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November 05, 2005
And so the mountain opens
An early start was had by all this morning, Ben had to start work at 7am and myself and SK had decided to get in the lift queue for about 8 - ready for the lifts to open at 8:30am.
Paddy and SK kited up (I honestly didn't use the mirrored goggles today)
Arriving at 8am we were greeted by an enormous line of people stretching off in multiple directions - each claiming they were "the queue". Us being English utilized our superior queuing skills and picked the best line.
By 8:15 the clapping and chanting had begun and so the lift plebs capitulated and opened the lifts. Initial fears about not being able to remember how to balance and get on/off a lift while 1/2 attached to a snow board were soon dismissed and we were at the top of the mountain by 9:30am.
Warning notices at the lift stations told us the mountain was experiencing "early season conditions" and that "snow cover may be partial". Well if "partial" means a solid 1-2 feet of snow on all the runs I can't wait for normal season conditions.
11 runs and 4 lifts were open officially, although about 6 more runs were accessible and skiable. There was plenty of snow, although it was all quite cut up - with large, irregular moguls everywhere. Not the best introduction for lazy, soggy legs muscles.
I was surprised at how little I had forgotten since snowboarding at Christmas and after a few tentative minutes was soon throwing myself down blue runs with my usual style ;)
Crashes were thankfully few and far between (single figures), I'm certainly less sore than my previous 'first day' of snowboarding.
SK putting in a turn and Paddy about to be blind sided by a skier.
The weather stayed mostly clear, although by 1pm snow had started to fall and as visibility dropped so did the number of people on the mountain.
We snowboarded the upper runs until about 2:30pm when we took the exit run to the lift station to 'download' (as the snow doesn't extend into the village yet you have to get the ski lift back into the village).
All in all it was an excellent day - certainly a recommended way of spending a Saturday.
I have the whole day off tomorrow so will (hopefully) be spending another day on the piste, SK may join me in the morning as she has a training session from 1pm, unfortunately Ben is working all day again :(
Time to rest these aching quads :)
(sorry for the long post)
Posted by edwardnorthridge at November 5, 2005 04:22 PM