Kirkwood

Today we woke up early to prepare for a day of skiing.

We packed up and left the cabin around 730.

The drive to Kirkwood was about 40 minutes. We got there with plenty of time to park and get psyched up for what the mountain had in store. 

The first run of the day was a double black diamond - no messing around with us. No gradient of easy to difficult slopes.  Just diving right in to the steep stuff. 

It was a beautiful blue sky day. Conditions were nice - it was packed powder in most spots all day. However for a bit of the afternoon, the sun softened the snow and it became sticky slush. It didn't hold us back though.

Kirkwood is huge and provides an amazing view. 

So skiing with my dad and Matt. It's intense, to say the least.

They hunt for the best snow, the best runs, and they push for challenging terrain. 

Skiing with these two no longer qualifies as "good exercise".  It is not a leisurely hobby.  It becomes more about survival.  Chutes, rock faces, cliffs, bowls, glades, and moguls.  These are the things we skied all day. There were no bunny trails. No green circles. No groomed cruisers. 

Standing above the run we were about to do next, I could no longer ask, "are you sure I can ski this?" I just had to do it.  I followed them to the top of the run, so I would have to follow them down. 

This terrain was so steep and so challenging.  I could feel my heart pounding even faster than it usually does at the end of a run.  That's because we were at an elevation of 7800 ft or higher all day. We skied almost 2000 vertical feet in one run. That's more than we usually ski in one day at our home mountain in PA.

It was an amazing day. And we're gonna have 4 more just like it. I can't wait.