Susan and I just got back from a great week of skiing at Steamboat Springs, Colorado with the Clear Lake Area Ski Club and the Texas Ski Council. There were around 600 TSC skiers there with 42 of us from CLASC.
We flew into Hayden Saturday night after changing planes in Denver. Most of us were missing at least one piece of luggage. Susan learned the hard way the perils of putting all of your ski gear in one checked bag. She was most unhappy the next day, as her luggage didn't arrive until mid-afternoon. She spent the day trying to get straight answers from the United baggage people and checking out the shops in downtown Steamboat Springs. My ski case was missing as well, so I took the voucher for a free ski rental and picked up a pair of K2 Merlin V's for the day.
On Sunday morning, they had received 14 inches in the past 24 hours. After skiing by myself for a while, I ran into three skiers from the Lone Star club who were skiing with a local. He took us down numerous tree runs, including one to the skier's right of Rolex. Very steep with tight trees. It made Closet and Shadows look like bunny runs. After they stopped for lunch I went back to cruising around the mountain. I skied for a while with a couple of guys from our club but they only wanted to ski the open runs. Or as Doug put it, "there's a reason they cut down all the trees to make a ski run." Their loss, as the snow in the trees was much better and a lot more fun. I was glad to be on rentals, however, as as I left a 5 foot long scar in the base of one of the skis after going over the top of a boulder hidden beneath the snow. My legs were really cramping up by the end of the day. Maybe next year I'll get in shape before going skiing. Where have I heard that before? It was still an awesome ski day. I tried my best to hide it as Susan was really disappointed to have missed it. I did talk her into going to the welcome party that night, after picking up her rental skis.
The next day the sun came out and I began to show Susan around the mountain. We skied a little bit of everything, including several tree runs. The new Pioneer Ridge area had some good off-piste type runs that were a lot of fun. They were usually empty as well. The one groomed blue run had lots of little rocks poking through. That probably convinced most people to avoid that area. The snow on the black runs over there were in great shape. We checked out the Morningside Park area, but decided it didn't offer very much, as the runs were pretty flat and the lift was very slow. However, it gets you to the top by the weather station, allowing you to drop in to the Chutes and Christmas Tree Bowl. Susan and I skied Christmas Tree Gully later in the week, although we went very slowly and carefully.
On Tuesday, the wind picked up and kept the Storm Peak and Sundown/Sunshine chairs closed for most of the day. Susan and I spent most of the day skiing in the trees, hitting Closet, Shadows, and a few others several times. We also spent a little time practicing our technique on how to traverse through trees while trying to get to the Rendezvous Saddle restaurant from the middle of the Three O'Clock run without taking the slow and crowded Priest Creek double chair. We skipped watching the Cowboy Downhill with all of the Pro Rodeo cowboys, deciding to ski instead. Everyone who watched it said it was hilarious. They finally opened the Storm Peak lift in the afternoon, allowing us to get in some more runs up top while everyone else was down at the base watching the mayhem.
On Wednesday, Susan took a women's clinic for most of the day. I'm sure she found it a welcome relief from my constant "instruction". In addition to skiing a few runs with other club members, I skied with Billie Kidd during one of his public ski clinic sessions. It was very interesting and I learned a new trick or two. I also got in 7 or 8 practice runs on the race course, not that it helped me that much. Susan seemed to have really enjoyed her clinic. She's thinking about going to a week-long women's ski clinic somewhere next year.
The club races were held on Thursday, with our club racing last. By the time we got on the course, it was very icy and cut up. I don't think any of us were very pleased with our times. Most of us were just happy to finish. The results are online at the NASTAR site. I finished with a handicap of 43 (bronze medal). We had two men get silver medals and our illustrious trip leader picked up a bronze as well. The TSC picnic before the race consisted of cheeseburgers, beans, potato salad, etc. The caterer dude never showed up for work that day so they moved it down to the patio of one of the restaurants at the base, instead of having it below the race course.
The individual races were held on Friday morning. Susan and I both raced, along with four other members of our club. The course was longer than the one used for the club races and the snow was in much better condition. Susan did better but was a little disappointed she didn't go faster. I had a lot of fun on both of my runs, finishing with a 34 handicap (silver medal) both times. Those were decent times for me, but well behind the top two men, who finished with handicaps of 13 and 14. The fastest woman had a handicap of 26. As I had predicted before my second run, Cynthia beat me by 2 seconds. I think my overall finish was 23rd. I was unable to find Susan after the race and had to find other people to ski with in the tree runs. I did the Rolex trees another two times with a friend from the Lone Star club. I talked Dan from our club into skiing Closet with me before he took a lunch break. Susan later caught up with him and made him ski the trees with her as well.
Saturday morning we awoke to fresh powder, with more snow still falling. Unfortunately, our flight home wasn't cancelled, just delayed, so we weren't able to stick around and ski anymore. We spent an extra hour or so at the Hayden airport before heading out. Several club members who were on a later flight missed our connection in Denver. They got in a few hours after us. And just in case you thought United was through leaving our luggage behind, most of us had at least one bag that didn't make it on the plane to Denver and was shipped out by bus that evening. My boot bag was delivered to my home the next morning.
I never did get around to demoing some new skis. I knew that if I tried them, I'd have to buy some new ones and the ones I want aren't on sale yet. The weather stayed pretty cool the whole week, but we still had plenty of sun most days. I also relearned the hard way why not to wear cowboy boots on ski trips. Leather soles and ice don't mix well. That was easily the hardest fall I had all week. My left cheek is still sore. When we go to Silver Star, British Columbia in March, the cowboy boots will be left at home.
Think SNOW!!!