learning curve

H finally broke out of his analysis-paralysis and bought some used K2 Anti Piste telemark skis.  The bindings came with and a friend had already given him some hand-me-down tele boots, so all we needed was some snow.  A foot on Wednesday and another three inches overnight last night - wish granted!

It was actually sunny in the valley when we left the house but the temperature dropped, the wind came up and it snowed all day up at Alta.  No matter: H worked up a sweat just trying to get his new tele skis on (he's not very flexible and by "very" I mean "at all ").  We went straight to the bunny slope (Sunnyside lift) and H got right to it.  He's never skied tele before but has been reading about it and watching instructional videos on YouTube, plus he's got great balance and has good coordination, so he was making tele-turns right away.  Wobbly, slow and with poor form, but he was turning.

I skied about a quarter of that first run with him before realizing that I was going to freeze if I didn't move a little more.  Promising to find him in a couple of runs, I scooted off to the Supreme lift ... and almost immediately wished I hadn't.  The wind was howling, blowing the snow sideways, and by the time my chair got up to the summit, the visibility was beyond bad.  I hurried back down to the Sunnyside lift, warming my legs up on the drifts and bumps on the way, and reunited with H, who was already getting noticeably faster.

We skied a few runs together, then stopped in at Alf's Lodge (a midmountain lodge) to warm up and eat a granola bar.  The lodge was packed so we didn't linger once we could feel our fingers and toes again.  Outside, the wind and snow had not let up.  While H continued to practice on the bunny hill - rocking such trails as Crooked Mile, Patsey Marley and Dipsy-Doodle - I discovered some good tree skiing off of Vail Ridge.  There was a ton of snow in there, and hardly any traffic because not many folks riding the Sunnyside lift are eager to ski black diamond trees.  So that's what we did until 2:00 p.m.: H on the groomers and me in the trees.  By the time we quit, H was even beating me back to the lift - huge progress!