Raible Designs

A glorious weekend in Steamboat

After 6 feet of snow in 7 days, we couldn't help ourselves and rushed off to spend a few days in Steamboat last weekend. I bought new skis on Thursday and worked all night so I could take Friday off. I knew the skis were for me when I heard their name - Atomic "Sweet Daddies". Friday morning there was 11" of fresh powder, so I tried to convince Julie we should leave right away. She said "No" because I hadn't slept yet and said I should get some rest. 4 hours later, I woke up and Julie was packed and ready to go. We headed out for the 3-hour drive right around noon.

Saturday morning, we woke up to 4 inches of pow pow and left the condo by 8:15. I was skiing with a buddy (Steve) and we were meeting his friend (Jason) at the Gondola for first tracks. Jason showed up 20 minutes late, but that didn't stop us from finding the powder. We headed up Storm Peak, hiked a bit to the good stuff and enjoyed knee-deep powder to start the day. That run alone took almost an hour and I was definitely feeling the Fat Tire I drank the night before. We had a couple more powder runs, a couple fast groomers and it was time for beer thirty at the top of the gondola. Skiing with Jason (a Steamboat local) was exhausting - especially since he'd already skied 6 days in a row! After lunch, I hit the hot tub, took a nap with Jack and then went tubing with the kids. We ended the night with several bottles of wine and Talladega Nights.

Sunday we woke up to no new snow, but the weather was beautiful. It was something like 40°F and the perfect Spring skiing day. Julie and I took the kids over to the "magic carpet" run and had a blast. Abbie needs no help these days, she can do "pizza" and french fries w/o even trying. She does circles (down the hill, up the moving sidewalk) the whole time.

Jack was a whole different story.

He kept yelling at me "Go down" when we'd get to the top. As I'd ski to the bottom, I'd glance over at him and see a grin from ear-to-ear. When I'd get to the bottom, he'd take off. No turning, no pizza - just balls-to-the-wall with a shit-eating grin and lots of giggling. By the time he'd get to me, he'd be going pretty fast. Luckily, I caught him every time - amidst gasps from the Texans who were learning how to ski on the same hill. After 6 or 7 runs, he'd had enough and we headed back for "nap time".

I spent the rest of Sunday afternoon skiing on popcorn snow that was warmed by the Sun all day. It was beautiful skiing weather and I was ready for the ride home at 4:00. Another trip to the hot tub, a couple Sunshine Wheat beers and we drove home to a beautiful orange and pink sunset. What a glorious weekend.