Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Hittin' the Slopes!

Winter is upon us and the snow is falling! I have been so blessed to be able to hit the slopes 5 times already this year! I started the season off by buying a season pass to Sundance Ski Resort. I bought one last year and ended up pretty much wasting it. I am determined to not make the same mistake this year. Because of my employer, I am able to get a special services pass for $150.00! It is good Monday through Friday and is a steal of a deal. Once the snow started to fall I began to get very excited about going snowboarding.
However, as I began to get things ready for an Epic season, I realized that my snowboard was getting old and worn out. The bindings were giving me great difficutly last year and needed to be replaced.
I decided to go out and do some looking and came home with a new snowboard and bindings! I highly recommend Milo Sports in Orem! They gave me an all girls snowboarding video and my first wax free of charge!
My 1st trip of the season was with my friend and co-worker, Coventry. We went to Sundance on a Monday Morning before going to work. It was really really cold, but super fun! I loved my new board and did not have any trouble riding it! We were pleasantly surprised with the amount of snow on the mountain. I didn't have to dodge rocks, or bushes, or thin patches at all! It was a great way to start out the season!
Wednesday, I took the day off work to go and use my free pass to The Canyons before it expired. Coventry, Ashley and I went to see the Warren Miller movie, Playground and got coupons for a free lift ticket! The three of us, along with Coventry's sister Brittany all went for my Trip #2!
These are our snowboards lined up with Brittany's skis!
We had a great time and the sunny blue skies made for a fabulous day for Riding!
While we were there we also scoped things out to make sure we would be ready to take 11 kids from work on the following Monday for a super activity. The only problem was the thin coverage on some of the runs they had open. I was super sad when on a particularly rocky run, my new board got broken in a little too quickly! It was bound to happen sooner or later though.
Ashely, Coventry and I were getting pretty tired towards the end of the day. We took our time on the last run and took some pics!
My legs were grateful for the opportunity to rest!
Trip #3 was another quick one Friday before work. This time I went with my friend and co-worker Nicholas. We went to Sundance. This was his second time ever snowboarding and first time of the season. On the first run of the day he lost his season pass on a really good wipe-out! We convinced the lifty to let him on the lift again so we could take the same run and look for it. We were lucky to find it and the rest of the morning was fun and uneventful... well, other than Nicholas taking lots of tumbles and getting right back up to do it again.
Trip #4 was back to The Canyons with 11 kids from work. Due to confidentiality, I can't post any pictures but we had a great day! 4 of the boys had been boarding and skiing before and I was assigned to take them with another staff member while the other 7 took lessons. We had a good time and the boys were very good. I had a hard time keeping up with one of them and we covered alot of the mountain very quickly. We hit up the terrain park, several lifts, and many many runs before lunch. At lunchtime we met up with the others and ate before hitting the slopes again. Needless to say, I was very tired and sore at the end of the day. I dont remember the last time I rode that many runs in the same day. We all had a really good time and the kids were GREAT! We had no problems and no injuries!
Trip #5 brought Manda and I together at Sundance. She was in town for Christmas and I had one day to meet up with her before I left for Boise. We enjoyed the fresh new snow and were quickly reminded that it is much harder work carving through tracked out powder! We had a great time though and tried to stay in the sunshine as much as possible to keep warm.
Thus far, it has been a great season, and I am looking forward to the rest of it! Due to blackout dates with my limited pass, I won't be able to use my pass until the New Year. I may have to hit up Brighton before then. We'll see how it goes! I Can't Wait!!!