A crash and a new run!

We woke up and drove to Winter Park this morning.

It had snowed lightly last night, with the mountain reporting 3 inches (8cm) of fresh snow. We started by doing our favourite run from last time we were at Winter Park.

Our expectations weren't all that high, as there hadn't been a significant amount of snow. Our expectations were about right. It definitely wasn't as good as last time, but it was still a nice run. We did two runs here, and then Wesley's goggles were fogging up, so we stopped to change the lens and have a hot chocolate. We then heard that Panoramic lift had just opened. We had ridden this lift before, however more terrain had been opened since we last rode it.

The wind was very strong today, blowing over the back of the hills. This meant that snow was getting blown into the bowl, giving it a really nice surface. The run was not all that steep, especially at the bottom, but the snow was great. On the second run here, I had quite a large crash down the bottom of the first hill. I was skiing beside a clump of trees, however there was a large hole there that I didn't see.

I was going quite fast, so when I went into the hole my skies dug into the snow, launching me up into the air. I was very lucky that the snow was soft, otherwise it would have heart a whole lot more than it did. We liked the top part of this run a lot, however the lack of vertical on the bottom part of the run, and the long lift ride, put us off a little bit. When we got to the bottom of the run, we saw on the board that Eagle Wind chair was now open. This was the first time for the whole season that this chair would be open; Fresh tracks!! What made this even more exciting was the fact that the terrain on this run looked amazing. It was steep (no beginners slowing us down!! ), and lots of well spaced out trees. We headed over to this run, and we were one of the first over there. The run was amazing.

So much steeper than panoramic, and lots of fresh snow. This chair lift only operated until 2:15pm, meaning we only had time for 4 runs, but they were the best four runs of the day! We have been so lucky with our snow. Either we have had lots of fresh snow, or a new run would open, giving us fresh snow!! Once the chair closed, we went back to our car and had a late lunch. After lunch we did a few more runs back on the Mary Jane side of the mountain.

I decided to put my new Carving ski's on to give them a go, as the snow was pretty great for them. I love them so much. They are so much fun on the steep groomed runs. I can go so fast, yet feel as if I have much more control! We finished our day just before 4pm, making this our longest day skiing so far! We went back to our accommodation in Gramby. Because of the strong wind, snow was getting blown over the road, making for very poor visibility.

Needless to say it was a slow drive home. We got take away Chinese from Pearl Dragon, as we have no kitchen at our accommodation. It was another great day, we feel so lucky to have had such amazing luck! Just two more days skiing before heading back to Fort Collins, and the New York City!