Ending the Ski Season on a Mountain High

It was a day to remember
We capped off the 2005 ski season with a day trip to Bear Valley last Saturday. Sonya, Karsyn and I were joined by Grandpa Karl for a quick jaunt up to the Sierra’s hidden gem. Grandma Marion agreed to take car of Ryno for the day (yes, an entire day…the woman is tougher than I give her credit for), so the four of us could get in one last day on the slopes.

The Bay Area had record breaking high temperatures all week (including mid 80’s for most of the bay region on Friday), so we decided that it was probably going to be one of the warmest ski days of the year. We were dead on with the weather prediction.

The sun gods blessed us with temps in the 70’s, plenty of great snow and views that would have made John Muir weep. It was the perfect ski day, hands down. It was amusing to hear that those same gods were not so generous with the rest of the Bay Area (60’s and overcast all day? Bummer!)

We dropped Ryan off in Redwood City at 5:00am and picked up Grandpa Karl before making the three hour dry up to Bear. No traffic and dry roads made the drive even more enjoyable. I got to show Karl the iTrip attachment I borrowed from a friend on the way up. We rocked out to Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and The Platters.

We hit the slopes with a couple of warm up runs on the bunny slopes, since this was only Karsyn’s fourth time on ski and Karl hadn’t been on a pair of sticks in over ten years. Both re-acclimated themselves within minutes, so we caught the next lift up to the top of the mountain.

I guess I should have been a little more patient with the two of them, but they seemed to be comfortable with everything, so to the top of the world we went. The backside of Bear is where the majority of their intermediate runs are, so we headed in that direction. The next run proved to be the most trying of the day. The angles of the slopes got significantly more pronounced, and the morning ice had yet to soften up.


Checkout that view!
Karsyn recognized both conditions instantly and immediately started to talk her way into finding an alternate way back to the bunny slopes. After several falls, and multiple lessons in how to get back on her feet, we made it to the bottom.

Her first response once we reached the lift was that she, “didn’t want to do that again and can we go back to the easy lift in the front?.”

“Sure,” I said. “We’ll head back once we get to the top of the mountain.”

We lined ourselves up to jump on the next lift back up, but the chairs were set a little higher than Karsyn’s fanny. The chair smacked in the back, dragging her up the hill. Thankfully I had one glove off, so I was able to grab her jacket and pull her up on the lift. Needless to say, we practiced the “hop up” chair mount method the rest of the day.

Once we got back to the top, Sonya and I told her to follow us so we could head back to the front of the lodge, while skiing straight for the run we had just labored to finish. You have to face your fears if you’re going to conquer them. Karsyn didn’t realize it was the same run until we were half way down, but she was tearing up the hill, so it was only a mild objection!

We made it all the way to the bottom without incident, which set the tone for the rest of the day. Karsyn didn’t have an issue with any other runs the rest of the day, and her ability to maneuver on the mountain progressed with each passing run. [Checkout the video] I shot while chasing her down one run.

Turns out Grandpa Karl is also a decent skier. Pretty good considering he wanted to bring a set of skis that may have pre-dated the mountain itself. He followed along without a complaint and never held us up. Considering my patience (or lack thereof), he’s welcome to ski with me anytime.


Karsyn the Shredder & Daddy-O
The only event we would encounter the rest of the day was when Karsyn got a little too cocky and decided to point her skis down hill and see how fast she could go. I was prepping my camera for a picture so I had no opportunity to stop her. She ended that run with a pileup at the bottom of the run. All giggles I might add.

We wrapped up the day with one last run after Grandpa decided to take his rental equipment back to the lodge. Sonya and I saw a black diamond (advanced) run that we thought she could handle, but chose to let Karsyn ski it without telling her is was an advanced run. She attacked it like an old pro, but her reaction after learning that it was a black diamond run was worth its weight in gold. She was grinning from ear to ear.

Thinking back now, it may have been one of my favorite days on a mountain ever. I can’t wait for Ryno to be old enough to join us.

[Checkout the photos I took]. Be sure to checkout the sunset shots I took while driving back at the end of the day.