Last weekend, we had an arctic blast across Colorado. Temperatures dropped, we got some snow and it was the type of weather that made you just want to stay inside.
My husband and I, however, have a big goal for our snowboarding season and knew we wanted to get out on Saturday before the temperatures really plummeted. It was too cold to imagine having to sit on a lift, so we put fresh batteries in our beacons, made sure our skins were still sticky and prepped all our gear for a little backcountry exploring.
Skinning up a mountain is amazing. It’s also difficult and slow (at least it is for me). Some people can speed up a mountain and get multiple laps, but I am a “take in the views, snap some pictures and stop to catch my breath a lot” type of girl. I’m only going to get one run in and honestly, that’s perfect for me.
I love the simplicity of the motions. I love saying good morning to everyone passing me by. I love the challenge and I love having to take it slow.
When we’re at the resort, a lot of times it’s a goal to see how many runs we can get in before we’re tired. We’re excited and energized and maybe annoyed by that person we can’t get around to continue speeding down the mountain. We catch our breath and rest our legs on the lift up before doing it all over again with a quick stop in the chalet for some water and a bathroom break.
Don’t get me wrong - I LOVE some fresh groomers and a powdery tree run. If I find an open blue or a mellow black diamond that’s not busy, I’m one of the happiest people there! Plus sometimes I’m a little lazy and a chairlift and some well known terrain is exactly what I need. But entering the backcountry has been a treat and has been the perfect challenge for me.
I’m sure I’ll write more about entering the backcountry later this season as avalanche conditions continue to improve, but wanted to share some thoughts as they were passing through.
Live big.
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