December 25, 2009

Merry Christmas.  Our Christmas skiing tradition continues.  Today was another memorable Christmas day at a ski resort.  It was a little concerning as we arrived in a light rain that had us pretty much covered with water by the end of our first lift ride.  I wondered how long we could last in such conditions.  I challenged Kris to 10 lift rides and it felt doable as taking the second lift to the top got us 20% of the way to our target.  The rain turned to sleet, then snow as we rode the second lift.

The snow was springtime soft with above freezing temperatures all the way up the mountain.  We skied a few laps before running into another season pass holder that we have talked to a few times and competed with in last year’s North Face Vertical Challenge.  We waved and she caught up to us a short way down the mountain.  We decided to make a few runs with her.   She talked us into Christmas Chute which had just opened yesterday.  It was heavy lightly tracked snow at the top.  The early season makes for a couple of narrow sections that feel just wide enough to put the skis across the hill and sideslip to control speed.  As the chute widened a bit, we found nice even soft bumps to link seemingly endless turns between rest stops.  As we exited the chute, the snow conditions turned to mashed potatoes, an unpleasant consistency that resists all movements of the skis.  As we dropped below the snow line and back into rain, the fun returned.   

We didn’t make our ten lift rides.  By the ninth lift ride, the sticky snow conditions had nearly burned out our legs and my mittens felt like water balloons, demonstrating more ability to hold water in than to keep water out.  The rest of our clothes held up pretty well for the conditions.  Kris’ pants are a few years old and she was sensing some dampness on her thighs.  I got new pants last year and remained dry except for my hands.  It was still a full day of skiing and the snow conditions were quite enjoyable.  The snow at the top was festive, but the most fun skiing was near the bottom in the rain.

We finished our day at the resort with our now traditional Christmas dinner, nachos at the bar.  We sat in some big comfortable chairs by the window.  The bar was nearly empty this year so it was pleasant and unhurried.  We enjoyed our nachos, relaxed, and watched the rain fall.  We finished with a brownie sundae that was decadent.

We skied Christmas Eve as well.  Yesterday was completely different with heavy windblown snow on the upper third of the mountain and firm, icy stuff down low.  We were actually hoping for rain for Christmas because we thought that was our only hope for softening things.  Our friends from Fairbanks joined us for most of the day.  We enjoyed having company since the conditions weren’t that great.  Our last run brought some amusement as one of our friends challenged us to make a hundred turns on Race Trail.  I thought it would be no problem, but the first few turns on the ice stretched out much further than I anticipated.  I found a few stretches of soft snow along the edge that allowed me to put in a quick ten here and a quick ten there, but most turns were long scraping affairs.  About halfway down, Kris stopped and we compared counts.  I was ahead at 63.  I finished my hundred before the last steep section and pointed my skis straight down for one last speed thrill to end the day.  We had Christmas Eve dinner in Girdwood with our friends before returning home in the dark.

I skied last weekend.  Kris was fighting a cold, but our friends from Fairbanks were down so I went to ski with them.  He was also sick on Saturday and she was performing ski patrol duties so I ended up skiing alone.  I haven’t skied alone for awhile so it was a pleasant change of pace.  I skied with a bigger group on Sunday.  The pace was a bit slower, but that too was a nice, well, change of pace.  It was fun to slow down my speed and work on making nice turns in all conditions. 

We bought a generator this week.  I had been researching the options for powering our trailer without always being at private campgrounds that often look like parking lots.  I got some input from my friend up north since they live without electricity all the time.  Their approach and experience confirmed many of my thoughts and I began to settle in on my options.  The best units are from Honda and Yamaha, but they were very expensive.  Honeywell offers a reasonable option for about half that price, although the reviews are a little mixed and it is a lot louder.  Local stores had the Yamaha in stock and I had looked at it and really liked it, but the price didn’t make sense.  I found online that Costco handles the Honeywell units so even though we didn’t have a membership, I stopped in to make a visual comparison of the units.  They didn’t have the Honeywell, but they did have one of the Yamaha units marked down almost 50% off.  I searched around the internet and couldn’t find the unit for anywhere near that price so I went back and even with the membership, I think it was a steal.  I am pretty excited to have such a quiet, small, and lightweight unit to free us from the need to plug in to recharge our battery every couple days.

So Christmas feels pretty good this year.  It was another perfect day of spending time together doing what we enjoy.  The weather wasn’t perfect, but it was great skiing.  Now we are relaxing, dry, and warm, looking forward to an exciting new year.