This weekend, I drove David, John Eldredge, and Zach Franklin the four hours to Canaan Valley, WV, for the Troop 688 annual ski weekend. I've posted some pictures as an addendum to the Snowpocalypse album.
We got a little late a start, owing to my having a few last minute things come up, but made good time getting out to Davis, WV. We missed the turnoff for the lodge in the dark, though, and so had to double back to find it, making us the last car to arrive for the night. The boys settled in well.
Saturday morning all three popped right up and began getting dressed for the mountain. They were excited. After breakfast (bacon, eggs, bacon, cereal, and bacon), we headed over and got our rental gear, and were among the first people on the mountain. David had never skied before, so we spent the first hour learning the basics of the wedge (the pizza, the V, the snowplow) and having him ignore them in favor of the 11-year-old boy's favorite ski technique: go fast then fall down to stop.
We stayed on the easy slopes for the most part in the morning, but by the afternoon they were ready to tackle some things at the top of the mountain. David did really very well for his first exposure to intermediate trails. He lost control once and went speeding towards a black diamond trail, but saw where he was going and executed a flop-stop to keep it from happening. We tried a very narrow intermediate trail instead, which was frustrating to him, but we all made it back alive. The boys all skied on a trail, Face, that was labeled a black diamond on the map, and so can honestly say they were on a black diamond, but in my humble opinion that was a very charitable upgrade: sure it was a little steeper, but it was as wide as a football field...easy turns were very possible.
That night the boys played in the arcade after dinner, and watched some skiing on the Olympics. Then by 10 everyone was asleep and exhausted.
Sunday morning after breakfast (bacon, eggs, bacon, pancakes, and bacon), we headed back to the mountain. David was initially reluctant to go, having felt he didn't get it well enough Saturday, but was persuaded by his friends, and off he went. He had an even better day Sunday: he rode with us to the top of the mountain, and took the one green-circle (easy) trail that runs from the very top to the very bottom of the mountain...and did it WITHOUT falling even ONCE, which was tremendous. He'd clearly done better Sunday, and his wedge was a lot more pronounced and working well for him.
By the time lunch came around, and the boys had all completed their "yard sale" in the terrain park (don't ask), they were tired and ready to go. We drove home and got back around 5. Will David want to go again next year? He says yes. Let's see whether he still feels as good then. And maybe I can add to my list of black diamonds I skied--I did Dark Side of the Moon, Valley View, and Meadows 2. I was gonna try Gravity, but when you get to the edge of a trail and look over, and can't see the trail any more, hey, that may be a bit above my pay grade.
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