March 18: And a fine time was had by all:
It was tough getting Ellen out of bed and ready to go skiing, pretty much like the first day she went. But we got her up and dressed (with minimal, but not no, cooperation from her) and up to the mountain. She got the same instructor (Paul Colwell), who brought a green hula hoop with him as a skiing aid. Instead of holding Paul’s poles while skiing, she held the hula hoop, and Paul would occasionally let her ski on her own. The hula hoop was just a security blanket for her, and Paul knew that she could do it on her on if we pushed her, but we decided that it would be much better if she just had a good time skiing rather than really trying to learn to ski. And we got plenty of photographic proof of her skiing.
I know this has been primarily about Ellen, but the fact is that if she couldn’t or wouldn’t ski, it would be very hard to justify another family ski outing. And since the armada moves at the speed of the slowest ship, as Ellen went, so went we all.
I also have to put in a big plug for the folks at Beaver Creek, especially the adaptive ski school folks (Roberta Boyd) and instructors (Paul Colwell). They really worked hard to make sure Ellen had a good time, and were completely flexible about the fact that we didn’t know day-to-day whether Ellen could or would ski. The configuration of the terrain is also very friendly to the green skier, since there’s a huge green ski park at the very top of the mountain, ensuring good snow for the beginners. And yesterday, most of the resort folks were dressed up for St. Patrick’s Day, handing out beads and green trinkets.
Now, about the rest of us. Anne Marie skied with Ellen and Paul; AM is definitely a green skier (she pretty much only falls when someone else runs into her, which happens a fair amount on some of the narrow green runs and roads. I started the day skiing with Gina and Chris, Kristi and Katherine Merlk; I hadn’t seen Gina ski yet, and she had apparently been doing very well in ski school. But on the first run of the day (we had just gotten off the lift and were 100 yards down the run), the radio crackled: AM was calling, telling me that Ellen was hungry and needed a snack. So, I broke off, skied to the halfway house (Spruce Saddle) and picked up some candy and chips, and via radio reconnected with AM, Ellen and Paul. We met up, Ellen ate, and chirped up (she was obviously suffering from a shortage of the endorphine “Dorito”). I skied one run with them, then went to reconnect with the Merkls and Gina. They were already at lunch, so I went to the bottom of the mountain, ate, and off we went to the blue Larkspur bowl, two fathers and two daughters (Kristi headed off to the Ritz, where we planned to meet her after a little more skiing). We skied over on the connecting blue to get to the bowl, but as soon as we were on the lift up to the bowl, the phone rang (I was weighed down with electronics: phone, radio, camera; my ski jacket weighed 10 pounds). It was Mary’s ski school, calling to say she wouldn’t go out and ski with the other kids and I needed to come pick her up. So, back down the mountain, to the kiddie ski school, and my day of skiing was over almost before it began.
I did, actually, get to see Gina ski, and she can ski blues with no problem. She’s not to the point where she needs poles, but probably will next time. It seems to me that kids will learn a lot better the mechanics of skiing without poles, so I’m not at all concerned that she’s skiing without them. She can go pretty fast, but basically just carves huge S’es down the face of the slope. Much more effortless than me, that’s for sure.
Mary was perfectly fine; she just didn’t want to go out and ski. So we hung out and waited for everyone else to work their way off the mountain.
Last night the adults had dinner at Cordilleria Country Club (Timber Hearth Grill), preceded by a sleigh ride. The evening was something of a comedy of errors. We were supposed to be picked up by a van from the country club, but we had to call twice to make sure they were coming (they got to us about half an hour late). Once there, we discovered that both AM and I left our credit cards in our ski pants. The sleigh ride was very nice: the moonless, cloudless night high in the mountains resulted in an impressive star show. Dinner was great (Chris again shepherded us through the wine list), but the service was pretty slow. It took 20 minutes after ordering dessert to actually get it (we had already finished the dessert wine), and the van back to the condo was also very late. The maitre d’ even came by to make sure everything was all right, thinking we had just decided to stay at our table long after they were closed. We finally got home, and Gina and Katherine had decorated the condo for St. Patrick’s Day, even throwing green and white confetti on us when we came in.
Today, the Juneks head back to Houston. We’re taking a leisurely approach to the day, and will get to the mountain when we get there. Gina and Katherine (who slept over after the babysitter left) have already planned out our entire day of runs. It’s been very sunny here, but a little too warm; by late in the day, the snow at the bottom is pretty mushy. But off we go. . .
(one more thing: I had to borrow a phone cord from the Juneks, and right now [8 am Thursday morning] I have no way of connecting to the internet, so no telling when this will be posted).
Ellen loves skiing through the woods (she says she's skiing the "secret hallways" through the woods). Here's photographic proof of her skiing, even though the camera was a little bugged by the glare:
Happy St. Patrick's Day!
