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: