Ski Trip to Alyeska-November 25, 2006

At the beginning of November we decided that we would take our first ski trip the weekend of Thanksgiving. The weather here had been really cold the month of November (highs if we were lucky in the low teens and lows in the negatives and often the double digit negatives) so we kept a close eye on the weather all week. The Alyeska ski resort is located in Girdwood, Alaska...a small town about 45 minutes south of Anchorage and about 1 hour and 15 minutes from our house.

On Wednesday of Thanksgiving week the temperature was forcast to be in the 20s in Girdwood. On the Friday of Thanksgiving week, the forcast was changed to 14-degrees. We had invested quite a bit of money into proper clothing for everyone...long underwear, inner and outer socks, inner gloves for some, outer gloves for all, several layers of non-cotton shirts and jackets, coats, and disposable warmers for both boots and gloves. Shaun, Deb, Barb, and Dharma had their own skis and boots. Sullivan had boots and snowboard. Every had ski helmets (a must here--not only to protect the head but more importantly on a routine basis was that it kept the head and ears warm and dry) and goggles. We were all set, and decided that we would just brave the weather and see how the day went.

We arrived at 10 a.m. and signed the three kids up for two hour lessons. Barb, who had a bad first experience skiing last year at a resort that had more ice than snow, was really ticked off at Shaun and me. She kept telling us that we ruined her day, her weekend, etc. and that we were forcing her to do something she hated and that we were impossible parents. So we responded by telling her to be quiet and get out to her lesson. She and Dharma were assigned ski lessons to a ruggedly good looking young man with a five o'clock shadow who looked like he lived for the Alaskan adventure. Sullivan was given snowboarding lessons by a very cute blond who didn't let him get away with anything and taught him a lot. An hour later when we checked on all the kids, they were thrilled. Barb was grinning from ear to ear and had decided maybe this skiing thing wasn't all that bad. Dharma was doing great on the bunny hill. We met Sullivan at the top of the beginner chair lift when he was working his way down the hill for the first time. Let me tell you, the beginner hill is quite challenging. Barb and Dharma also took the chair lift up and came down a different beginner hill which is pretty lightly slanted until the end when it becomes quite steep. After lessons were over we had lunch in the cafe and met our neighbors who had driven in to join us for the afternoon. That was such a great decision because it gave our beginner kids some more advanced friends to ski with. The neighbors, Hannah (8) and Rachel (12), were such big encouragement to Barb, Sub, and Dharma. Dharma, who took over half an hour to go down the beginner slope the first two times and was scared out of her wits clinging for dear life to her dad or my hand, finished the day doing the slope completely independently and confidently. Barb decided that she liked to "go fast", but needed more lessons in order to be able to stop at those speeds. On one of her runs, she came down the final hill so fast that she flew past the stopping point, past the clubhouse, and across the snow covered bridge that lead back to the cafe and other chair lifts. It was so funny to see her wizzing by. She eventually came to a stop and popped off her skis to walk all the way back. But she was smiling the whole time. Sullivan was amazing to watch on the snowboard. He really had an awesome time and conquered the beginner hill. He can't wait to get back out on the slopes...good thing his Boy Scout troop has a snowboarding outing in two weeks and another one for three days over Christmas vacation.

Shaun and I had a great time as well. My legs hurt in ways I never thought they could, and I only wiped out once--on my first time down the beginner slope. It was scary to me, too. Shaun went down the slopes quite a few times without difficulty so he decided to move up to the blue (intermediate) slope. He rode the chair lift to the midpoint of the mountain and started off. Within a short time, he realized that he was in over his head. He wiped out bigtime!!! Then he sat on the slope looking down and wondering what to do next and how to approach his return to earth. A member of the ski patrol came by and asked if he needed a lift down the mountain. He thought about it and replied that he thought that would probably be a good idea. So he waited, thinking that one of the patrol would be coming on one of the snowmobiles he had seen around. To his shock and surprise, a guy arrived with a bright orange/red sled attached to him. Shaun climbed into the sled and the guy snowplowed Shaun all the way down the hill to the beginner slope where Shaun climbed out and skied the rest of the way to the bottom of the mountain. Shaun said, "I could have snowplowed myself down if I had known that was what they were going to do." He also said to me, "This never happened, and I will deny it because you have no pictures as proof." Darn.

Anyway, it was a great day. We closed the place down at 5:30 p.m. and went home to warm up. The next day we checked the internet weather site and found out that the high the day before had been minus 11-degrees. I guess we bought wisely because we had no idea it was that cold.