News del Mercado: My Ski Trip

The younger three went skiing/snowboarding on Christmas Eve, as I had mentioned before, but I never got a chance to go over the break. Someone kept getting sick or had plans. Life with busy teens is tricky! I saw that January 24th would be a good day to go. No one had plans, and we were to have snow again, so I tentatively put it in the calendar about 10 days ago for Kade, Austin, Erik, and me to go skiing. (Victoria and Jason still opted not to go for the same reasons as before.)

As the day grew closer, I saw that the weather was to be freakishly cold. So cold, in fact, that school was cancelled the day before, Friday, due to wind chills at -25 degrees. Saturday was to be a bit warmer, especially later in the day, I'm talking wind chills were expected to be in the single digits as opposed to negatives, but we decided to go with it anyway. I was pretty nervous for myself, I have to admit. I thought I would be way too cold, as I often have been the last few times going. I told myself that if I got too cold, I could just hang out in the lodge and stay warm.

I was also still nervous about one of my kids breaking a bone (it was only a few years ago that I watched Austin break his arm snowboarding, and it isn't something I want to repeat ever!)

We double checked to make sure everyone had all the things necessary to keep us as warm as we could, and off we went. I was wearing 6 layers on top and four layers on the bottom. If it had been helpful, I would have worn 3 layers on my feet, but the 2 were ideal because I still needed circulation between my socks and boots. I wore a thicker gator than I normally do, which was the best part for me, I believe. I remember the last time we went when it was so cold I actually got a headache from the cold when I was going down the slopes. I think it was because I was breathing in that cold air, and it was freezing my insides. I don't normally like to breathe with something fully covering my nose and mouth because I feel claustrophobic, but I didn't this time, thank goodness! The day before, when I was outside for 5 minutes loading up my car with granola for my Teffola job, I could feel the extremely cold air affecting my lungs. It's not good for people with asthma, another reason for Victoria not to go skiing here.

It was -6 when we arrived, with a real feel of -6. The sun was shining, and the wind wasn't blowing, so -6 felt ok. The slopes were just about empty, not too many crazy people going in that weather, which is a big plus. We had a great time! It's amazing to me that Austin and Erik got cold before I did and were ready for lunch and our 1/2-hour break to get warm. Kade was toasty and fine, but we all broke together, which was perfect timing for me. I didn't notice that my toes were numb, and I could feel them tingling as we ate, so I got the feeling back in them at just the right time. Austin added another sweater (so glad we made him bring an extra one!), and Erik got hand warmers (seriously, he didn't start with them!), and we were able to last a lot longer for the second part of our day. More people arrived since it got up to a balmy 6 degrees, but it still wasn't too busy.

I got adventurous and followed my boys through the trees that took us on a path where we had to duck under a fallen tree and even do a little cross-country skiing (it was tricky for the snowboarders, unless they got their speed just right, which they ended up doing), and we could ski down a very powdery, very unbeaten path that reminded me of Utah skiing. It was great! We did that path multiple times, and I think it was one of the reasons we didn't get too cold because we had to work a little harder on the cross-country parts, sometimes pulling the boarders along with our poles, and we were in between lots of trees that kept the extreme cold out. I also followed my boys off a jump just about every time. Though let me clarify, I did not do the jump, I just rolled up and down it, which was plenty fun for me. The best part was watching them jump it and see how good they have all gotten. Austin is incredible on the snowboard now, Kade looks amazing, and Erik has some awesome ski skills; he can even ski backwards!

We stayed together most of the time, but there was a bit of time when I was by myself and felt a little lost. Since there aren't many options for slopes here, I do get bored on the same slopes, but the thing that keeps me entertained, since I don't do tricks, is watching my kids and following them down the tricky areas that I wouldn't do by myself.

And as I say every time I go, I really do love to ski! I get nervous beforehand, but when we go, I always have the best time and am so glad my kids enjoy it too.

I could only manage a few pics, so I wouldn't expose my hand too much in the cold.