Stevens Pass: Epic Day w/ the Fries

What's the best way to drown your sorrows over losing a hockey game that we should've won? Head up to the mountains for some fun time in some fresh pow pow. Last night in the locker room, a group of us (Joemarie, Marie, Erin, and "Top Shelf" April) decided to head to Stevens Pass off of highway 2. As tired as I was this morning, I am SO GLAD that I joined them because: a) there was almost 2 feet of fresh snow to play in, and; b) it was nice to ski with other people who drool like I do when there is so much fresh snow and who think of lunch as an inconvenience but a necessary *quick* stop to refuel. Today made up for the last two, seriously disappointing days where I ended up skiing solo since the others I was with preferred happy hour(s) over happy snow. Oh well....to each their own and that's fine.

We were on the slopes by 9:15 and headed to the back side (Mill Valley) where we could take advantage of all the new snow. Well, here is where I earned a new nickname. I wear a C on my jersey because I thought it was to remind me that I am Captain of the team and that I play Center position. Well, it's also because my new nickname is Crash. Our first run in the the deep stuff was not pretty and one by one we face planted into the fresh pow as we hadn't adjusted accordingly and were all leaning too far forward. Oh, what fun! Came back later and showed that run who was boss...woot! Later, we played a lot on Orion and other runs off of the Jupiter chair. My face hurt but not from the snow blasting my face, but from smiling and laughing so much! Before lunch, we decided to head into the trees off of Outer Limit - here is where I really earned my Crash credentials as I proceeded to do, not one, but, TWO yard sales down a narrow chute in the trees. Famous last words from Erin - "Oh, it's not too narrow"....uh, yeah...for a snowboarder! When I panicked, I tried to get my skis perpindicular to the run to slow down but the problem was there was no room to do that and my tips touched either side of the walls and nothing under the middle part of my skis. Yeah - disaster. After tumbling head over skis, I had to dig out my goggles, hat, both poles, and one ski....it was one heckuva yard sale, I must say. I never do things half-ass :-)) I finally showed up at the bottom of the run covered in snow and beaming! Marie commented that she hadn't seen me smile and laugh as much as I did today. Yeah, I was in heaven.

After lunch, we headed over to Big Chief and found some sweet pow over on Lower Diamond and that is where we stayed the rest of the day. The three of us (Erin, Marie and I) had headed over to Skyline to try and find Joemarie and April, but it was complete mayhem and we hightailed it out of there and back to Big Chief where we, literally, had Lower Diamond all to ourselves. These are the days skiers and boarders dream about and I'm so glad I didn't pass it by. The snow came down hard all day. Now, I've got to find some energy for my legs for a hockey game in an hour - it's my co-ed game so I'll just let the guys skate (tee hee). I'll just take my shift to give one of the wingers a breather.

Thank you Erin, Marie, Joemarie, and April for an epic, craaaazy, fun day and I'm glad I provided you with some gut-busting laughs (see, I don't limit my entertainment to just the ice rink). I was soaked underneath from my wipeouts - got home and wrung out my underwear (LOL). I promise to get a helmet so it's not so unnerving for me when I go through the trees.

Oh, and great team effort in getting the car out of the lot after the snowplow barricaded us in our spot. See you at practice or at our next game - Captain Crash.