If you had seen me riding today you would know how I feel: Exhilarated isn’t enough.
This morning I was committed to being the first car on the mountain. I woke up at 5 am, left home by 6 and made it to the resort by 7 am. I got to park on the first row, less than 30 meters from the main lift.
I spent the first 40 minutes in my car, taking a small nap and reading a chapter from my new book “The Fine Art of Self-Publishing”. I realized I could have left at 7 am and still could have gotten a fair parking spot, maybe next time I will leave later.
Around 8 am I turned on the music in my car and stepped outside to stretch and do some dancing. As I waited for the lift to open up, I walked around the cars parked next to mine, drawing hearts on the snow that was pilling up over their windows. It was super cute. :)
Around 8:30 the people who had been waiting in line for the lift cheered indicating that the chairs were not open. I took my sweet time putting my boots on and headed to the lift. By the time I got there the line had been completely cleared out and I didn’t have to wait at all.
From the first lift I headed straight to Corona, the back side lift where all the most difficult runs are. I attacked the mountain like never before, barely caring about the terrain I was riding on. I also spend a good amount of time trying to ride with my week foot on front. I didn’t do so well and fell a couple dozen times but it was well worth it. More than anything, I was proud to try that approach on such steep terrain.
During my first handful of runs I got to try lots of challenging terrain. One of the hardest runs I did was a super narrow and steep run that was full of pumps. I probably fell ten times in less than 100 meters but it was well worth the try. It was a great warm up for what was about to come after.
The best run of the day came around 11 am, when I decided to head over to some fairly steep tree runs. I was surprised to see how much control and comfort I had riding between the trees. I even got to slide down super-fast without hurting myself, although I had a couple of scares where I hit a few trees with my board and another time when I had to throw my arms forward to bounce of a tree I was about to hit.
Riding between those trees, with so much precision and speed was the most epic experience I’ve had so far. It was hard to believe that I was the one controlling the board and making those turns.
Right after that run I met a guy on the chair lift. His name was Paul, he was from Boulder and was also riding solo. We joined forces and rode together for a while, him in front, zooming down the mountain, and me behind, going as fast as I could to catch up. The first run we did was quick, easy, scary and allowed me to challenge myself at even higher speeds. The following runs where a bit together, we went on the trees together and by then my body and mind where totally burned out. I fell a bunch and was lucky to not get hurt.
At the end of the day I felt exhausted and fulfilled. I could have stayed longer but four hours of riding seemed enough for a day. I am still planning on going tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day, and the next day…
