15 Years Later...

So it started snowing last night, and this morning I get up around 6am to this view out my front door...

Fortunately for me, I already had plans to meet friends at a local Starbucks and then head to the mountain. When we get there, we find about a foot of new snow, and seemingly every person within a 50 mile radius that owns a pair of skis.

This was at about 8:20am. Lifts open at 8:30...

When I saw this, I about lost my excitement. 15 years ago, this line would have meant a 20 to 30 minute wait, and then a 15 minute chair ride to the top. Wasting 45 minutes of precious time before I could carve my first turn was not what I had hoped for.
Things have changed dramatically to say the least since the last time I stood in this parking lot.

This lift line took about 5 minutes to clear out, and we were standing at the top of the mountain 3 or 4 minutes after that.I took this photo with my iPhone on my 2nd run. I was so excited to be up on the slopes again, that I completely forgot to take a picture during my 1st run!

I couldn't have asked for a better day to be my first back on skis.

By noon, we had skied nearly 10 runs. These high speed chair lifts make it impossible to rest between runs!!! My legs were on fire, and my lungs were burning with cold, thin, 10,000 foot air. This summer shall be spent getting back into shape. I cannot allow another day like today to be only a half day.

My wife was out of town this weekend, but we already have plans to head up next weekend. I'm crossing my fingers for another Blue Bird morning like this one.