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This is the point at which you wonder, will she ever get a job?
The top of my head, a ski lift and some mountains.
I don't ski nearly often enough. I grew up skiing all the time, spending weeks at Mammoth and taking occasional day trips to the sunny SoCal resorts. But I can count on one Grandoe-gloved hand how many times I've hit the slopes since high school. Sad, very sad. But downhill skiing is expensive, very expensive.
The snow in Tahoe is kind of suck right now, but it is there and it is white, so I headed up for a day of mid-week skiing. Oh, how I've missed it. I had so much fun despite the slushiness and the occasional rocks and grass popping through the snow. It was especially gratifying because it was a Wednesday, and I shared Sugar Bowl with just a few locals. No lift lines.
Skiing has changed a lot since the 80s. Well, skiing itself hasn't changed so much as ski lifts have changed. Now they are fast and smooth and the chairs come off the cables to let you ease on and off. Back in my youth, every time the lift slowed down or stopped mid-ride we knew that some poor kid had gotten knocked over by the chair as it scooped him up at full speed, or worse, someone had not quite gotten her butt all the way on to the seat and had (gasp!) fallen off in the take-off zone. But now, those high-speed quads, man, they are idiot-proof. Or maybe it's just like that on non-holiday weekdays.
Also, the lifts are silent. When I was a kid, at 8:30am you could hear the lifts fire up from a mile away. And they are supposedly cleaner, since the resorts all buy wind-generated energy to power those beasts. Clearly I am amazed at all the newfangled technology. (And did you know they scan the lift tickets now? No more hole punchers!)
I suppose skiing has changed, too, especially since half of the skiers these days are actually snowboarders. And there's freestyle skiing, and shaped skis, and twin-tips. But you ride a lift uphill, and ride your board(s) downhill, and it's loads of fun.
And the scenery is pretty.
January 25, 2007 11:17 PM
If it's snow you're looking for the CO mountains have plenty of it. Heck, you could probably ski off the huge piles in my backyard.
Oh and getting a job-it's seriously overrated.
So envious!
The strongest memories I have from the few times I've skied involve anxiety around getting off those lifts. I never fell, but I did spend pretty much the entire ride up preparing to get off.
And Im one of those kids that didnt prepare well enough to get off - and i believe there was a 10 year old Marissa dangling and then jumping off the lift as it was about ready to scoot her around the pylon to take her back down the mountain.. geesh.