiest day of the season.

Since we were covering a lot of stuff I'd already had twice before, I was psyched for my 1:30 Day 2 class. We only had 5 people. We ended up going to Tumbleweed, a beginner slope away from the bunny hill. Shorter lines. More forgiving degree of descent.

We took the lift up and came down just traversing. Second run I told the teacher I needed to drink some water. I was fading fast, tired and wicked thirsty. I hung out at the lodge for water and the second zone bar. Then sat outside waiting at the lifts for the instructor and group. They took a good amount of time to get down and when they did we went up a third time. This time I was pretty much on my own. I even got up from my butt BY MYSELF! It was awesome. I was toe side and heel side gliding across the mountain.

Others were carving and linking turns so the instructor said it was 3:30pm and end of the lesson but he would take whoever wanted up the slope for a last run. So I was up there, the other girl was already carving and linking turns so she practiced. So I had the instructor show me how holding my hands for the first two links and then I was doing it myself! I fell down a lot because now you have to learn how to transfer edges quickly, but at times I thought I was totally going to fall but I stayed upright. I also started learning how to throw my weight around. It was awesome. The teacher was really good, too. I can't wait to go again.

Dragged my stuff back to the car. I don't think I ever walked so slow. I felt like I was dragging 100 pounds of dead weight with me...but finally I threw my gear in the car, changed into my regular boots and then drove my car closer to the lodge. Parked and went into Cuzzins for happy hour! Brian and Patrick were leaving as I walked in and I told them to stick around for a drink. Of course, had my hot cocoa and peppermint schnapps. Aaaaah....

Soon enough, we saw Rachel who was looking for Deborah and we say Heather who was looking for Deborah. By then, Jason and the other housemates made it down to Cuzzins and we eventually got a table. We ran into another group of guys who had all these Aussie accents. It was funny.

I wanted to get back to the house to soak in the hottub, eat and then get ready to go out. So that is what I did. Hot tub, dinner. Then showered, dressed. Went to Dover bar and grill. Then off to Snowbarn. Jen Mac and I got separated from the group and we ended up going to Deacon's Den with another group of guys. Night ended up with hottubbing and falling asleep on the couches in the living room.

Got up at 9am Sunday, showered, repacked, loaded the cars. Had breakfast with Jen Mac at Dot's Diner and got home at 2:15pm. Avoided all the nasty rain/weather. Slept until 8:30am the following Monday. Then of course, up for the work week. A satisfying weekend.