Thus begins our final full weekend of skiing for the 2018/19 winter season. While we might (probably) go another single day, or twilight ski along the way, this weekend will stand as our last full weekend trip for the season. I would be lying if I said that doesn’t make me a little bummed. I have come to really enjoy these days and seeing it come to an end is a bittersweet transition.
We planned to spend the weekend in Shandaken, NY, with our good friends and weekend co-warriors from 2018, Alex & Mark. Before this trip, I’d never heard of Shandaken. More than likely, I’ll forget the name of this town in 2 weeks. It’s situated in the Catskills, roughly 15-20 minutes from Belleayre, our destination for the weekend.
We had a dinner date with friends the night before, which lasted until 9:30 pm. We hit the road late and arrived late, just about 11:45 pm. We talked briefly with Alex before calling it a night. Earlier, we spent a good few hours with some good friends over dinner, then made our way to the cabin to hang with another set of good friends. Despite the nature of the trip, Alex would be on the shelf for this one, having just undergone Tommy John Surgery. The 3 of us would be skiing while she would be holding down the fort.
On Saturday we slept in, waking up at 8:15 am, which is pretty absurd for all of us. We did the usual breakfast, coffee, hanging out, and the like. In the image below you can see Alex on the right, in her own words, not having absorbed the caffeine just yet.
The drive to the ski hill is 20 minutes at best, and we park in the lot at the bottom. Belleayre is different in that you can actually park smack-dab in the middle of the mountain. We opt for the low lot, as this puts you close to the gondola. The gondola is apparently a new feature of the resort. Using my powers of logic, I can deduce that the sign below is also reasonably new as well.
We get ready in the lot, and Mark dons his as-seen-from-outer-space outfit for the day. D and I are both predominantly black, which makes seeing each other a little harder. Mark, much like the rug in The Big Lebowski, brings it all together. When in doubt, find the blue guy.
The temps at home were well into the 70s the day before, and apparently 60s up here. It had rained last night and as you can see in the background, the season is starting to wash away, even up here in the colder location of the Catskills. The temps are colder today, hovering in the 32-35 degree range at the bottom. Still, a lot of the surrounding snow is gone for the year.
The line for the tickets is short, and after a quick detour into the lodge to drop our lunch bag, we meet up with Utah who drove up early this morning. He wasn’t able to get away for the full 2-day weekend, but he managed to find time to sneak up for a single day. This may be it for him as well, so he wants to make the most of it. We spent a lot of time in the gondola today, as the wind made it feel colder than the thermometer suggested. Compared to Tremblant earlier in the season, which was 0-10 degrees with almost no wind, this feels colder.
The day was mostly gray, though from time to time a little blue would pop out above us. We joked a few times that we might get about 10 seconds of sun per downhill run, which was quite nice when it happened. Mostly the day was overcast but all-in-all the weather was perfectly fine. It was a good day for skiing.
I felt like this round it was harder to get my proverbial sea legs back under me. Is there such an expression as snow legs? The last time I was on skis, it was the second day of the Mohonk trip. and that was for XC skiing. I feel that today, it took me longer to get in the groove, and I blame/credit the XC skiing for that. Having said that, it took just 2 runs down the hill to get my groove back, and I think the XC skiing helped me “skate” better. I was able to do that better than ever today (I know, not saying much but minor progress is still progress).
I crashed just 2 times today, once on probably the easiest green trail of the whole park, then later on the last run of the day, which was a low speed, over-turn flop that I almost saved, but didn’t. I also made it down my first double black diamond today, which is another sign of progress. This may not be in league with other double blacks around the world. But I will still put that notch in my gun belt.
Utah would later ask me if I felt like I had gotten any better on this trip, and the answer I think is yes. Today was a pretty good day on the ski hill.
The Strava link for the day can be found here. Totals of 3:53 ski time, just under 35 miles, and a notch over 16,000 feet. In past posts, I listed out the trails we skied. Looking back, I don’t think the effort is worth it because I go back and check those posts, and have almost no memory of the specific trails even when I list them all out. I can always go back and list them if I so choose.
This is probably the first time I ended my day not on the verge of exhaustion. I could have kept going today, which is another point of progress.
We decided not to stay too long, as Alex was back at the house hanging out with the dog. Around 3:00 we decided to call it a day, and drove back to the house with a quick stop at the market for some pasta. Utah stopped by to say hi before driving the 2 hours home. We then showered up, and made some dinner. I especially enjoy the ski days because when you’re done, you have a solid 6-8 hours of eating, hanging out, eating, reading, eating, talking, and then eating. Solid stuff.
We hung out a bunch in the living area, which is just a sectioned off area of the great room that served as the kitchen, dining room, and living room. There was a fireplace but we chose not to fire it up. Discussion with these guys is always good, and tonight was no different.
That’s a wrap of part 1 of the last full weekend of the ski season. We’ll see what the year brings after the ski days wraps up and the weather cedes to biking season. All of that will happen soon enough, though for now we have at least 1 more day of skiing in the planner. Tomorrow is another day, and we’ll wake up and see what the hill brings in the morning.
Traveling Normandy 