Deb takes a beating from the Beaver

Friday was an official holiday, so I went snowboarding. Thanks to a friend who is a ski instructor and gave me a couple of discount passes, I was able to enjoy a day at Beaver Creek for $40 (better than the regular price of $92 - ouch!). Boy, was this place ritzy - they weren't kidding when they advertise themselves as, "Not Exactly Roughing It". All of the buildings were super-fancy, the lift ticket purchase center confused me at first because I thought it was a coffee shop with all the interior dec work, and even the bathrooms were posh with the granite, nice lighting, and all the amenities one would find in the bathroom of a nice restaurant plus ski-specific amenities such as sunscreen. Of course, I didn't spend much time in the ticket lobby, dining establishments, or bathrooms - it was getting beat up on the slopes.

They had lots of really nice terrain, and it seemed well designed and laid-out. They had lots of beginner and intermediate runs, which was good because up until Friday I had only done beginner runs on a snowboard. My first intermediate run went really well, up until I got to the steep section with huge moguls that were solid ice on the back sides. That didn't go well, and I've got the bruises to show for it. But, I did make it down without any permanent damage. The next run I went on was another intermediate run, but I checked the grooming report first to make sure there would be no moguls. That run went well, but was exhausting. Speed control on stuff that is steeper than I am used to takes a lot of energy, and requires that I pull of to the side and rest regularly. There were so many nice/concerned skiers there, and they would regularly ski by to ask if I was ok. For a while I tried to tell them I was ok before they got to me by using the whitewater motion of patting the top of my helmet, but that just confused them. In the end, even though I had to rest a lot, it feels really damn good to be able to start riding intermediate slopes.

As for the rest of this weekend, I probably won't do much. My muscles are sore and it hurts to walk. I might take a drive to Denver to drop off some home cooking with a friend who just had a baby on Thursday. So exciting!!!