Monday, February 09, 2009

mad snow skillz

The kids and I spent Saturday up at the Arizona Snowbowl, where they got to ski all day while I hung out at the finish line of the USSA sanctioned slalom race hosted by the Flagstaff Alpine Ski & Snowboard Team. We got there first thing in the morning, before the lifts opened:



To be honest, I wasn't terribly crazy about the idea of leaving the lodge:

But one of my former riding students was competing that day, and I've been wanting to see her race for years. Since her mom is a good friend, I was treated to a front row seat at one of the best views imaginable:


It was also a great place to watch the recreational skiers and snowboarders cruising and crashing down the slope that ran perpendicular to the race course:



Not that I'm one to kid anybody about crashing. I'm strictly a blue/green trail gal myself - snowplowing all the way. The racers at Snowbowl were all young'uns, and their talent was extreme:


They reminded me of the little hotdoggers who used to whip past at 50 mph up at Tahoe, just as I was learning to keep my ski tips together in adult ski school:



And that was our Saturday...just another day in Paradise:

3 comments:

  1. Well played my Unscathed Narrator of Harrowing Tales from the Wintry Slopes of Arizona. And good pictures too. Having a camera and being a mom are two good reasons to avoid danger.

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  2. The ski resort may have been "paradise" but being outside in this wind and ice is not paradise! :-)

    Was that pic of the best view taken facing west - in the direction of where we live? - that would make it the best view :-)

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  3. They are good reasons, aren't they, Ken?

    :-)

    A, I'm not sure if that was the western view. I get so turned around up there on the mountain. Just call me Wrong Way Nicki.

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