Equinox!!! Great time of year. JC and I have a night alone tonight which we will spend honoring the day of equal parts light and dark, bringing more balance into our lives. We have a little notebook that I actually purchased on Kaua'i some years ago, where we record our goals and dreams, both tangible and intangible, lofty and attainable, near and far, with the intention of realizing them all.
Our Mac should arrive either today or tomorrow, so I will be back on with more frequent postings but for now let me catch up.
Last Friday I got to leave work early, at 3pm, so I met JC and we skied around in the warm afternoon sun until 5pm, having some of the best runs we have had together. It was incredible. We cleaned up and pigged out, and drove to Ridgway where TriCo played a set before Fundafari, in a Save the Sherbino Theater night. We saw a few familiar faces, some ex-Telluriders and current Ridgway folks, then got home pretty late.
Saturday we toured up to the lower flanks of Campbell and I have to say it was the first of my touring days where I found myself thinking (numerous times), "This sucks." It is still very very tiring to skin up with an extra 20 pounds or so, between my pack on my back and my skis, skins, boots and bindings on my feet. We did two little laps with what I found the be disappointing snow conditions. Really? That was backcountry corn snow? Hm.
We saved the best for last, for as we neared the end of our second descent, it dawned on me that the avalanche path creekbed we had skinned up, had to be skied down. Or stepped down. No, make that tramped, stompled, side-slipped, you name it, we maneuvered it, all on skis, and (for me) thoroughly depleted. My little brain kept screaming, "I just want to ski!!!"
I kept my mouth shut, dealt with it all and we lounged on the sunny porch when we returned home at 3:30, again, pigging out.
Sunday brought a new yoga practice with Ally and almost a foot of snow by the end of the day. Here is what I have discovered about the skiing world: there is a huge cover-up going on that no one seems to talk about. Skiing powder is extremely difficult. And maddening. It's enough to make you throw a very exclusive Pity Party for yourself, right around 5:00pm when the ski area closes. My Guest List was limited to my husband, who RSVPed immediately, if somewhat reluctantly, and the refreshments included a glass of wine and a Vicodin.
How come no one talks about this? How cruel is it that the one snow condition we experience the least, is also the one that everyone raves about, yet 99% fo the people I saw were flailing? So we don't get the opportunity to practice very much, and no one seems to want to own up to the fact that it can kind of suck? I have spent the past 3 winters working on skiing, on my turns, which I have finally nailed down on all the blacks, then along comes a glorious powder day and those turns don't work. And those are the only turns I know how to make. I know, right? Flummoxed.
Anyway, the pill and wine helped and the Pity Party was over before we knew it. JC did point out to me that leading into this afternoon wad a huge day of hiking and skiing previously, plus 3 hours of backbends I did in the morning. And I can kind of see his point. But it doesn't really help to take the sting away from the sense of failure I seem to always have on those "Great" Powder Days.
Yesterday was Day 75 on my skis this winter. I am hanging in there, hitting up Albert for a bump lesson on Saturday. I have to break into the next level of skiing, and that is it. I will let you know how it goes!!!!
I anyone feels left out of my Sunday evening Pity Party, let me know and I will add you to the Guest list for next time, as I'm sure we can agree there will be more. B.Y.O.P.
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