The Trapped in Vail Adventure
It is always important to bring extra clothes when you go skiing in the mountains. You never can be 100% sure that you are going to make it back when you think you will. Monday started out normally enough, and Davidson, Byron and I headed up to Vail for a half day of spring snowboarding. There was a Winter Storm Watch in effect, and Vail was already calling 13 inches mid-mountain. Being Vail, there was actually a lot more snow than that, so much that we were getting stuck a lot. It was a pretty epic day. My favorite part was the last run of the day down the Frontside Chutes. I found a very tight and steep chute through the aspens, and was shooting up such a big curl of snow in front of me that I had to stop because I literally couldn’t see where I was going.
We tried to leave around 2, but found that Vail pass was closed because of a huge pileup and generally hazardous conditions. So we hung around Vail Village and did the only thing that there was to do, eat food and drink beer. Personally I was praying that the pass wouldn’t open, so that we would be forced to stay the night and get some more great runs in the morning. We were walking through the village when I happened upon a sign that said there was a fashion show starting in fifteen minutes. We walked in and found a pretty small event; the snowstorm was keeping most people away. I wound up introducing myself as a photographer, and was subsequently asked to take pictures! I of course obliged and we met some cool people. Eventually we procrastinated finding a hotel long enough until someone felt sorry for us and offered us lodging for the night. It turned out perfectly as the house was huge and we even each got our own beds. Big thanks to Prisca and Rick!
This morning awoke clear, calm, and cold. We didn’t have a lot of time to spend riding today, but we were right there at first chair and got two hours of great runs in the back bowls. Mmmmmmm, it was soooooooo amazing, and there was hardly anyone there. So from now on I’m always going to make sure and pack an extra set of clothes; I’m hoping to get stuck in the mountains more often!
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Poor you. Poor, poor Steve.