It was tough getting Ellen out of bed and ready to go skiing, pretty much like the first day she went. But we got her up and dressed (with minimal, but not no, cooperation from her) and up to the mountain. She got the same instructor (Paul Colwell), who brought a green hula hoop with him as a skiing aid. Instead of holding Paul’s poles while skiing, she held the hula hoop, and Paul would occasionally let her ski on her own. The hula hoop was just a security blanket for her, and Paul knew that she could do it on her on if we pushed her, but we decided that it would be much better if she just had a good time skiing rather than really trying to learn to ski. And we got plenty of photographic proof of her skiing.
I know this has been primarily about Ellen, but the fact is that if she couldn’t or wouldn’t ski, it would be very hard to justify another family ski outing. And since the armada moves at the speed of the slowest ship, as Ellen went, so went we all.
I also have to put in a big plug for the folks at Beaver Creek, especially the adaptive ski school folks (Roberta Boyd) and instructors (Paul Colwell). They really worked hard to make sure Ellen had a good time, and were completely flexible about the fact that we didn’t know day-to-day whether Ellen could or would ski. The configuration of the terrain is also very friendly to the green skier, since there’s a huge green ski park at the very top of the mountain, ensuring good snow for the beginners. And yesterday, most of the resort folks were dressed up for St. Patrick’s Day, handing out beads and green trinkets.
Now, about the rest of us. Anne Marie skied with Ellen and Paul; AM is definitely a green skier (she pretty much only falls when someone else runs into her, which happens a fair amount on some of the narrow green runs and roads. I started the day skiing with Gina and Chris, Kristi and Katherine Merlk; I hadn’t seen Gina ski yet, and she had apparently been doing very well in ski school. But on the first run of the day (we had just gotten off the lift and were 100 yards down the run), the radio crackled: AM was calling, telling me that Ellen was hungry and needed a snack. So, I broke off, skied to the halfway house (Spruce Saddle) and picked up some candy and chips, and via radio reconnected with AM, Ellen and Paul. We met up, Ellen ate, and chirped up (she was obviously suffering from a shortage of the endorphine “Dorito”). I skied one run with them, then went to reconnect with the Merkls and Gina. They were already at lunch, so I went to the bottom of the mountain, ate, and off we went to the blue Larkspur bowl, two fathers and two daughters (Kristi headed off to the Ritz, where we planned to meet her after a little more skiing). We skied over on the connecting blue to get to the bowl, but as soon as we were on the lift up to the bowl, the phone rang (I was weighed down with electronics: phone, radio, camera; my ski jacket weighed 10 pounds). It was Mary’s ski school, calling to say she wouldn’t go out and ski with the other kids and I needed to come pick her up. So, back down the mountain, to the kiddie ski school, and my day of skiing was over almost before it began.
I did, actually, get to see Gina ski, and she can ski blues with no problem. She’s not to the point where she needs poles, but probably will next time. It seems to me that kids will learn a lot better the mechanics of skiing without poles, so I’m not at all concerned that she’s skiing without them. She can go pretty fast, but basically just carves huge S’es down the face of the slope. Much more effortless than me, that’s for sure.
Mary was perfectly fine; she just didn’t want to go out and ski. So we hung out and waited for everyone else to work their way off the mountain.
Last night the adults had dinner at Cordilleria Country Club (Timber Hearth Grill), preceded by a sleigh ride. The evening was something of a comedy of errors. We were supposed to be picked up by a van from the country club, but we had to call twice to make sure they were coming (they got to us about half an hour late). Once there, we discovered that both AM and I left our credit cards in our ski pants. The sleigh ride was very nice: the moonless, cloudless night high in the mountains resulted in an impressive star show. Dinner was great (Chris again shepherded us through the wine list), but the service was pretty slow. It took 20 minutes after ordering dessert to actually get it (we had already finished the dessert wine), and the van back to the condo was also very late. The maitre d’ even came by to make sure everything was all right, thinking we had just decided to stay at our table long after they were closed. We finally got home, and Gina and Katherine had decorated the condo for St. Patrick’s Day, even throwing green and white confetti on us when we came in.
Today, the Juneks head back to Houston. We’re taking a leisurely approach to the day, and will get to the mountain when we get there. Gina and Katherine (who slept over after the babysitter left) have already planned out our entire day of runs. It’s been very sunny here, but a little too warm; by late in the day, the snow at the bottom is pretty mushy. But off we go. . .
(one more thing: I had to borrow a phone cord from the Juneks, and right now [8 am Thursday morning] I have no way of connecting to the internet, so no telling when this will be posted).
Ellen loves skiing through the woods (she says she's skiing the "secret hallways" through the woods). Here's photographic proof of her skiing, even though the camera was a little bugged by the glare:
Happy St. Patrick's Day!
posted by Jeff at
6:57 PM
