christmas 2017

In the past, skiing Christmas morning has been a way to escape the crowds.  Last year was cold with lots of snow and sparse crowds; 2015 was also cold, snowy and uncrowded; the non-hordes have been similar in prior years.  2017 was a little different:  relatively warm (low/mid-20s), a bit of new snow (9" overnight) and SO MANY PEOPLE.  As we stood in the throngs waiting for them to start loading the lifts - and we stood for 45 minutes because ski patrol was doing avalanche control nearby - we couldn't believe how many people were there.  That has never been the case since we've been out here.  But we've been so starved for snow that the people came out this year.

So many skiers meant that the nice new snow got tracked out and bumped up quickly.  I had optimistically brought my Rossignols but almost immediately wished I had my shorter, turn-ier Salomons instead.  Although the Rossignols are very light, they are wider and a lot longer than the Salomons and it is more work for me to turn them, especially in the bumps that sprung up all over the trails.  We did one run on Collins, which was a mix of nice, soft snow and awful scraped-off sections, and then moved to Sugarloaf to do laps there.  The snow was pretty good and the soft bumps were really fun, but my legs got tired fast.  Even H, who was back on his alpine skis after two days of telemark, admitted to some quad fatigue.

Now-obligatory chair selfie

By noon I just couldn't do it anymore (note to self: do more squats).  I grabbed my bag from Goldminer's Daughter, pounded a Christmas beer and caught the bus down to the valley.  I wasn't the only one leaving either - it seems as though a lot of people had just planned to ski for the morning and then rejoin their family holiday festivities for the afternoon.  H said that there were no lift lines at all for the afternoon, which was in itself a Christmas gift.