Month 32: Arapahoe Basin, CO
I have a confession to make-
my ski streak hasn’t been that difficult to keep up with while living in Colorado. The calendar resort season typically begins at the end of October and ends at the end of April. Some resorts like Arapahoe Basin, allow some skiers to shred until July depending on the snowfall that season.
This year, we had an El Niño year which means that there is a greater snowfall than normal in the southern Rockies and the Sierra Nevada mountain range. When May 1st arrived, A Bay (as locals call Arapahoe Basin) still had all of their lifts running. My older sister Brooke also lives in Colorado and is a ski nut like me. We decided we should “send it” one more time together before she left to live in Australia for a year, and I moved to New Hampshire for the summer.
Growing up in the Northeast,
Brookie and I were on a ski team which was a great foundation to build our form and technique on. Learning to ski on the “Ice Coast” gave us an advantage. Most days the snow was hard pack and unforgiving. We would have to work hard to get an edge and make it down the slope. I had only experienced a few powder days in my life before moving to Colorado. The blessing in learning East and moving West is that almost any day has better conditions than a day in the Northeast, whether it is fresh pow or snow that is a few days ago.
When the snow is soft and groomed in Colorado, Brooke and I get these mischievous looks on our faces. We know we’re about to tear it up as hard as we can as we race each other down the slope. When my Dad taught us to ski, he would always make noises, hooting and hollering. Yipping and yapping down the slope. I think that was programmed in us because now when we get low in our turns, noises erupt from deep within us. It feels like bliss and pure joy. Sometimes we make loud race car noises to distract ourselves from the fact that our thighs are on fire. I’ve always wondered if the people on the chairlift above us can hear my turbo engine.
May 3rd was beautiful,
it almost seemed as if someone had put in a word with Mother Nature a week before to get us a perfect day. When we arrived at A Bay we pulled up to park at The Beach. The Beach is the main lot at the base of the resort where most people will set up their camping chairs and tables for lunch behind the open hatches of their trucks or SUV’s. Most people have speakers playing music or are passing around locally brewed IPAs. The community feel of this resort is something that I truly love. Everyone says hello to each other and wishes them a very shreddy day. The Beach is always bumpin’.
We almost had a front-row spot when we arrived, which in itself is pretty much unheard of! Everything was aligned for us that day. Fresh snow, good parking, a bluebird day, and lots of snacks.
On this day, we lapped the chairlift more times than I could count. We would dig our edges into the hill leaving a dugout crease trailing behind us. We would catch air off of the rollers and scoot into the singles line to skip the masses of people. Okay, it wasn’t that busy that day, but we still caught the singles line when we needed to. Our theory is that we get more vertical if we cut down lift line time. It seems logical to me!
On a trek like this,
I find it most helpful to take my time, put one foot in front of the other (or above in this case), and breathe. I have some friends that like to sprint and take a break, sprint and take a break. I would much rather just putt along and enjoy it.
The important thing when getting ready to go down Willie was to make sure I didn’t drop anything. If you do, it is definitely rolling right down the hill. As I was putting my skis on it felt as if I could put my arm out and just lean on the hill next to me.
As the altitude changes, the snowpack changes because of the temperature, the snowfall, the wear and tear from previous skiers or avalanche control. Another influence on the consistency of the snow is the sun. If you have ever gone spring skiing, you have probably had a moment where you were moving right along and then hit a spot that slowed you down so much you almost fell over. Brooke and I had that in mind as we were about to descend down Willie. What would the snowpack really be like? It seems okay by looking at it. I shouldn’t send it too fast, right? Because if I do and fall, I will most likely go ass over tea kettle all the way down this slope.
I’m grateful for all of these thoughts because I began more cautious than usual. Feeling it out before I let gravity take me away. The first few turns it was pretty soft. NICE! Of course, right when I started to let go, the sun had been shining on the next piece of snow longer than above so I immediately reacted to it. I began to laugh hysterically. I stopped and turned around to watch Brooke come down and maybe, secretly hoping she would hit the same spot. She hit it too, let out a squeal and started to laugh. I loved being able to watch this and be a part of it. It’s a blessing to have someone that you have known your whole life and share a common passion with. We both stopped on the steep slope and belly laughed together. After we got our wits back, we decided that we would send it the whole way down without stopping. Let’s get some speed and fly over this stuff.
And so we did.
Full throttle from the Webster girls down East Wall. When we arrived at the chairlift I was out of breath and had a shit-eating grin on my face. If it weren’t for my jelly legs, I would have gone again.
What a way to add to the ski streak and close out the season. Well, the official ski season. Because, let’s be honest, the season never really ends :D