A Rough Start - A Beautiful Finish

After the night we had on Sunday, we were all looking forward to hitting the reset switch and doing some skiing at Winter Park. The forecast had no mention whatsoever of anything remotely resembling snow for either Monday or Tuesday, so we were very hopeful that we would have a good couple of days. The morning started off fantastic. A clear view of the valley unfolded as the sun came up. We had a nice, leisurely breakfast and got ready for the slopes. Our plan was to be there by around 10-11am, getting in most of the day on the powder that Mother Nature had so nicely tried to blow us away with the night before. We stuffed everyone in the two vehicles we had at the cabin. The Yukon got up the drive fine, but we had to help the VW a bit on one patch of slick snow. Nevertheless, we were soon at the bottom of the hill at the highway, and loading up the van for our trek down the road to Winter Park. The road, although it had been scrapped, was slick as hell, and driving, especially in the van, was still very dicey. About ten miles from the ski resort, we ended up in a long, slow moving line of traffic. At first, I thought there was an accident or stranded vehicle that was slowing things down, but it became evident that the traffic was just backed up. We had no way of knowing how far it was backed up, but we were just creeping along. Finally, around 11am, everyone arrived at the Winter Park base, with most of our equipment, and geared up for what looked to be a glorious day on the slopes. The groups split off into smaller groups, and everyone had a fantastic time, as the snow conditions were splendid. Here are a couple of pic from the day:

Buddha at the Parsiene Bowl

The view on Cranmer

After our day on the slopes, we arrived back at the cabin (after stashing the van back down at the highway - the road up the hill was still a little slick) to the smell of the stew that we put in the oven that morning. Following our dinner, the games were on, as Mac hosted poker night in the mountains.

The forecast for tomorrow is nearly identical to today's, so we're looking forward to another great day on the slopes to cap off a rather eventful trip. We'll be flying out Wednesday morning, if all goes as planned. I'll try to post some more pictures tomorrow.

Good night, and good luck.